What Son of a Bitch Pulled This Stunt?

"Brother, please accept some more, please accept some more!"

Feng Xue placed a large box of high-denomination banknotes on the bar counter, looking like she could take as much as she wanted. The bartender, however, calmly wiped his glass, making no move to take the money. Instead, he said quite honestly:

"Sir, we are a legitimate business here."

"Damn! I just accepted a tip, is there some hidden mechanism?" Feng Xue grinned and scratched her head vigorously. After obtaining special information from the bartender through the tip, Feng Xue immediately took out more money, but the bartender seemed to be a different person and didn't accept a single penny!

However, Feng Xue soon had a new idea, such as Cooldown period for such messages, or that tips could only be given after a transaction, or that there could be restrictions on the amount of tips.

After several unsuccessful attempts, he had no other choice but to go to the department store and enter the passenger elevator.

However, instead of pressing the floor buttons as usual, he swiped up on the keyboard displaying floors 1-18, as if operating a tablet.

The keyboard then easily rose one notch, revealing a hidden button.

-

1.

"Who in their right mind would think that a keyboard that looks like a purely mechanical structure could slide up like a touchscreen?" Feng Xue pressed the -1 key while throwing the salt into the corner of the elevator. At the same time, she wondered whether the -1 key could be activated simply by finding it, or whether she had to get special information from the bartender before she could come down.

However, they arrived at the -1 floor quickly. With a "ding," Feng Xue gave up on thinking about this pointless matter, stepped out of the elevator, and looked at the basement of the mall.

"As expected of the underground level, it really feels like the underworld."

Feng Xue glanced around, speechless. The basement wasn't large, about the size of a typical convenience store, but instead of food, toys, or household goods, the shelves were filled with all sorts of underworld items—

This isn't a description; these are genuine items from the underworld.

For example, there are all sorts of strange and wonderful things, such as incense sticks, skulls, pumpkin heads, and ghost masks.

Moreover, like the high-end food and drinks in department stores, these things are all Phantom Object.

Of course, just like cola is simply something that makes you feel good, these things, apart from descriptions like "this is a skull," really have no other side effects.

However, if one possesses abilities such as Undead Witchcraft, casting spells using these Phantom Object might yield some special effects.

Feng Xue wasn't here to practice Undead Witchcraft. He walked up to the bartender, whose face looked like he'd just been pulled from a coffin, and, based on the information the bartender had given him, began to speak:

"I've come to buy sacrificial supplies."

Upon hearing Feng Xue's words, the deadpan saleswoman stiffly turned her head and then said in a emotionless, hoarse voice:

"Cultural system? Sacrificial goals?"

Feng Xue glanced at the Halloween pumpkin heads, the Day of the Dead skeletons, and the Easter eggs...

In the end, he said:

"The target of the ritual is Weird Tale and, in terms of culture, Eastern-themed, specifically items from the Yan Kingdom's cultural system."

"..." Upon hearing the request, the shop assistant pushed forward with both hands, and the counter surface began to display a series of product information, including incense, candles, paper money, Paper Ingots, paper lanterns, ancestral tablets, and so on, as well as a whole series of funeral supplies.

"The props for rituals and Weird Tale stories don't seem to be much different from those for sacrifices to ordinary people..." Feng Xue glanced at the invoice, took out the whole box of cash she hadn't been able to use as tips earlier, slammed it on the table, and said to the shop assistant:

"Give me the best one."

The shop assistant opened the briefcase, took out several stacks of banknotes and placed them on the counter, then put the rest of the briefcase behind the counter. Next, a box of Incense Stick, a stick of White Candle, two white paper lanterns, ten stacks of joss paper of different denominations, as well as gold ingots of various sizes and joss paper printed in the shape of copper coins, etc., were all packed into a large bag for him.

Your change.

The shop assistant returned a bag of goods along with several stacks of banknotes to Feng Xue as payment. His tone remained indifferent. Feng Xue reached for the goods but didn't take the banknotes, instead saying as before:

"Consider it a tip."

But as soon as she finished speaking, the shop assistant's expression changed. She quickly grabbed a stick of incense, as thick as her index finger, from the shelf, leaped off the counter, and shoved it into Feng Xue's shopping bag before Feng Xue could even react. Her tone was serious as she said:

"Sir, you can't talk nonsense in a shop selling joss paper."

"Ah..." Feng Xue grinned, feeling that there was some hidden mechanism involved, and even wondered what the consequences would have been if she had run out earlier and prevented him from putting the incense in time.

However, considering the various hidden mechanisms within the Tower of Babel, he felt it was best not to recklessly commit such a dangerous act.

Unless he somehow acquires some kind of power or authority over the underworld.

Thinking of this, Feng Xue drew another bit of the power of a wild martial god and threw it into the Supernatural Tale Fire. As Chai Xin transformed into power, Feng Xue finally felt much more at ease.

The reason he went to buy a bunch of items for tomb sweeping was naturally because of the information the shop assistant gave him—

It is said that if you place a memorial tablet for the dead in your home, you will enter a world of Weird Tale when you open the door.

Feng Xue didn't really understand the so-called "death of the Weird Tale." After all, the death of Weird Tale is categorized. A normal death means entering a resurrection loading screen, while a complete death means even the legend is gone. He couldn't be sure what the bartender's reminder meant.

Regardless of the type, this world must be one where Phantom Object or similar items exist, and new Weird Tale might emerge, but no Weird Tale actually exist.

After all, if only one or two Weird Tale die, but others still Weird Tale, then it seems no different from a normal world with Weird Tale.

Back home, Feng Xue didn't rush to synthesize the Lucky Milk. Instead, following the "instruction," she set up the incense burner, inserted Incense Sticks, lit White Candle, hung lanterns, and burned some paper money in the brazier. However, the ancestral tablet didn't list the object of worship; instead, Feng Xue placed the "sacred relic" she had used to anchor the door to the world in front of it.

A Bronze Cauldron the size of a basketball.

The ding is a traditional three-legged, square-eared vessel with taotie patterns on it, but no inscription. It is unlikely to be a ritual object or a burial item, and it does not possess any extraordinary power. Feng Xue believes it is most likely a historical artifact.

However, once the cauldron was placed in the right spot, everything changed. As the ritual, which essentially symbolized some kind of Tower of Babel power, unfolded, Feng Xue felt that all the doors in her room were imbued with a special power, except for the few doors that were open, which remained unaffected.

"Done!"