Kraun Wanted More Sales

Since it was neither possible to buy anything nor to accurately count all the items in the shop, Yu Xing stopped talking to the clown, and the clown became silent as well.

"Let's just browse around for now." He took the first step forward, Qu Xuanqing nodded. He then turned around and walked towards a shelf on the right, intending to use a strategy of starting from the nearest and moving to the furthest, memorizing the items on one shelf first, and then using that shelf as a base to explore the surrounding shelves.

Zhao Yijiu walked in silently, seemingly wanting to first gauge the size of the entire grocery store. Yu Xing, on the other hand, seemed much more casual. He looked around like an office worker going to a convenience store alone in the early morning to buy some simple snacks, letting his gaze wander freely.

This is a very modern general store.

After roughly circling around, he divided the goods into five categories. The first category was food, including things like potato chips, bagged bread, instant noodles, sandwiches, and yogurt. The second category was edible items, such as wrenches, mirrors, towels, and Durex condoms. The third category was toys, ranging from outdated fidget spinners to high-tech electric toys.

The fourth type is clothing. It's not a clothing store, but it still has hats, sunglasses, and other small items on display. In one corner, there are even Dead Silent Island T-shirts, giving it a trendy vibe.

The fifth type is miscellaneous items that Yu Xing finds difficult to categorize, such as paper money, cold medicine, and wooden signs of unknown purpose, scattered throughout the general store.

There's still no clear hint about what they're supposed to do. Only one rule has surfaced: if they don't buy anything or help the clown take inventory, they probably won't be able to leave the shop.

Yu Xing stroked his chin and set his sights on the counter. Although the surface of the counter was clean and completely visible, they had not yet seen the space behind it. The counter was shaped somewhat arbitrarily, forming an angle that enclosed a small area of space at the entrance. It was hard to imagine how the staff sitting behind the counter would come out if the store were still open.

He looked around. Qu Xuanqing carefully compared the differences between each shelf, even checking the prices of the items in an attempt to find patterns. Zhao Yijiu, on the other hand, focused on looking for certain special items to see if there were any things that shouldn't be there.

Overall, his two teammates were very focused, and no one was paying attention to him for the time being.

Yu Xing's lips curled up, thinking that this was for the best. He slapped his palm on the counter, tensed his arm muscles, and used his arm as a fulcrum to leap over the counter, instantly arriving inside the enclosed space behind the counter.

Since only the clown's voice spoke to them after they entered the general store, and the store itself appeared to be very small, could he deduce that the clown was the only employee and owner?

If that's the case, who would use this counter? It can only be something for Kraun and them to talk to.

With this in mind, Yu Xing's first reaction was to observe the general store from the clown's original perspective. As a result, as soon as he entered the counter, he tripped over something round, which almost made him fall over.

He looked down with interest and saw a round clown head at his feet. Actually, there was more than one head. He reached out and grabbed the circus hat on top of the clown's head, lifting the whole thing up. He then realized that it was a clown puppet as big as his upper body.

The clown doll has a round head, a colorful hat, a face painted white, star-like patterns painted around its eyes, and overly bright red lips with the paint extending to its cheeks.

A red plastic ball is placed on top of the clown doll's nose, completely covering its original position.

The clown's neck and various joints are spherical, allowing his limbs and head to move freely. He wears a loose-fitting onesie with cartoon patterns, and his shoes have upturned toes, each topped with a ball.

Yu Xing squinted, feeling that something was amiss...

The sight of such a doll inside the counter was truly terrifying. The moment Yu Xing picked it up to examine it closely, the bright lights in the shop suddenly flickered and dimmed considerably, as if due to a malfunction.

Yu Xing suspected that this was the doll's doing, or perhaps, it really was just a doll?

"What was triggered?" Qu Xuanqing poked her head out and asked.

"Caught a small shop owner." Yu Xing chuckled and waved the doll in his hand. Under Qu Xuanqing's scrutinizing gaze, he placed the doll in a sitting position on the counter with its back to him. Then he squatted down to check if there was anything else in the counter drawer. Sure enough, he found several business-related documents in the drawer, including purchase orders, wish books, and accounting books.

"You've found Kraun's ledgers!" The clown's shrill voice rang in Yu Xin's ears. Yu Xing straightened up, holding the ledgers, and suddenly found himself staring into the eyes of the clown puppet.

The clown's head turned 180 degrees, connected to his spine, his face with a sinister smile staring directly at Yu Xing's face.

Its mouth didn't move, but its voice still rang out. "Are you planning to work for Kraun?"

"Yes," Yu Xing agreed, "We've been interrupting your business, so of course we should do something to help you, like... helping you watch the shop?"

"Let me see the ledger." Qu Xuanqing had already walked to the counter, reached out and snatched the ledger from Yu Xing's hand. Compared to the mission Yu Xing was about to embark on, she was more interested in the specific information in the ledger.

Yu Xing ignored Qu Xuanqing's object and continued to stare at the clown puppet.

"Ha ha ha ha"

This time, right before his eyes, the clown doll's joints slowly writhed, gradually turning its body toward him. Throughout, its head remained perfectly still, as if fixed in that space. If it were to participate in a street dance competition, this act of separating its body would definitely win thunderous applause.

"Thank you, friendly guest. Well then... the shop is in your hands today!" The glass bead eyeballs in the clown doll's eye sockets suddenly started swaying from side to side, and bursts of shrill laughter emanated from the doll's body, particularly piercing.

Zhao Yijiu rushed over. He and Qu Xuanqing had both heard what the clown said. It seemed that Yu Xing had triggered the true rules of this instance. As soon as he came out from behind the shelf, he saw a scene that made him stop in his tracks.

He noticed that the clown doll had somehow acquired a palette and a pen. As Yu Xing and the clown doll's paint-covered face stared at each other, Yu Xing bent down, bringing his face closer and closer to the clown doll's.

The clown stiffly raised his arm, the tip of his brush, stained with red paint, about to land on Yu Xing's mouth.

Qu Xuanqing was standing right next to him, seemed oblivious to this scene, engrossed in reading the account book.

"Yu Xing!" Zhao Yijiu sneered. At the same time, after a slight pause, he accelerated and rushed towards the counter. He grabbed the clown doll by the neck and lifted the almost weightless doll into his hand.

"What's wrong?" Yu Xing tilted his head. Zhao Yijiu looked at him. His body was still straight, as if he had never bent down at all.

This made Zhao Yijiu realize something. He turned to look at the clown doll in his hand. The doll's hands were empty, and there was no color palette in it.

It does not exist.

It didn't happen.

But he saw it.

Zhao Yijiu paused for a moment, put the clown doll back on the counter, and recounted everything she had just seen, which piqued Qu Xuanqing's interest.

Qu Xuanqing said, "There are only two possibilities. One is that it's aimed at you, making you see hallucinations. These fabricated hallucinations are very dangerous. You might see ghosts attacking you and retaliate, but in reality, you're actually attacking us."

"Secondly, regarding Yu Xing, what you see is not something that didn't happen, but a real event that the victim and those around him might not be able to see. Only if you stop it will it 'not happen,' which is also very dangerous. In general, once the deducer has their own puzzle-solving and defense capabilities, illusions are always the best attack method for ghosts, without exception."

Qu Xuanqing was the most experienced person to speak on this matter, Zhao Yijiu listened silently before nodding.

He told Yu Xing, "In short, you should stay away from this doll. I've confiscated it."

Confiscated?

Yu Xing was wondering how to confiscate it when he saw Zhao Yijiu pick up the clown doll, turn around and put it in a trash can far from the counter.

It couldn't be completely placed inside; the clown doll's comical, round head peeked out from under the trash can. Yu Xing squinted at it and found that it actually suited her perfectly; such an aesthetically displeasing and ugly thing should stay in the trash can.

"Kraun wants sales!" The clown's voice rang in their ears again, "You three better work hard~ hehehehehe."

It sounds like it wasn't just Yu Xing; the thing Yu Xing triggered made all three of them automatically become employees who needed to work.

"The situation has really taken a turn for the better. As customers, we haven't faced any danger other than verbal threats, so what are we, as employees, supposed to face?" Yu Xing stretched behind the counter, leaned back, and sat upright in the chair behind the counter, her gaze drifting towards the door of the general store.

"If I'm not mistaken, it's a customer..."

From the outside, this grocery store would appear to have no customers at all, because apart from the wandering pollutants they haven't yet encountered, there's nothing else moving on the street. But from the inside, the number of customers is uncertain.

Yu Xing leaned forward, propping his chin up with his hand, just like an idle general store owner, hoping for customers to come to his door.

Please, give him some fun. This general store sells absolutely nothing new; you can find the same things everywhere in real life. It's boring.

Seeing how quickly he got into character, Zhao Yijiu gave the clown puppet a cold look, then turned around and began to memorize the location of the goods even faster, in case this little instance presented a task requiring the customer to retrieve the goods within a specified time.

Qu Xuanqing flipped through the ledger and purchase book page by page, placing them back on the counter. "They record the purchase situation for the past month. So far, there seems to be nothing unusual. The purchases are quite regular; new toys arrive every Wednesday, daily necessities every two weeks, and food every day. As for the ledger, it seems to be new, with only ten pages. Most of the transactions involve amounts below ten Ghost Warriors, but fortunately, the number is large, so the daily turnover is still quite considerable."

"Where's the wish book?" Yu Xing glanced at him sideways.

"The wish book is filled with messages from customers. Judging from the handwriting, most of those who write in it are children, asking for various toys and such. Occasionally, there are adults' handwritings on it, reminding Kraun that a certain item is running out and urging him to restock. I took a look, and the items requested are quite varied, including scissors, a certain flavor of food, medicine, bandages, and so on. There might be some kind of pattern among them; we need more clues." Qu Xuanqing put the wish book back and turned to leave. "I'll familiarize myself with the prices on the shelves first. This general store doesn't have a separate warehouse room; all the goods are on the shelves, which is relatively good news. As for you... you seem quite experienced as the boss, so just keep a close eye on the front door."

That was a rather tactful way of putting it; she was practically saying, "You're so lazy you don't want to move at all, you might as well just stay here and be a high-level amputee."

"Get me a mirror," Yu Xing suddenly said.

"What are you doing?" The mirror was located near Zhao Yijiu's area. Zhao Yijiu asked casually, but his body already betrayed him by taking one down for him.

"I'll put it in front of me, so that if a guest comes in and wants to talk to me, I can see the clown doll's reflection in the mirror and won't be ambushed without my knowledge." Yu Xing waved her hand, took the mirror from Zhao Yijiu with her left hand, and placed it at a perfect angle.

He yawned, placing the baseball bat at his feet within easy reach. He glanced at his two busy teammates, smiled silently, and lowered his right hand, which had been supporting his chin.

He felt a strange sensation on his palm as soon as he rested his chin on his hand, as if some substance was covering his skin. He glanced down at it without surprise and saw that, unnoticed, a few traces of white and red paint had appeared on his palm.

Tsk, when?

His face... must have been covered in paint.

Yu Xing looked in the mirror. He made an excuse to prevent his teammates from discovering his true intention of looking in the mirror. It was precisely because remembering the location and price of the goods was the top priority at the moment. Without knowing when the "customer" would arrive, such preliminary preparations were urgent. He did not think it was a wise choice to distract his teammates.

In the glass mirror, Yu Xing saw another face that was invisible to the naked eye.

Although it was still his appearance, the lower half of his face was painted pure white, several shades whiter than his pale complexion.

His lips were painted bright red, with red paint trailing from the corners of his mouth all the way to his earlobes, making him look like a clown wearing only half a happy mask.

"What a perverse sense of humor Kraun has, "Yu Xing thought.

Why did you put lipstick on me if you had nothing better to do? And you even smeared it on the skin.

Yu Xing slowly rubbed the red paint with the pad of her thumb. Her fingertip was stained red, but the paint on her face did not fade at all.