I Think I've Got This Again

The burly Northeastern Big Brother obediently sat down as instructed, mixing the ingredients one by one. Every so often, he craned his neck toward the shadows cast through the window and the crawling sounds outside, trembling all over.

No one could blame him. The room was pitch-dark, lit only by moonlight from outside. It was a small rural mud house, and the window paper was torn in places. From time to time, snake scales could be seen.

Luckily, snakes did not have very good eyesight, and it had lost half its body, making movement difficult. Otherwise, it would have broken in long ago.

That snake was as thick as the mouth of a bowl. With a little effort, it could swallow a human head whole, and it was fully capable of strangling someone to death. Its wound was still bleeding all the way. Anyone would be scared.

However, if Zhang Anzai's judgment was correct, Big Brother should be fine.

"Ugh..." Big Brother tossed the powder and fragments of the bracelet into the wine jar. A pungent smell rushed out, making him immediately cover his nose.

"Bear with it. Stir it evenly. It'd be best if you can crush the bracelet even finer. Once you're done, sprinkle a circle along the base of the walls, and sprinkle some on the doors and windows too. But don't use it all up. Save a little."

Big Brother had probably read Legend of the White Snake, so he understood what he was doing. He just looked a little ridiculous. Though he obediently sprinkled it everywhere, he always kept his distance, standing in the middle of the room and stretching his body outward. He was scared stiff.

But Zhang Anzai did not look down on him at all. This was how ordinary people normally reacted when they entered a dungeon and encountered ghosts and spirits. Zhang Anzai was only different because he had endured too much pressure at that heartless company and spent half a month watching dungeon explorations, leaving him somewhat desensitized.

"Grind, grind, grind. You workaholic. People like you are ruining the office atmosphere." Lin Zhao's voice came over.

Zhang Anzai had just turned to argue when a rice ball bumped into his mouth.

"You skipped lunch during your one-hour break. You didn't eat, you didn't sleep, and now you're doing this during dinner too. Have you lost your mind?" Lin Zhao had a stuffed pancake in her mouth herself, and she had brought Zhang Anzai some rice balls.

The company's breaks, aside from the nine hours at night, included a lunch break from 12:00 to 1:00 and another half-hour dinner break from 6:00 to 6:30. This was that time.

"Last week's deadline clear was awful. I'm doing a little more this week." Zhang Anzai took the rice ball from Lin Zhao and stuffed it into his mouth, speaking unclearly.

"Sigh... You could keep an eye on it with your phone while eating in the cafeteria. Kid, you've been CPU'd." Though Lin Zhao teased him, she was not much better herself. She worked just as hard.

For rookies like them, this was the only way they had a better chance of surviving.

"What's going on with this dungeon? Secret-type ones are pretty rare." As she opened her own interface, she looked over at the task Zhang Anzai was handling.

Secret-type dungeons were mostly connected to legends and mythology, from all over the Central Plains, the Chu Lands, the Shu Lands, and elsewhere.

Zhang Anzai roughly explained the situation in this dungeon. "There are only a few dungeons that can be cleared in the flesh, and this is one of them."

"This guy is built like a tank, but he turns out to study music. What, was I supposed to have him find a flute and try some Indian folk remedy?"

Zhang Anzai complained helplessly.

"A Northeasterner? Then he's completely countered. If he mistakes that big white snake for an immortal, he should just hide properly for the night."

Lin Zhao had not known much about folk customs before, but not just her—every employee who entered this place ended up learning a great deal.

"But at least he found a way to deal with it, right? In my dungeon, the player isn't even a rookie. He needs to leave the Ghost Market safely, but he refuses to leave empty-handed and insists on gambling. Turns out the other side is the Yellow Immortal, and now he owes a mountain of debt."

Lin Zhao shook her head as she spoke.

Zhang Anzai said, "Then try having him pay it back with his ass?"

"?" Lin Zhao froze with the stuffed pancake still in her mouth. "Zai, you're pretty clever. How did I not think of that?"

After chatting nonsense for a few moments, Zhang Anzai looked back at the screen.

Big Brother finished sprinkling the wine, hugged the wine jar, and sat in the middle of the room while watching his surroundings. With the substance spread in a circle around him, the snake demon could not get close. Its whereabouts around the house seemed to have vanished.

However, Zhang Anzai specifically warned him, "Don't let your guard down. There's still above."

When Big Brother saw the ink characters produced on the floor by Shadow Paper, the sleepiness in his eyes immediately vanished.

Right. The roof was made of thatch. A snake that large would collapse it the moment it climbed on top.

But the roof was too high, and normally splashing it upward would not cover it all. Big Brother understood that as well. All he could do was occasionally dip a finger in the mixture and flick a little upward, if only for peace of mind.

In truth, all they could do was pray that enough had been sprinkled around the base of the walls to keep the snake from daring to climb the house's exterior.

They watched the screen and waited for a long while. The surroundings really did seem to quiet down, with no movement at all.

Zhang Anzai watched the screen, slowly finished several rice balls, then raised a hand and pressed his headset.

Big Brother on the screen noticed something was wrong too. He immediately stood up and looked around.

A strange sound came from inside the house. It was somewhat like the sound of the snake crawling across the dirt earlier, but not quite the same. It was softer, as though something separated it.

Big Brother cautiously scanned the room, occasionally looking overhead as well. Because the sound was strange, he could not tell where it was coming from. Zhang Anzai, however, remained extremely calm, searching for the white snake amid the shaking image.

A moment later, Zhang Anzai's pupils contracted. "The kang!"

Seeing the one-word warning, Big Brother immediately turned around.

Then he saw a flash of white beneath the earthen bed. The white snake had actually burrowed in through the ground and emerged from beneath the kang.

"Crack!" Terrified, Big Brother flung the wine jar away with a backhanded throw. The red-and-yellow wine inside spilled all over the floor.

"His..." The white snake moved, and countless bricks forming the earthen bed were pushed upward by half an inch.

But after its body twisted for a while, it ultimately could not withstand the things around it. Strange black smoke rose from its white scales as it rolled over on the spot.

The kang completely collapsed, kicking up a cloud of dust, but the snake demon had already disappeared.

"So it really works." Zhang Anzai let out a breath of relief. The orange-yellow powder was realgar, and the bracelet had been made of cinnabar. Mixed into wine, they were exceptionally effective against snakes.

Especially since this dungeon did not seem to be beyond Shanhai Pass. This white snake was merely a demon, not some great immortal. It feared realgar and fled from cinnabar.

"Oh damn, that worked great. Steady, bro." The moment Big Brother saw the snake demon flee, he immediately relaxed.

Zhang Anzai had used up all five chances to use Shadow Paper, so there was nothing more he could do. But dawn was beginning to break outside, and judging by the time, the dungeon should be clearing soon.

"What a shame. I should've saved one chance to have this guy leave a good review."

That was right. Players could rate administrators after a dungeon ended. He had given himself a positive review last night, of course. Not that it meant much—at the very least, it did not pay. Maybe the people above just liked seeing it.

After waiting a little longer, the dungeon was indeed settled.

Mission completed [Secret: Spirit Snake Debt Collection]