The cramped space, with no one speaking, felt especially quiet and desolate, utterly devoid of life.
Cold moonlight streamed straight through the large glass windows, illuminating that rose in its wild, unrestrained bloom.
The young man tapped his index finger lightly against the tabletop, lounging in his chair as he waited idly for the supplier to arrive.
Both his looks and his way of doing things were striking enough that even sitting there doing nothing sent the livestream viewers into a frenzy of donations and praise.
Six deathly pale monsters stood motionless in different corners of the room, showing no aggression for the moment.
The hour hand soon reached three.
Knock, knock, knock.
Knock, knock, knock.
They're here!
Qi Liang and the others jolted, instinctively looking toward the door.
A huge truck had pulled up outside at some point. The pace of the knocking alone made the visitor's impatience clear.
All three looked at Shen Ru. Without their realizing it, this young man had become their leader, and they seemed to need his approval for every decision before they felt confident enough to act.
Hearing the knocking, Shen Ru curled his lips into a wicked smile. A flicker of inscrutable amusement crossed his dark red eyes, as though he were plotting something nasty.
"Open the door!"
They hurried to open it. The figure's shadow on the ground looked particularly broad and imposing, and as the door swung open, the light from inside fell across the visitor's face.
When Qi Liang got a clear look at the newcomer, he sucked in a sharp breath.
This person...
Had no face...
Wet, sticky yellow mud covered the entire figure, with excess sludge even trickling down its body onto the ground. Muffled gurgles came from the thing's throat, immediately calling to mind cries for help from someone whose throat had been clogged with cement.
No one noticed that, amid the deathly silence, the new employees had silently positioned themselves behind the players.
They formed a straight line and slowly moved toward the door.
Shen Ru showed neither terror nor panic. He merely narrowed his dark red eyes slightly, looking thoughtful.
What would something made of mud, inside and out, deliver?
Looking at that featureless head, the young man's heart suddenly clenched.
No way...
With a smile on his face, Shen Ru gave the foul-smelling heap of mud a slight nod and spoke as though trying to confirm something:
"Can I take a look at the goods first?"
There was nothing odd about the request. As the buyer, he had neither revealed that he didn't know what the goods were nor overstepped his right to inspect their quality before deciding how much to buy.
The supplier paused briefly. Apparently finding no flaw in that reasoning, it nodded in agreement.
Shen Ru and the others went around to the back of the truck. From farther away, they hadn't been able to see it clearly.
Only when they drew closer did they discover that the entire cargo compartment, especially its gaps, was filled with wet yellow mud. Some of it was even writhing, as though it had been given life.
Qi Liang looked up at the enormous cargo compartment, and an inexplicable sense of foreboding made him shudder violently.
Unable to help himself, he looked toward the other players, only to accidentally meet the eyes of the six eerie monsters standing in a row. Frightened, Qi Liang instantly stumbled back two steps.
Watching the mud constantly shift shape, Shen Ru could no longer suppress his desire to investigate and gestured for the supplier to hurry up and show him.
The lock clicked open, and the cargo doors swung wide.
Rows of human-face masks made of yellow mud were arranged neatly inside.
Every face was sculpted with lifelike detail, each more bizarre than the last. Some masks even had sunken eye sockets and mouths that kept opening and closing, saying who knew what.
So this was what their convenience store was supposed to sell!
The blond was so terrified by the sight that his mouth hung open. He hurriedly covered it and whispered:
"Are we really not going to have problems if we put these creepy things in the store?"
Qi Liang shook his head too, his face deathly pale. This was no longer remotely comparable to the beginner instances he'd cleared before. At least, before this instance, he had never seen so many living human faces.
Wei Lingling keenly noticed that, ever since this beautiful young man had seen the goods, his body had begun trembling uncontrollably.
So even Shen Ru got scared sometimes. He was still human, after all. How could he not be afraid?
The rims of Shen Ru's eyes reddened slightly. Ever since he'd seen this eerie scene, his excitement had been impossible to conceal. He was so thrilled that a thin sheen of sweat had even formed on his palms.
He began to wonder who had come up with this game's scenario.
This was nothing short of heaven on earth.
Fortunately, the young man quickly composed his expression. He lightly licked the right corner of his mouth, then asked with a slight frown:
"Were these made fresh today? Why do some of them look cracked?"
After speaking, Shen Ru casually pointed out a few defective pieces.
After his last round of haggling over a human head, he'd carefully studied bargaining tactics. This time, he decided to start by taking the other party down a peg.
The mud figure visibly hesitated at the sight. Before it could offer an explanation, the young man's gentle voice rang out again:
"Still, it wasn't easy for you to come all this way. Consider it something toward your fuel costs. I'll take all of these, but as for the price..."
He left his words open-ended, ready to use Time Stop at any moment. If this damned mud figure didn't know what was good for it, he would turn those defective pieces into complete junk. Then, even if the monster offered to pay him to take them, it wouldn't get a single cent out of him.
The mud figure apparently hadn't expected him to leave it any room to maneuver and hurriedly replied:
"The price is negotiable. They're normally 100 each, but if you take them all, I'll give you 80!"
The young man snorted coldly without even looking up at it. He merely snapped his fingers lightly, then spoke with some dissatisfaction, as though he'd discovered something:
"Several of these masks are shattered. Maybe even saying they were made yesterday was giving you too much credit."
In the livestream chat:
[????]
[Those ones over there were shattered just now??? Who the hell are you trying to fool??]
[Holy shit, did this sweet-looking little schemer just use his talent to smash everything he didn't like?]
[...My wife really knows how to haggle.]
The monster had no idea what had happened either. More and more sticky fluid ran down its body, and a rank stench instantly spread through the area. The disgusting smell invaded their nostrils, making them gag.
It paused for so long that Qi Liang thought the deal was surely off. To his surprise, however, a hoarse voice slowly rang out as the thing snarled through gritted teeth:
"Then what do you think is a fair price?"
A gleam instantly flashed through his dark red eyes, and the corners of his vivid red lips lifted slightly. Beneath the moonlight, the young man was breathtakingly beautiful.
Human desire was truly endless. He'd thought the supplier would lash out in humiliation, yet it had actually yielded further. It seemed this beginner instance placed considerable restrictions on its monsters too.
Shen Ru blinked lightly. Unlike the monster's snarling, his voice was impossibly gentle:
"40."
He'd originally intended to offer 50, but this thing kept testing his limits, which annoyed him a little.
The thing seemed to deflate. It nodded viciously, shaking loose a few drops of foul-smelling mud in the process.
In the livestream chat:
[I feel like he's not cutting the price, he's cutting the monster's lifespan hahahaha.]
[Hahahahaha I'm dying. From 100 down to 40. I seriously bow down to him!!]
[Holy shit, is this really a fucking rookie streamer??? I have good reason to suspect he's on an alt.]
[My wife always gives me such confidence. I feel like even 30 would've worked hahahaha.]
[Hey, you above me, that's going too far hahahaha!]
Before you continue