Kraun Got Nothing!

Welcome back next time.

As Yu Xing spoke, the door of the grocery store closed, and the female customer wearing a wide-brimmed hat disappeared from their sight.

Yu Xing held a small stack of strange banknotes in his hand. The banknotes were mainly light gray with bright red patterns printed on them. The font was the kind they couldn't understand, but fortunately, the numbers were still in Arabic numerals. This was the first time he had ever received so-called "ghost money," and he suddenly felt a sense of joy as if he were holding money in his hands.

The bandages cost 10 Oni Warriors per roll. The fabric torn from the skirt was rolled into eight rolls, which is 80 Oni Warriors.

The last Female Ghost customer didn't have a large sum of money on her, so she paid with eighteen Five Ghosts bills, took all the bandages, and left happily.

She was happy, Yu Xing was also happy. However, Kraun's feelings were much more complicated. On the one hand, he had finally made money after many years. On the other hand, he had managed to prevent these outsiders from being eaten by the contaminated creatures and instead allowed them to successfully escape his punishment, which meant that they had passed the test.

The clown, perched on the backs of the three deducers, incessantly emitted angry or gleeful shrieks. Yu Xing knew what the clown was thinking, but was still annoyed by the mentally polluting sounds. After a while, Zhao Yijiu was the first to complain, "Kraun, it's over."

His cold tone was like the chill of February ice, causing the room temperature to drop considerably. After all, he was not a pure human; his soul still contained the aura of a fierce ghost that most of the ghosts on Dead Silent Island dared not provoke.

"Yes, you've fulfilled Kraun's request and made money for Kraun." Under Zhao Yijiu's threat, the Joker reluctantly spoke, "Now you can leave."

Zhao Yijiu: "What about the completion reward?"

Yu Xing instantly understood. "I see. After completing an independent instance within a building, the plague entity, as the rule-maker and controller of that building, is responsible for providing outsiders with sufficient rewards, or rather, compensation?"

After all, this was their first time entering the building, and apart from Zhao Yijiu, who had wandered off once before, no one knew about this rule, so it wasn't impossible for the clown to keep it a secret.

Unfortunately, Kraun met the wrong people.

"... Yes, I will reward you." The clown seemed extremely angry, "But you have already received special intelligence, something you outsiders shouldn't receive upon arriving on the island! Don't you think this is already an extra favor?"

Qu Xuanqing chuckled softly, as if she had heard a funny joke.

Yu Xing also smiled and said, "Yes, we should have deduced this ourselves after going through several independent instances, but that lady just now very generously told us such an important rule. It was truly a favor from her, and I will repay her if I have the chance."

Instead of getting away with it, the clown was even angrier when he heard Yu Xing say that he regarded the existence of his enemies as a blessing. But there was nothing he could do. He could make rules that allowed outsiders to become his shields by painting them with paint, and naturally there were even more sophisticated rules hanging over his structure, namely that if the person who cleared the level needed it, then a reward must be given.

Therefore, the only way to renege on the reward is through concealment and deception, not force. Now it seems that these living people are clearly familiar with some kind of rule, and it is impossible for him to renege on the reward.

The clown only felt a little comforted when he saw the eighteen Five Ghosts banknotes that Yu Xing had counted and placed on the counter, and reluctantly asked, "What kind of reward do you want?"

"What reward can you offer?" Qu Xuanqing reached for a mirror on the shelf beside her and held it up to her. This time, she could clearly see the clown's soul reflected in the mirror. A slight smile played on her cold lips, adding an inexplicable air of intimidation. "Stop trying to play tricks. I'm very experienced."

"Anything but money, you can each choose one of my goods." Kraun smiled in the mirror, but the smile was due to his slit mouth that couldn't be closed.

"Do you have weapons?" Qu Xuanqing asked. "Not the scissors and fruit knives in your shop, but real weapons for combat. Don't rush to deny it. We can buy clothes and other equipment at the inn, but currently the inn doesn't provide weapons. The ones we find on the street are too fragile, so there must be weapons in a standalone building like yours."

The basic rooms they can stay in are completely incapable of providing anything related to weapons. At this stage, the first priority for the newly arrived researchers is to obtain a weapon that can be used in combat, and then search the map to slowly retrieve their belongings scattered throughout the map.

The island has physical ghosts like the Female Ghost guest, as well as intangible ghosts like the clown spirit. The latter are very difficult to deal with, since they generally operate according to rules. If you don't understand the rules and step on a landmine, you're basically doomed before you can even fight back. But physical ghosts are different. Having a weapon will greatly increase your chances of survival when facing physical ghosts.

Not to mention the twenty players from the experience testers who might run into them at any time.

"Hmph, you really want weapons? Heh heh, the weapons on Dead Silent Island aren't as simple as you think. Using them comes at a price!"

The red in Zhao Yijiu's eyes remained half-receding, his impatient gaze almost piercing the mirror. "Enough nonsense."

"Then you'll only get one weapon!" The clown's spirit danced a ridiculous dance in the mirror. He was Yu Xing called a clown by these outsiders because of the paint on his face and the cut corner of his mouth. In reality, he had never received professional training in the circus. His dance was truly an eyesore.

But all three strategists could tell that the unknown dance was summoning something, so they tolerated it.

Before long, the mirror suddenly shattered, cracks spreading everywhere, each shard reflecting the image of the general store, but the clown inside suddenly vanished.

A rusty iron rod fell out of the cracked mirror and clattered to the ground.

This iron rod looks about the same length as a baseball bat, with the same thickness from front to back. The rust is concentrated on one side, which we'll call the front end for now. The rear end, corresponding to the front end, has a slightly concave handle, suitable for primates.

All three instinctively reached for it, but only Qu Xuanqing bent down. Yu Xing instinctively flinched the moment she reached out, trying to shield herself from the chilling iron rod. Zhao Yijiu also spoke up, "There's something on it."

He wanted to remind the other two to move away so he could pick it up, but Qu Xuanqing had already grabbed the iron rod before him.

Zhao Yijiu remained silent, only then realizing that Qu Xuanqing's body felt no pain, like an insulator. As long as it didn't harm the unseen soul behind her, even the thing on this iron rod wouldn't hurt her.

However, Qu Xuanqing could also sense that this iron rod contained something extremely dangerous. Holding it in his hand was like holding a ghost, a ghost that could turn on him at any moment.

"Mr. Kraun, since this is our reward for clearing the level, could you please tell us how to use it?" Qu Xuanqing looked at the shattered mirror, where the clown had long since disappeared. The next second, a thought flashed through her mind, and she caught a glimpse of something in the trash can.

The clown puppet, which had been behaving itself for so long, was now trying to climb out of the trash can.

"So you've arrived here."

Yu Xing and Zhao Yijiu followed Qu Xuanqing's gaze and saw the doll escaping. Yu Xing immediately stepped forward, grabbed the doll, and shook it in her hand. "Can it still talk?"

The clown doll's black glass eyes flickered before finally settling on Yu Xing's face. "Of course, Kraun is tired now and wants to rest here!"

"Of course, none of your schemes succeeded, and you must be exhausted. But before that, tell us what this stick is for, or I won't let you sleep."

Can you believe this is human language? It's outrageous, absolutely outrageous!

Kraun cursed inwardly, but seeing the ambiguous smile on Yu Xing's face, he inexplicably felt that these living people were perhaps more terrifying than someone like him who was already dead.

But their question made Kraun realize something, "You haven't even found your notebooks, so why are you causing trouble in my store so early?!"

Notebook?

Yu Xing raised an eyebrow. Wasn't this just a ghost notice? Did the ghost notice also serve the function of introducing weapons?

"Listen carefully, this is the most common type of staff weapon on Dead Silent Island. It contains an extremely powerful resentment. If you touch it directly with your hand, the resentment will travel up your hand and into your heart, until you become what it was before it was made into a staff. It was forged from the spine of a rusted human!"

The clown doll yelled, "Of course, it takes time. You won't turn into a rusty person just by holding it for a minute. And every time it strikes the contaminated creature, its resentment will cause great damage. For you, it's already a weapon with very little harm!"

"It seems we'll have to have Daisy's daughter send a few pairs of gloves." Yu Xing got the answer and immediately thought of a solution. He also roughly understood that the "weapons" on Dead Silent Island might all originate from the materials of the contaminated creature itself. This was why Daisy wanted them to bring back the contaminated creature's materials for her—because they were useful.

After a ghost dies, its inherent properties are used as raw materials for weapons. The living can then use these weapons to fight against the contaminated entities, or perhaps the plague entities. Alternatively, as long as the side effects are tolerated, both contaminated entities, plague entities, and living people can use various weapons. This means that the high-level contaminated and plague entities they encounter later may not only have different abilities but also carry weapons.

After all, Kraun can pull out weapons.

"Alright, here's your reward. Now get out of my shop! I know you cunning outsiders share information, so my shop will be closed for the next while. Don't even think about buying anything from my general store!" Kraun shouted in his shrill voice.

At the same time, Yu Xing felt a repulsive force from his surroundings. He realized that the grocery store was really trying to push them out.

There are gains and losses. Kraun's general store was originally supposed to sell general merchandise to strategists, such as bread, cold medicine, wrenches, and masks. If a few wealthy strategists came in, perhaps they would simply be customers and the general store owner, and the general store could be used as a semi-supply station.

Because Yu Xing had no money, they triggered a storyline where they became employees. As a result, although they survived, they angered Kraun, who permanently closed the grocery store's usage rights, and half of the supply station was gone.

But Yu Xing didn't regret it. After all, the general store was too close to the inn. The inn itself was a large supply station, and its function overlapped with that of the general store. Even if the general store was gone, it wouldn't be a big deal. On the contrary, they would gain more intelligence. At this stage, the value of new intelligence was far more precious than a less necessary supply station.

"Okay~ okay~" Yu Xing happily let the repulsive force push her outward. Qu Xuanqing and Zhao Yijiu were in the same situation. This general store had no value to them anymore, and it was indeed time to leave.

The door of the general store had been pushed open ahead of time by a mysterious force. The street outside was desolate, welcoming these "tourists" who had come and gone. Qu Xuanqing was still responsible for holding that iron rod... no, the spinal rod. She looked into the store, then at Yu Xing was smiling strangely, and was the first to step out of the store.

When the reward "weapon" was successfully delivered to the door, Yu Xing's eyes lit up. Before Zhao Yijiu could even react, she saw Yu Xing grab the small stack of money on the edge of the counter with Stealing Bell speed.

Then, he dashed out the door like a mad rabbit, leaving the clown puppet standing there dumbfounded with a dashing back view.

Seeing this action, which seemed to have been simulated countless times, Zhao Yijiu already understood why the stack of banknotes was placed on the edge. An uncontrollable smile appeared on his face. Then, amidst Kraun's roar, he nimbly dodged the suddenly closed door.

My money! My money!

The store door didn't manage to stop Zhao Yijiu; it closed just short of Zhao Yijiu, then swung open abruptly. The clown doll stood in the doorway, unable to emerge, its roar low and suppressed, "Give me back my money!"

"Your money?" Yu Xing waved the banknotes in her hand at it. "It's mine once it's outside this store."

Then he let out a laugh like a clown, "You'll get nothing, hee hee."