If I Can't Afford to Mess with Them, I Can Still Avoid Them

(Chapter 24 was revised. If you're confused by this part, you can go back and read the second half.)

"Hey, handsome. Took you long enough."

The woman got dressed and gave Yu Peng a meaningful look.

Yu Peng stood up, got dressed, and headed for the door without responding.

"Handsome, you haven't paid yet."

"I don't have any money."

At Yu Peng's words, the woman's flattering smile vanished at once.

"No money, and you still came out to have fun? You think you can mess with me?"

The woman's expression turned fierce. Her thick foundation caked up in clumps across her face, like peeling paint on a wall.

Yu Peng ignored her and continued downstairs.

The woman obviously wasn't going to let it go. She'd worked herself to the bone, nearly worn her mouth out, and now he was saying he had no money and walking away?

What kind of joke was that?

"Stop! You're not leaving until you pay today!" The woman rushed forward and grabbed Yu Peng by the collar.

Yu Peng didn't fight back, letting her clutch his collar.

"I've been doing this for years, and you're the first one like this I've ever met! You want to get laid for free?"

"I've seen plenty of freeloaders, but you're the first deadbeat I've come across."

"You don't even know who's got my back around here. Believe me, I can make one call and have you walk in standing up and—"

Blood and chunks of flesh splattered across the walls, and the stairwell was painted red!

Yu Peng slowly withdrew the "long sword" that had emerged from his head.

Blood and scraps still clung to his face. He glanced disdainfully at the woman's corpse.

"Finally, some peace and quiet!"

Back Street.

"Forget it. I'm done looking for now. I'll leave this task for later."

Li Ran had searched from noon until four in the afternoon, but hadn't found a single clue.

The area around Back Street was a maze of narrow alleys and densely packed single-story homes. Finding the killer there would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

As they searched deeper, they also discovered that the area was home to many longtime residents.

It wasn't that the neighborhood was empty; they just didn't come out much during the day.

By night, the street would be crawling with monsters!

The sky was slowly growing dark.

If they kept searching, things would get extremely dangerous.

"What about you? Aren't you going back?" Li Ran asked Lu Zhaohui, who was still following him.

After they'd finished investigating the crime scene, Lu Zhaohui had doubled back and helped look for clues to the killer's identity.

"Um... could I borrow ten points? I want to buy some food to stock up. I'll pay you back after I finish my tutorial mission."

Lu Zhaohui lowered his head, poking his two index fingers together as he shifted awkwardly.

Li Ran didn't know what to make of him, but since he'd spent the whole afternoon helping search for the killer, Li Ran transferred him ten points.

"Spend those ten points carefully and they'll be enough to get you through three days. Don't think you can keep hiding forever. You should finish your tutorial mission as soon as possible."

"Yeah. I'll follow the outline you gave me and win the girl over."

Lu Zhaohui was a little slow and rather silly, but he was a decent person.

It wasn't that Li Ran was stingy and only gave him ten points.

He wasn't exactly a good man or a philanthropist himself. Besides, if he found himself short just a few points at a crucial moment, his life could be at stake.

It was getting late, and Li Ran needed to go home and cook for his wife and son.

On the way back, he passed a beauty salon.

A woman inside caught his attention.

She had bright eyes and pearly teeth, and an exceptionally alluring air.

Li Ran stopped outside the beauty salon and watched the alluring woman touching up her makeup inside.

(Beauty salon owner: Yang Baobao, real name: Yang Shuo)

(A-rank Mental Infector)

(Mysterious Power: 800)

Just as Li Ran was about to check the rest of the information, the woman inside sharply turned to look toward the door.

But Li Ran was no longer there.

"Strange. Wasn't someone just standing outside?"

The woman looked puzzled for a moment, but didn't think much of it. She went back to touching up her makeup in the mirror.

Meanwhile, Li Ran's figure slowly emerged from the shadows in a distant corner.

He took an identity card out of his inventory.

The name on it was unmistakably Yang Shuo.

"That alluring woman's name is Yang Shuo too?"

The woman had a flawless figure: tall and graceful, with delicate features and fair skin. From any angle, she looked like the perfect woman.

Li Ran had found this identity card beneath a bench in the neighborhood. His Golden Finger had given him a hint: (Man's identity card: There's a beauty salon on Back Street in Happy Home. You'll find the person named on this card there. This item can also be used as leverage.)

Yang Baobao?

Yang Shuo, a man?

An exotic specialty from a certain Southeast Asian country from his previous life immediately came to mind.

An A-rank Mental Infector with 800 Mysterious Power!

"Is this guy even stronger than Wang Gan?"

After everything that had happened today, Li Ran's sense of danger had climbed another notch.

First there was S-rank Grandma Mi, then the low-key but powerful Bartender, and now he'd spotted a terrifying transgender woman!

Li Ran glanced at his attributes and gave a wry smile. "If I can't afford to mess with them, I can still avoid them."

Mysterious Power: 380

Agility: 70

Strength: 70

Constitution: 50

Points: 1,300

Active Skills: [Shadow Escape] [Shadow Assault] [Blood Sickle Flying Blade]

Passive Skills: Thunder Mark, Focus

"If it weren't getting dark, I could try taking this mission."

He'd already been planning to check out the beauty salon, but the search for the killer had taken up the whole afternoon.

Now that night was falling, even with his Golden Finger, he wasn't confident he could handle it.

"Deng Zhiwei mentioned that his master was a beautiful woman who liked collecting faces, and that she'd ordered him to dispose of corpses..."

"By the sound of it, Yang Shuo must be Deng Zhiwei's master at the beauty salon."

"No wonder his face looked so weird."

Li Ran couldn't quite say what was wrong with it. It had just seemed strange at first glance.

Like a high-tech face that was obviously fake.

Unfortunately, Yang Shuo had turned Deng Zhiwei into that hideous thing.

Li Ran lifted his head and gazed toward the horizon.

The sunset was unusually red, like blood.

Back at Building One, downstairs.

Li Ran used the same trick as before and used Shadow Escape to go upstairs.

He stopped outside his front door.

Whenever he came home before, an icy gust would greet him as soon as he opened the door, or a pair of demonic eyes would be waiting for him.

This time, though, the house felt unexpectedly warm.

The scent of a meal drifted through the air.

Li Ran sniffed and, surprised, headed into the kitchen.

A beautiful figure was busy at the stove.

Her hair was tied up high, revealing a long, slender, fair neck. Her cartoon apron cinched her waist as tightly as an A4 sheet of paper. A few beads of sweat dotted her stunning profile. At the other pot, she scooped up a little broth from the beef brisket stew and carefully brought it to her lips, gently sipping it...

"So beautiful."

Li Ran stared, completely transfixed.

"Huh?"

Su Bingyao jumped. She'd been so focused that she hadn't heard Li Ran come in at all.

Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she pouted. "How long have you been standing behind me?"

"Just a little while. You were so focused, I didn't want to interrupt you."

Li Ran lifted the two bags of groceries. "Wasn't I supposed to cook?"

"You've been working so hard out there. I had nothing to do at home, so I thought I'd make dinner."

Su Bingyao's smile was especially sweet today, and she seemed to be in an especially good mood.

"All right. I'll do the dishes later, then."

As he spoke, Li Ran neatly arranged the groceries he'd bought that day in the fridge.

"I'll go check on our son first."

"He went out to play this afternoon. When he came back, he seemed upset. Go see what's wrong."

"Oh, okay."

Compared with the previous two days, Li Ran could clearly feel that Su Bingyao's attitude toward him had changed considerably.

Maybe the hypnosis from the day before had helped her let go of some of her worries.

Still, Li Ran knew that until the prank text messages were dealt with, Su Bingyao would always have a knot in her heart.

He went to Li Ziyang's room.

Li Ziyang's head had split open, and a huge Ghost Hand stretched out from his neck as he played with the toy rocking horse Li Ran had given him the day before.

If Li Ran had seen this before, he would probably have broken out in a cold sweat.

But now, he could beat his son with one hand. What did he have to fear?

Li Ran stepped forward and shoved the Ghost Hand back into his son's body, then brought the two halves of his drooping head together.

There was still a crack, but it looked much better than before.

"Son, what's wrong? Who upset you?"

Li Ziyang tossed the toy rocking horse onto the floor, and two streams of tears rolled down his face.

"Tell Dad. Dad will make sure you get justice!" Li Ran pulled Li Ziyang into his arms and comforted him.

"It was Pang Hu... He... He said I was an unwanted orphan nobody loved. They stuck chewing gum in my hair, threw my schoolbag, and spat on me..."

Li Ran's face darkened as he listened.