It Was Her!

Luoshi's high-rise commercial district stood opposite the department store.

Atop one building stood the sign for Nadou Express Company.

As soon as you entered the building, its bright yellow logo caught your eye.

Though it was a courier company, its lobby was every bit as luxurious as those of world-famous hotels.

"Ding!"

Just then, the elevator doors opened, and several people hurried out.

Surprisingly, the girl leading them was Zhong Yi—the same woman Xiao Ran had met earlier at the crematorium.

Her pink hair was impossible to miss.

But Zhong Yi looked anything but happy. Her face was dark with displeasure as she walked and said to the people beside her, "That idiot at Liming Building! A beginner with a low-grade rating should've been put under supervision immediately. Even if that woman's monitoring period was over, they shouldn't have let her wander around!"

The two people following Zhong Yi could only smile wryly and nod.

They knew this wasn't really Liming Building's fault.

The company had ways to detect when a Mysterious City appeared and could set things up in advance to keep ordinary people from wandering into one.

Any beginners who came out of one were added to the company's monitoring list.

During the three-month monitoring period, their assigned supervisors were fully responsible for keeping an eye on them and assessing them.

The supervisors also offered those under their watch some protection, to prevent deranged people from torturing and killing newcomers.

If a beginner lost control during that time, their supervisor would take them out immediately.

The company would handle all the cleanup afterward.

Incidents like that were hardly rare. Some beginners who acquired Cursed Objects and curse marks quickly started thinking they had superpowers and could do whatever they wanted. The less dangerous ones might play pranks, but the more serious cases involved murder, robbery, theft, and all sorts of other crimes.

Once the monitoring period ended, however, the company stopped supervising them.

For one thing, people found that kind of supervision irritating. For another, after about three months, beginners should have a decent understanding of their situation and become more emotionally stable.

Of course, there were still beginners who committed crimes after their monitoring period ended.

But as long as they were discreet and escaped the company's notice, they generally wouldn't run into trouble.

There was no way around it. The company only had so many people. The Central China Region had just four supervisors, and the Special Operations Team had only twenty-four members. Ordinary people couldn't detect the methods those beginners used. Even if everyone spread out and spent all day without eating, drinking, or doing anything else, they still couldn't monitor so many beginners.

So unless it was a major case, it was difficult for the company to uncover what was going on.

The woman Zhong Yi was talking about wasn't even from the Central China Region, and she had deliberately concealed her identity. Even if the company wanted to find her, it might take a while. This wasn't even their responsibility, yet it had now landed in their laps. No wonder Zhong Yi was in a foul mood and had been cursing all the way there.

Meanwhile, Xiao Ran had already brought the paper figure home.

"Rattle..."

He pulled open the shop door. A White Cat poked its head out from behind a shelf, looked Xiao Ran up and down, and, seeing his hands were empty, lazily turned away.

Xiao Ran closed the door and went to the back courtyard. He found a corner and, following Old Master Zhou's instructions, used a small knife to cut a tiny wound in his finger, then gently touched the paper figure's eyes.

As his blood spread across the paper figure's eyes, Xiao Ran immediately felt something strange.

But he couldn't explain what it was.

He took out a lighter and set the paper figure alight. As it gradually turned into wisps of green smoke, the strange feeling grew stronger. It was as if the smoke rising from the fire had drifted into the unseen world, forming an indescribable connection with him.

It would only protect him for a year, but at least he wouldn't have to worry about this for the next twelve months. The favor was worth it.

But... what was Grandpa's relationship with the Zhou family? They seemed close, but at the same time, something felt off between them.

Back in the shop, he rolled up the metal shutter.

"Meow!"

The White Cat he'd rescued was in the corner. It raised its head and looked at Xiao Ran curiously.

He hadn't been able to find a home for the cat after rescuing it, and its wounds hadn't healed yet, so he'd decided to keep it for now.

With his Master-level Suturing Technique, it could already walk without much trouble.

Xiao Ran took the Cat Food he'd bought on his way home and brought it over. The White Cat glanced at it, then turned its head away with a look of disdain.

"You're just not hungry enough."

Xiao Ran pursed his lips. He wasn't about to spoil it. Eat if you want; otherwise, go hungry.

"Hello! Your package is here. Come sign for it."

The courier called out from beyond the glass door, set a box down at the entrance, and left. Clearly, he didn't want any contact with Xiao Ran, afraid of catching some bad luck.

Xiao Ran went out and brought the package inside. It was the fishing rod he'd ordered online.

He'd only gained the ability to fish from Guo Lingfei, but having it was better than not.

He had nothing else to do, so he could go fishing at night.

"Meow!"

When the White Cat saw Xiao Ran opening the package, it leaped onto the counter and curiously inspected the fish bladder inside. When it realized the bladder was fake, it turned away with a look of disdain, then lazily lay on the counter and licked its smooth hind leg, not bothering to look again.

Xiao Ran had just assembled the fishing rod and put it away in his space when a woman in a white coat appeared outside the shop. She wore sunglasses, had long hair, and smelled strongly of perfume.

"What are you looking for?" Xiao Ran asked.

"Paper money. Not too much—just a large denomination, a trillion."

As she spoke, the woman took off her sunglasses. Her voice was rich and resonant, a little husky. "Besides the paper money, I'd like to buy a paper mansion too. A villa would be best."

"Sure. These are our latest designs. They come with furniture, appliances, a bathtub, and a computer. They're a bit expensive, but I can include a pair of paper figures for free."

Xiao Ran gestured toward the paper villa on display and explained.

"Do you think these things really work down there?"

The woman bent over to examine the finely made paper house and asked curiously.

"If you're sincere, it'll work. These things are just a way for us living people to express our feelings for the deceased. Once your heart's in the right place, the offering will reach them. Whether they really get a villa isn't important," Xiao Ran said earnestly.

"Our feelings..."

The woman nodded approvingly. "Boss, you put that beautifully. I went to the Funeral Supplies Store on the next street and asked them the same thing. They went on and on, saying that whatever you burned up above, the person below would receive, and the more you burned, the more they'd get. They practically wanted me to buy their entire shop."

From what she said, Xiao Ran knew exactly which store she meant. That bald shopkeeper would say something like that. But Xiao Ran wasn't trying to put the man down just to praise himself. He simply said, "People see things differently. Maybe that's just what he believes."

"You certainly know how to talk. If what they said were true, they might as well burn down the whole shop. Then their family could live even more comfortably down there." The woman smiled with pursed lips.

Xiao Ran didn't know how to respond, so he gave her a polite smile.

"By the way, I saw the note on your door. It mentioned grooming and repairs. Does that include sewing up corpses?"

She pointed to the note posted outside.

"Yes. We take those kinds of jobs too, if you need one. The price depends on how badly the body's been damaged."

"Oh." The woman nodded thoughtfully, but didn't ask anything else. Instead, she looked at the paper offering in front of her. "I'll take this set, along with that Nether Coin. How much is it altogether?"

"The paper offering is 140, and the Nether Coin is 26. I'll round it down—160 will do."

"Fine, but I can't carry all this. Can you deliver it directly?"

She pointed to the paper offerings and the paper figures Xiao Ran had agreed to deliver.

The items weren't enormous, but they weren't small either. You didn't exactly see people carrying things like that down the street.

"Sure. Is it nearby? Delivery within the city is 20. Out in the suburbs, it starts at 50."

"Very close. It's at Panlong Mausoleum, just up the road. Could you take them there and burn them for me?"

"Sure. If you want us to burn them for you, please write down the recipient's name and leave your contact information. I'll send you a video afterward."

Xiao Ran placed a pen and paper in front of her. She picked them up and casually wrote down a name, then took two hundred yuan from her wallet and set it on the table. "Keep the change. Just make sure you get this done for me. I'll come see you again in a couple of days. Oh, my name's Huang Qi. What should I call you?"

"Xiao Ran."

"All right, Boss Xiao. Sorry for the trouble."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the woman put her sunglasses back on and walked out of the shop.

"Meow!"

A sharp cry came from the White Cat. Xiao Ran turned around and saw that, at some point, it had crawled into a box on the shelf. Now it was poking its head out and growling in the direction the woman had gone.

"Stop that. I'm going out soon anyway. I'll bring you something to eat when I get back."

Xiao Ran paid it no mind. He picked up the name the woman had written, glanced at it, and froze. Three characters were written on the paper: Guo Lingfei.

"It was her!"

Xiao Ran jolted and immediately rushed outside, but when he looked around, the woman was nowhere to be seen.

There had been something suspicious about Guo Lingfei's death, but he hadn't wanted to get involved. Now this woman had suddenly shown up at his shop. Was it a coincidence, or...?

"Xiao Ran!"

Someone called his name. Xiao Ran turned around. It was the elderly neighbor who lived next door to their building, Grandpa Wang.

Grandpa Wang held a bucket in one hand and a fishing rod in the other. He walked up to Xiao Ran and said, "I heard you got a cat. I just caught a few fish, so take them back for your cat."

"Uh..."

Xiao Ran was about to refuse, but Grandpa Wang had already set the bucket down. He glanced at Xiao Ran's shop and continued, "You'd better be careful."

"Careful about what?"

"Fire safety. The fire department will probably come inspect soon. Haven't you heard? The Funeral Supplies Store across the street caught fire. All six members of the family burned to death."

Grandpa Wang shook his head, still shaken. "The whole place was full of paper. Once it caught fire, there was no putting it out. Four adults and two children—every last one burned to ash. Well, at least they can enjoy all the funeral supplies in their shop themselves now..."