Bro, Give Me Face

The corner of Lin Qi's mouth twitched. What kind of sane person haggled the price up when buying something?

But this clearly wasn't the time to complain. The ad had ended, and he was still in his invincibility frames.

Three options popped up beneath the virtual screen.

[Buy.]

[Save.]

[Exit.]

Beside the three options was a thirty-second countdown.

Although this was Lin Qi's first time seeing anything so absurd, he understood that once those thirty seconds ended, the so-called invincibility frames would disappear.

Only a butcher's blade awaited him.

"Buy!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Qi pulled a stack of pitch-black banknotes from his pocket.

The pitch-black notes were called Ghost Cash, another thing that had appeared after the Blood Moon manifested.

Ghost Cash readily formed in places with extremely dense ghostly energy.

It occasionally formed in places with thinner ghostly energy too, but that depended entirely on luck.

A week into the apocalypse, Lin Qi had barely collected a thousand in Ghost Cash, and almost all of it had come from his escape from the city in the early days.

After leaving the city, he had gained almost nothing.

Ghost Cash wasn't much use to ordinary people like them, but they could exchange it for supplies with the Extraordinary Sequence members in the convoy.

The Extraordinary Sequence was humanity's only means of fighting the horrors after their arrival.

Using extraordinary abilities came at a cost, and Ghost Cash could offset that cost, so the extraordinary flocked to it!

Unfortunately, the awakening rate for the Extraordinary Sequence was extremely low. His convoy had only three extraordinary individuals.

"Buy!"

Lin Qi held out the Ghost Cash, and just as he was wondering how to make the purchase...

The Ghost Cash abruptly shattered into a cloud of black mist and quickly merged into the virtual screen.

After absorbing the Ghost Cash, the virtual screen began to change as well.

New information appeared, written in blood-red letters!

[Extraordinary ability purchased successfully.]

[Congratulations on obtaining the rule-type extraordinary ability: Bro, Give Me Face!]

[Ability description: Politely call out "Bro, give me face" and pay Ghost Cash to briefly send the target into a confused, immobilized state. Attacking will immediately interrupt the effect.]

[Ability cost: Consumes one hundred in Ghost Cash. After using the ability, please give the target one thousand in Ghost Cash as soon as possible, or they will turn hostile and show you no consideration whatsoever!]

[Note: The friendly state lasts for a limited time. After paying the Ghost Cash, please move away from the target as soon as possible!]

[Note: This ability does not make you extraordinary. You must collect four abilities to advance to extraordinary!]

[This system reserves all rights of interpretation.]

Lin Qi: ...

He hadn't expected that after a lifetime of reading novels, he would get a system himself just as he was about to die.

He'd thought fate had favored him and made him extraordinary, but he was only one-quarter extraordinary.

Still, he wasn't dissatisfied. Obtaining a system had already given him more confidence in his ability to survive the apocalypse.

It was a good ability, but he'd spent everything he had buying it. How was he supposed to use it?

Fortunately-fortunately, perhaps because the chef horror couldn't attack him earlier, its hostility had temporarily faded, and it had turned and returned to the kitchen.

But if he wanted to leave, he would inevitably make noise, and the chef horror would definitely return.

Lin Qi pondered for a moment. Unable to find a way out, he could only call to the system in his mind: System, I'm completely broke right now. I can't use the extraordinary ability at all!

Besides, you wouldn't want the host you just bound yourself to dying within an hour, would you?

The virtual screen began to flicker.

As though it were thinking.

Soon, a new line of blood-red text appeared.

[Initial binding detected. Would the host like to open the beginner's gift pack?]

"Whew."

At the mention of a beginner's gift pack, Lin Qi finally exhaled a stale breath. "You really did have something!"

How could he hesitate for even a moment? "Open it!"

[Beginner's gift pack opened.]

[The host has received one ad-viewing opportunity.]

[The host has received one Ghost Cash deduction voucher.]

[Ghost Cash deduction voucher: After using this voucher, you may temporarily borrow Ghost Cash from the system. All spending within five minutes will be fully offset!]

"Good, good, good."

The more Lin Qi read, the more satisfied he became. With the system's appearance, even the oppressive feeling from the chef horror seemed to be rapidly diminishing.

He wanted to make the most of the Ghost Cash deduction voucher. Rather than use his ability immediately, he spoke in his mind: Use the ad-viewing opportunity.

[Generating ad...]

[What? All used up in one second?]

[Are you still troubled by not having enough extraordinary abilities?]

[Newcomer offer! More for the same price! Extraordinary ability bonanza!]

[Not 9.8, not 98, just 998!]

[Buy.][Save.][Exit.]

Unlike last time, a balance indicator appeared in the bottom-right corner.

[Current balance: 0.]

Lin Qi didn't know whether he was lucky or whether all the ads sold extraordinary abilities. He barely hesitated. "Use the Ghost Cash deduction voucher. Buy!"

As soon as he spoke, the balance in the bottom-right corner of the virtual screen changed to -998.

He didn't care. It would all be reset to zero in five minutes anyway.

[Extraordinary ability purchased successfully.]

[Congratulations on obtaining the rule-type extraordinary ability: I Fine You 800 Yuan!]

[Ability description: When you shout "I Fine You 800 Yuan!", you will steal eight hundred in Ghost Cash from the target! And earn their endless hatred!]

[Ability cost: No consumption, but limited to six uses per day! Know your limits before using this ability, and be careful your scheme doesn't leave you worse off!]

[Note: This ability can only be used on the same target once per day.]

Lin Qi quickly went through the information.

He had to get out within five minutes.

"System, put away the virtual screen, and lend me two thousand in Ghost Cash while you're at it!"

Lin Qi picked it up without being taught. As he muttered quietly, the virtual screen indeed disappeared, and thanks to the Ghost Cash deduction voucher, two thousand in Ghost Cash appeared in his hands.

Bang!

Bang, bang, bang!

Lin Qi once again began frantically kicking the edge of the rolling shutter.

Unlike last time, his heart was now brimming with confidence.

With two extraordinary abilities in hand, if he couldn't survive, who could?

Tap, tap.

Tap, tap.

Footsteps sounded alongside his kicks against the shutter.

The butcher horror appeared right on cue.

Lin Qi kicked hard, putting every ounce of strength he had into it.

The edge of the rolling shutter visibly began to deform and twist. A little sunlight slipped through the gap and fell on a few corners of the snack shop floor.

Tap, tap.

Tap, tap.

The footsteps drew closer and closer.

The stench of blood began to swirl around him.

Bang!

Only after landing another kick did Lin Qi hurriedly turn to look.

The chef horror was less than five meters away.

Lin Qi took a deep breath and spoke softly. "Bro, Give Me Some Face?"

As the words left his mouth, his hand grew heavy. A stack of Ghost Cash appeared without warning.

The topmost Ghost Cash turned into black mist and quickly dissipated.

Lin Qi paid no attention to the Ghost Cash. His gaze remained fixed on the chef horror.

At the same moment he used his ability...

The chef horror stopped mid-stride, its entire body standing motionless in place, as though waiting for something.

Lin Qi quickly caught on. He took a thousand from the Ghost Cash in his hand and carefully offered it to the chef horror.

Although he possessed extraordinary abilities, this was his first time using one, and he was still somewhat wary.

Fortunately, the chef horror swept out its large hand, snatched the Ghost Cash, and vanished into the darkness of the kitchen without another word.

"Whew."

Lin Qi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Using the system for the first time still left him afraid.

Bang!

Bang, bang, bang!

The violent sound of kicking the shutter began to echo again.

He had to admit, money made things easy.

Ever since he'd given the chef horror the Ghost Cash, it hadn't come out for so much as another glance, no matter how much noise he made.

Until he kicked the rolling shutter completely out of shape.

Warm sunlight bathed his entire body.

Yet Lin Qi's eyes were exceptionally cold. "Since I made it out alive, someone has to die..."