Ruthlessly Killing

After walking out of the back kitchen, Zhao Ke looked at the offering he had received and could not help shaking his head. This thing was of no use to him at all. If he had known the reward would be this, he should have given up the mission.

After all, a kitchen was unlike other places. The information that could be gathered there was extremely limited. If Zhao Ke had a choice, he would have preferred cleaning.

Zhao Ke casually tossed the spirit money in his hand into the Post Album, then turned and looked into the small courtyard. Three people were still huddled together there, whispering about something.

Those three were not from the previous group. Clearly, they were another group of couriers who had temporarily teamed up.

The moment they noticed Zhao Ke entering the courtyard, three pairs of eyes immediately locked onto him. In truth, ever since Zhao Ke had fallen into the water and climbed aboard the boat, some of the couriers had already begun watching him.

When they saw Zhao Ke brazenly grilling meat at the bow, they knew he was probably a newcomer who had passed the probationary period.

They were all low-level couriers, but even among them there were ranks. The missions during the probationary period were generally very simple. Once someone passed probation, they would immediately enter normal horror spaces, whose difficulty was far greater than probationary missions.

Many people who had just become low-level couriers died at this stage. The chance of death was even higher than in some more difficult missions.

Furthermore, the horror space during probation offered simple missions and pitifully little profit. Most rewards were only a few Post Points, not even enough to exchange for a relatively low-grade special stamp.

Teammates with neither awareness nor strength were obviously unwelcome anywhere.

Thus, when Zhao Ke walked in, the three men did not look at him kindly, though they were no better than the previous group.

"Master, why were you gone for so long?"

When she saw Zhao Ke return, Cui Lan sat up from the head of the bed. Looking at the gray light outside, she said softly, "How annoying. It's already morning. Steward Bai will probably come soon. Who knows what trouble he'll stir up this time."

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, his mind raced. Whether it was food, water, or fire, they living people seemed utterly out of place here. Even their body temperature was noticeably different. They had an astonishing number of flaws.

Zhao Ke did not believe merely concealing their scent could perfectly hide the fact that they were alive.

It was manageable when dealing with these spirit mediums, but against ghosts like the flower children, one careless mistake could expose them.

Yet at the same time, wasn't that also their advantage? Zhao Ke narrowed his eyes and turned back to Cui Lan. "Cui Lan, how do you tell which ones are spirit mediums and which ones aren't?"

Cui Lan laughed at that. Walking over to Zhao Ke, she looped one arm around his. "Hehe, Master, did that bump on the head make you forget even this?"

As she spoke, Cui Lan raised Zhao Ke's arm. While rolling up his sleeve, she said, "Most of the Bai Family are spirit mediums. There are only a few who truly belong to ghost masters. Besides, the name of our master is written on our arms. You..."

Cui Lan stopped halfway through her sentence, her eyes suddenly widening. Zhao Ke's smooth, well-shaped arm was completely bare. There was nothing on it.

Cui Lan froze at first, then suddenly understood. She looked up and stared at Zhao Ke. "You!"

"That's right. I'm not your master."

Zhao Ke, who had been sitting in the chair, raised his brows. He suddenly sprang up, driving a dagger straight into Cui Lan's forehead.

Pfft!

The blade pierced directly through Cui Lan's forehead. Zhao Ke twisted it hard, and her head split open like a blooming cauliflower, leaving a hole as wide as a bowl.

Yet strangely, Cui Lan did not die. After staring blankly for a moment, her expression changed, and she reached for Zhao Ke's throat.

The delicate features on Cui Lan's distorted face twisted into a mess. However, unlike the paper effigy Zhao Ke had killed before, Cui Lan's split-open head was truly a bloody mass of flesh.

They were spirit mediums. After passing through the Gates of Hell and entering the underworld, they possessed half a physical body.

But it was merely flesh, with no bones, no human brain, and no organs—just a bloody lump of meat.

"Still not dead!"

Seeing Cui Lan reaching for his throat, Zhao Ke raised his brows. The black dagger flashed in his hand, stabbing through her throat from beneath her arm. He twisted the blade.

Pfft!

The cold blade tore through half of Cui Lan's neck like a saw. Her head tilted to one side and dangled against her chest.

After being severely wounded by Zhao Ke again and again, Cui Lan could no longer cry out. She could only turn and run.

"You think you can run?"

Seeing Cui Lan trying to flee, a vicious glint flashed across Zhao Ke's face. He lunged forward, plunging the dagger straight into her spine and twisting hard. The strike should have killed her instantly or left her paralyzed, but the blade found no bone.

Instead, Cui Lan collapsed face-first onto the ground. With half her face split open, she could not make a sound. She could only wave at Zhao Ke, begging for mercy.

They said one day as husband and wife brought a hundred days of affection. Now, she only begged Zhao Ke to spare her. After all, spirit mediums had the hardest fate in the world. They were born destined to die, unable to be accepted by the world of the living. Only after reaching the underworld could they truly be considered alive.

All they wanted in life was to meet a good master, serve peacefully for several hundred years, and eventually cultivate a human womb. Then their lives would not have been in vain.

Cui Lan had planned everything so well, but she never expected her life as a spirit medium to end after barely one night.

"Sorry, but I can't let you live."

Faced with Cui Lan's pleas, Zhao Ke did not hesitate in the slightest. He knew that keeping Cui Lan alive was the same as keeping a bomb at his side.

No matter whether she could still speak, no matter what guarantees she made, Zhao Ke would not believe her. He would never entrust his life to someone else's mouth.

Slash!

Zhao Ke swept his blade, cutting off Cui Lan's head. Her headless body lay on the ground twitching, but she did not die just like that.

There was no blood and no internal organs. Losing her head merely meant losing 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 stuffed her head inside. To his amusement, once her head was placed in the basin, Cui Lan's body also stopped moving.

When he took Cui Lan's head back out, the body in the distance immediately began twitching again, seemingly struggling under Cui Lan's will to crawl away.

Seeing this, Zhao Ke shoved Cui Lan's head back into the iron basin and tried to convert the basin into the Post Album.

But the response remained the same: insufficient permissions, unable to convert.

He then tried Cui Lan's body. It seemed that after losing Cui Lan's control, the body had become an inanimate object. With a thought from Zhao Ke, the corpse was immediately converted into the Post Album.

Opening the Post Album, he found an additional stamp depicting a paper effigy, except the paper effigy had no head.

"So that's how it is."

Zhao Ke nodded, shoved the iron basin beneath the bed, dusted off his hands, and strode out the door.

Just as Cui Lan had said, the moment Zhao Ke stepped outside, he saw the Bai Family steward approaching with several people to assign work.

Zhao Ke hid among the crowd and swept his gaze to the side. Dongzi and the other three stood among the crowd with grim faces. None of them looked pleased. Apparently, they had gained nothing from their trip to the front courtyard and had instead run into a wall.

"You lot will wash clothes. You lot will chop firewood in the woodshed. You few will clean the front courtyard."

When they heard the steward assign their group to clean the front courtyard, Dongzi and the others looked as though frost had settled over their faces. Their expressions were dreadful.

Meanwhile, the three couriers from the other group had been assigned to the woodshed. They exchanged glances, satisfied smiles appearing on their faces.

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

The steward pointed at Zhao Ke and asked about Cui Lan's whereabouts. Zhao Ke's face fell, and he answered with a troubled look, "I don't know. I went to the back kitchen last night, and when I came back, she was gone."

The steward froze. Then anger appeared on his pale face. Without asking further about Cui Lan, he stormed up to Zhao Ke and roared, "Who told you to go to the back kitchen? That isn't a place you can go!"

"But... what if I have to go now?"

Before the steward could erupt, Zhao Ke raised his hand and produced the token the old man had given him.