Ink Marker Becomes a Yokai? Even if It Becomes a Yokai, I Won't Hand It Over to You!

Oh, this person is actually quite kind.

Shen Le had listened to the wife's nagging and scolding of her husband the entire way, so being on the receiving end of such a sudden, caring remark left him quite surprised. He narrowed his eyes slightly, sized the other party up, and replied with a smile:

"I'm fine. My place is quiet and peaceful; there isn't a single issue."

If there were to be any trouble, it would be the Ink Marker causing it, but so far, the Ink Marker had been very well-behaved, showing no signs of acting up at all...

He waved at the couple with a smile, turned, and walked toward Old Street, intending to head to the Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant to fill his stomach and, incidentally, pick up the Little Puppet after its shift.

Just as he crossed a small bridge, the sound of hurried footsteps caught up from behind, accompanied by breathless shouting:

"Mr. Shen, wait a moment! Wait!—Shen Le!!!"

Who is that?

Shen Le stopped and turned his head, instantly wanting to turn back around and pretend he hadn't seen them. It's you two again?

You two are the ones who were acting all mysterious, lying to me with fake identities, and wrongly accusing my Little Puppet of being a villain?

Now that the Little Puppet's name is cleared, what do you want again?

However, it was already too late to pretend he hadn't seen them.

The Special Affairs Duo came sprinting over, each carrying a large backpack that swung back and forth on their shoulders, thumping loudly with every step.

When they reached Shen Le, the older one stopped to wipe away sweat, while the younger one panted heavily, gasping for air as he asked:

"Mr... Mr. Shen... did you... buy... a box of woodworking tools yesterday?"

Hm?

Are you monitoring me?

Shen Le raised an eyebrow and shot them a sidelong glance.

The Special Affairs Duo felt their legs go a bit weak under his gaze, but such is the hardship of being a civil servant; duty called, so they still had to ask.

Seeing the disbelief in Shen Le's eyes, Gu Yulin braced himself and hurriedly interjected:

"It's like this: we received a report from a family yesterday stating that for five consecutive days, their home had been covered in ink lines.

After our investigation, we determined that the ink line incident might be related to their old woodworking tool chest, and there is a strong lingering yin energy around both the ink lines and the chest. For your safety..."

You want me to hand the tool chest over to you, right?

And that Ink Marker too, right?

"May I ask, if it is proven to be a problem with the tool chest, how will you handle it?"

Shen Le preemptively asked. Gu Yulin answered immediately without a second thought:

"We have specialized purification methods that can cleanse this yin energy..."

And then they won't be able to come back to life, right?

Just like my Little Puppet—once purified, it would die and never be able to become a spirit artifact again, right?

"Oh, that tool chest? I've had it at home for a day, and there hasn't been a single strange occurrence. I think there's no need to hand it over to you for processing."

"Mr. Shen!!!"

Shen Le ignored him.

The energy of that Ink Marker—or, as the Special Affairs Department would call it, yin energy—was not very high; it was about the same as the Little Puppet's.

The Little Puppet had been quiet and obedient in his hands; from the moment he took it apart to when he repaired it, it hadn't caused a single bit of trouble.

He had already dismantled the Ink Marker into individual parts and sanded away half of the outer paint, yet there hadn't been any abnormalities.

Therefore, it could be inferred that in his hands, the Ink Marker shouldn't be able to stir up any trouble either.

Besides, he had the Copper Fragment, the internal energy and Spirit Eye granted by the Copper Fragment, and a big shot sitting in the residence—

Although Camphor Tree Ah Lu didn't talk much and always stood perfectly still, it was the entity with the strongest aura in this residence!

If anyone dared to cause trouble, he would just send them under the camphor tree; he didn't believe the big shot couldn't suppress them!

"Mr. Shen, for your own safety, you should really reconsider..."

"I have considered it, and there is absolutely no problem."

Shen Le replied with ironclad certainty, while secretly channeling the technique given by the Copper Fragment, gathering energy into his eyes in case the other party tried any underhanded tricks. Gu Yulin smiled bitterly and took two steps back, then unlocked his phone and held it out toward him:

"Then please be very careful. By the way, could we add each other on WeChat? If you encounter any trouble, you can contact us, or if the family that sold you the tools encounters any issues..."

Shen Le stared at him without speaking. However, Gu Yulin bowed slightly, offered a conciliatory smile, and held his phone out, refusing to leave. After the two stood in a stalemate for a moment, Shen Le frowned and finally asked:

"By the way, are there some things I can entrust you to buy? Like concentrated nitric acid or something..."

"Yes! As long as you explain the purpose and ensure it is legitimate, it's fine!"

Gu Yulin answered hurriedly. Being able to latch onto a big shot's thigh—what was a little bit of reagent compared to that!

Well... fine then, it's not entirely useless. Shen Le lowered his eyes, added the other party on WeChat, waved his hand, and turned to run toward the Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant.

The railings, window frames, and tables and chairs in this Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant were feeling quite old, too. Next time he'd ask the Landlady if she wanted them repaired or renovated; he could make a profit on the side...

After finishing their meal, Shen Le carried the Little Puppet back home, strolling along at a leisurely pace before setting her down on the Zither Table.

"Be a good girl and go play by yourself. I have work to do. Don't play with fire, don't jump into the water, and don't go crawling into random places! You have a performance tomorrow; if you get your clothes wet, they won't have time to dry!"

"I want to see what you're doing!" Xiao Ling raised a hand, and silk threads flew out, coiling around the fluorescent lamp. She pulled herself into the air and leaped onto Shen Le's workbench. "When you repaired me, I didn't know how you did it, but now that you're fixing something else, I can see! I want to watch!"

The fluorescent lamp creaked. Shen Le looked up, breaking into a cold sweat. "Take it easy! Don't pull the lamp down and break it! It can't handle your weight! And don't dive into that basin! That stuff is corrosive!"

"What is corrosive?"

"It means if it drips on your face, your face will rot! If it drips on your clothes, your clothes will rot!" Shen Le warned, trying to scare her. "If you don't want to be disfigured or have your pretty clothes ruined with black holes, stay away!"

"Oh..."

The Little Puppet clicked and clacked as she stepped back twice, then sat on top of the plastic tool box, resting her chin in her hands to watch.

She watched the large porcelain bowl bubble and fizz, and she watched Shen Le bustling about. She flicked her left hand, using a silk thread to snag the corner of his shirt and give it a tug. "What is this? Why is it bubbling?"

"Oh, this is rust remover. I'm removing rust from a metal shaft," Shen Le replied without looking up. Xiao Ling leaned in, peered around, and then went back to staring at the bubbling liquid.

"What is rust remover? Why does it need to soak in rust remover? Did I soak in it back then?"

"Generally speaking, it's a diluted acid, like dilute acetic acid or oxalic acid. Since it's a metal rod, it's convenient to use this to remove the rust," Shen Le answered the Little Puppet patiently while he worked. "You didn't soak in it back then. You're made of wood, and wood doesn't rust, so you didn't need to soak in this. Look, back then you just needed to be cleaned, like this—scrubbing and wiping..."

He held the Ink Marker steady with one hand while using a damp, soft cloth in the other to wipe, wipe, and wipe again. After cleaning the inside and outside once, he wiped it down again with dish soap, then turned back to look at the Ink Marker's shaft.

The metal shaft had been tossed into the rust remover, and after five minutes, it began to take effect. Within half an hour, the rust on the surface had mostly loosened, and a single wipe revealed a bright shine.