Three "Benefit Fees"

At this moment, under the shadows of a certain part of the woods.

Watching the scene of that cruel dismemberment, Li Ran could not help but feel a palpitation of the heart.

As the saying goes, three feet above one's head dwell the gods; men may be deceived, but Heaven cannot!

Li Ran had witnessed with his own eyes the retribution of a wicked man.

Upon hearing the gunshot, Li Ran had immediately utilized Shadow Escape to approach the area, witnessing the entire process of Xiao Yi's miserable death.

Why not save him?

If it were only Chen Jiabin, Li Ran could have easily rescued Xiao Yi.

But with Chen Jiabin added to a pack of Cursed Demon Dogs, Li Ran had to weigh his own worth to see if he was enough to feed that pack of hounds.

Before coming here, he felt fortunate that he had asked Grandpa Ge about some of the rules in the residential complex.

One of them was: do not provoke the stray dogs in the complex; they are extremely ferocious!

Grandpa Ge had said "they."

And Li Ran had just witnessed "them" himself.

Admittedly, his current strength was above that of the demonized Chen Jiabin and the Cursed Demon Dogs, but Li Ran did not believe he had the ability to take on ten at once.

Xiao Yi had treated his teammates as cannon fodder, never imagining that a teammate would turn into a devil and kill him in return.

If he had learned of this rule before accepting the mission, he would not have died so miserably.

If he hadn't asked Grandpa Ge for information first, perhaps Li Ran would have accepted this mission too if he had encountered it.

"It seems that the mission to drive away the vicious dogs is a total death trap; whoever goes, dies!" Li Ran said with a lingering sense of fear.

"But why did Chen Jiabin become the leader of that pack of demon dogs?"

This question was something Li Ran could not fathom.

"Could it be that Chen Jiabin and the Cursed Demon Dogs were infected by the same batch of virus?"

Li Ran could only think along those lines; otherwise, there was no way to explain Chen Jiabin's ability to command the pack.

Of course, everything in the Weird World was inherently difficult to explain with science.

In any case, he would have to be careful of Chen Jiabin from now on.

"Sigh, before I knew it, I've gained another enemy."

"Squeak~"

Scarlet Iris, watching its master, mimicked him and let out a sigh as well, though the sound it made was adorable.

"Let's go, I promised to take you for a 'big sword' treatment," Li Ran said.

"Squeak?!"

He left via Shadow Escape.

Li Ran arrived at the Back Street once again.

Having had the experience once before, Li Ran was now quite familiar with the place.

He arrived at the entrance of that Beauty Salon again.

"Welcome."

"May I ask, sir, is the beauty treatment for you or your wife? Our shop is about to celebrate its one-year anniversary with a grand sale. All services are forty percent off if you come in today. If you miss it, you'll have to wait another year..."

He looked at the tall, bewitching woman who was so hospitable before him.

She was the terrifying Mental Infector who indirectly caused the death of Deng Zhiwei, a horrific beauty salon killer who loved collecting women's faces, and whose Mysterious Power value was even higher than Li Ran's.

Li Ran pointed at the little creature on his shoulder and said:

"It's getting a beauty treatment."

"Squeak?!"

Yang Baobao glanced at the little fox on Li Ran's shoulder, and the enthusiasm on her face vanished instantly:

"Customer, this is not a pet shop. Pet grooming is out the door and to the right."

Having said that, she couldn't be bothered to pay any more attention to Li Ran and walked back into the shop.

Li Ran narrowed his eyes, watching the woman's retreating figure.

(Beauty Salon Manager: Yang Baobao, Real Name: Yang Shuo)
(Rank A Mental Infector)
(Mysterious Power: 800)
(A man, deep within whose heart dwells a young girl.)
(He is obsessively infatuated with beautiful exteriors, especially the faces of pretty women.)
(He fears his true identity being exposed. If you find his ID card, you can demand a bribe from him, up to three times.)

He hadn't seen the prompt clearly last time, but after reading it clearly this time, Li Ran raised an eyebrow, suddenly finding it quite interesting.

Li Ran followed her inside and plopped down onto the sofa by the reception desk.

"Older Sister, isn't my pet cute?" Li Ran lifted Scarlet Iris into his hands and gently stroked its soft fur.

"Squeak~" Little Scarlet Iris squinted its eyes in enjoyment.

"Sir, if you don't leave now, don't blame me for being impolite," Yang Baobao said, her expression darkening.

[Quest Triggered: The Beauty Salon Owner's Secret]

[Quest Rewards: Mysterious Power +100, Points +1000]

[This quest contains hidden rewards; the rewards are generous.]

Hearing the sound of the quest triggering, Li Ran continued to stroke the little fox unhurriedly. In his other hand, however, an ID card appeared, and he said with a smirk:

"A few days ago, I was taking a walk in the park and accidentally found an ID card under a bench. The person on the ID is a man named Yang Shuo, who happens to look quite a bit like you. I wonder if you recognize the person on it."

Upon hearing this, Yang Baobao's face changed drastically. She transformed into a bloody shadow and lunged forward, attempting to snatch the ID card from Li Ran's hand.

"Give it to me!"

Yang Baobao suddenly roared with a ferocious look, her voice becoming coarse and masculine.

"Squeak!"

At this moment, Scarlet Iris sensed the threat and immediately transformed into the massive Dark Three-Tailed Fox, shielding Li Ran.

"Get lost, you stinking fox!" Yang Baobao raged, her arm morphing into a blade made of tangled tentacles, slashing toward Scarlet Iris.

Scarlet Iris did not back down, unleashing two Rending Claw strikes forward. The two forces collided, causing Yang Baobao to retreat a step while the Dark Three-Tailed Fox was knocked back several meters.

Yet, Li Ran remained seated on the sofa with a smile, pinching the ID card that was driving Yang Baobao mad: "If you dare to harm a single hair on it, I guarantee your true identity will spread throughout the entire neighborhood immediately."

"You wouldn't dare!" Yang Baobao hissed.

"Want to test me?" Li Ran replied.

The two stood in a standoff; although Li Ran's Mysterious Power was weaker, his momentum was not the least bit inferior.

Coupled with the aura of the Dark Three-Tailed Fox, Li Ran appeared incredibly arrogant.

In that instant, space seemed to freeze, and the atmosphere grew nearly solid.

In the span of just a few seconds, the expressions on Yang Baobao's face shifted from anger to struggle, then to reluctance, and finally to compromise. The speed at which the expressions changed on her delicate face left Li Ran stunned; it would be a waste if she didn't go into acting.

After Yang Baobao compromised, she forced an ugly smile onto her face: "Customer, I will arrange the beauty treatment for your pet right away."

"No need, I'm not in the mood anymore," Li Ran said.

Yang Baobao glared at him: "You, what do you mean?!"

"I'm in a terrible mood right now, so you need to compensate me for my emotional distress," Li Ran said.

"Screw you!" Yang Baobao cursed.

The guy was clearly robbing him, yet he still had to make up an excuse?

Yang Baobao was about to explode with rage, but she felt helpless against him.

In this internet age, if he posted on the community forum, his real information would spread across the entire neighborhood.

By then, the identity he had painstakingly hidden for years would be exposed.

Since he was a child, people had pointed fingers at him and called him a pervert. Relatives and friends were ashamed to even mention him, and his family treated him like a piece of filth.

Thus, he had severed all ties with his past and come to a strange place.

He had discarded his original identity and started over as Yang Baobao.

But the appearance of this man had once again torn open his ugly scars!

"This depends on your sincerity. If I'm happy, I'll naturally return this thing to you. If I'm not happy, heh, you know the consequences." Li Ran smiled fearlessly, not worried at all about what Yang Baobao could do to him.

After all, the golden finger prompt indicated he could "extort" her three times.

He felt that sometimes, not acting like a human was actually quite satisfying.

After all, the thing he was facing wasn't even human to begin with!