"Die, die!!!!"
The old woman raised a handful of banknotes high, about to hurl them at Lin Qi.
Already prepared, Lin Qi sneered. "Bro, do me a fav..."
The old woman's frenzied expression suddenly froze. She realized she could no longer control her body!
Shock, confusion, and terror rose in her eyes...
Unfortunately, before she could figure out what was happening, the banknotes she held high began scattering, falling from above her head onto every part of her body.
Her body turned deathly white at an astonishing speed, finally becoming a paper figure that fell to the ground, utterly silent!
"An anomaly!! It's an anomaly!!!"
The old woman's sudden transformation sent the convoy's survivors who had never seen the Red-Clothed Opera Performer screaming in alarm, fleeing in panic toward the Extraordinary up ahead.
"Lin Qi, what happened!"
Wang Feng was still the first to arrive. His expression turned extremely grim as he looked at the old woman, now a paper figure. "Lin Qi, did that thing follow us here!"
"No."
Lin Qi shook his head. "She got those banknotes from who knows where and got herself killed playing around with them."
"What happened?"
As the two spoke, the Transcendent Squad up ahead was alerted. Several figures passed through the crowd and hurried over to the off-road vehicle.
Leading them was none other than the Floral Shorts Captain, who had never appeared at the rear before.
Clearly, the appearance of an anomaly was far beyond what Liu Yan could handle.
The captain first glanced at the old woman on the ground, then at the banknotes covering her body. He was rather baffled too. As far as he could sense, there should not have been any anomalies nearby.
"Captain, here's what happened..."
Wang Feng briefly explained the situation. The captain visibly relaxed, his expression turning stern. "She couldn't have come into contact with those banknotes. Someone must be pulling the strings behind her!"
"Liu Yan, investigate! Find whoever was behind her! We can't allow a danger like this to remain in our group!"
The captain's tone was severe. He was clearly serious.
"Understood."
Upon receiving her orders, Liu Yan immediately led the members behind her toward the nearest vehicle and began frantically searching every spot inside where anything could be hidden.
The survivors watched helplessly as their vehicles were turned upside down, not daring to make a sound. Naturally, they too hoped the mastermind would be caught. Otherwise, anyone would be on edge with someone so dangerous hiding among the survivors.
"We'll help too!"
Wang Feng volunteered, running over to Liu Yan with his teammates. He certainly would not miss an opportunity like this to earn the Transcendent Squad's goodwill.
Once they began searching,
only Lin Qi, the captain, and Green Radish, who stood behind the captain examining the old woman's paper body, remained in front of the off-road vehicle.
The captain looked Lin Qi up and down. "So you're the kid Green Radish told me about."
He scrutinized Lin Qi for a while, then said evenly, "You're pretty good."
"Mm." This was Lin Qi's first time meeting him, and he did not know what to say, so he simply nodded in silent acceptance of the goodwill.
But the captain soon changed tack. "Still, you'd better stay away from Green Radish. That woman is no good."
"What are you saying!"
Hearing herself mentioned, Green Radish, who had been examining the old woman, instantly sprang to her feet and grabbed the captain's ear. "I'll let you rephrase that!"
"Ow, that hurts, that hurts! My ear! Lady Green Radish is invincible! Lady Green Radish is simply the nicest person in the world!!!"
Under Lin Qi's shocked gaze, the captain lost his composure in a single second, with none of his earlier steadiness remaining.
"Good to see you know what's good for you."
Green Radish seemed thoroughly familiar with the captain's ways. Only after he backed down did she pick up the paper old woman from the ground. "I'm taking this thing away to study it. You don't mind, do you?"
She looked at Lin Qi.
Lin Qi did not dare hesitate in the slightest. "Not at all..."
"Good."
Green Radish nodded, then abruptly kicked the captain. "What are you staring at? Let's go."
"Come on, my lady, can't you show me a little respect in front of other people? I am the captain, after all..."
The captain helplessly followed Green Radish away, his voice filled with sorrow.
After witnessing this scene, Lin Qi really could not tell who called the shots in the convoy...
With the farce over, much of Lin Qi's sleepiness had dissipated.
He returned to the driver's seat and opened the Virtual Panel.
The ad had refreshed, and he went straight to playing it.
As expected, it was another Leibi ad.
Instead of buying it, he tapped to favorite it.
"Time to witness a miracle!"
Lin Qi rubbed his hands together. After he tapped to favorite it, a new option appeared in the bottom-right corner of the virtual screen-Favorites!
Opening Favorites brought up another new screen.
In the top-left corner of the otherwise empty screen was the Leibi he had just favorited.
[Product name: Leibi] [Daily purchase limit: 1.] [Current stock: 30.]
Seeing that he could buy it thirty times, even if those purchases had to be spread over thirty days, Lin Qi breathed a sigh of relief.
Thinking of how he had not favorited the extraordinary ability earlier, he could only bitterly regret it now.
Still, items had limited stock. Perhaps after buying an extraordinary ability, its stock might also be one.
As for how it actually worked, he would have to wait until a new extraordinary ability appeared before looking into it.
Lin Qi's gaze fell on the Ghost Cash balance in the bottom-right corner.
He had used his ability frequently in Liu Family Village, and that damned Red-Clothed Opera Performer had stolen five thousand Ghost Cash from him!
His balance was now only two thousand three hundred...
"That should more or less be enough."
Lin Qi turned his attention back to Leibi and chose to buy a bottle.
Just as he was about to close the virtual screen, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that a notification had appeared in a corner of the screen at some point.
[Three products may be added to Favorites each month.] [Remaining Favorites slots: 2.]
Lin Qi's expression changed as he read the new notification. "Only three favorites a month? Looks like I'll have to be more careful about what I favorite..."
The Leibi appeared in his hand with that same familiar feel.
Ever since Leibi had gained its special property, he no longer disliked it as much as before. He unscrewed the cap and gulped it straight down.
Cool to the core, chilled to the heart!
"It was him!!!"
"He was always such a nice guy! I never thought those banknotes came from him!"
"He was the mastermind!!! And he even killed himself out of guilt!"
Cries of shock came from outside the vehicle.
Lin Qi's attention was immediately drawn over, and he looked toward the center of the commotion.
A corpse whose entire body had turned to paper lay stiffly across the back seat of a vehicle, looking as though he had killed himself out of guilt. His eyes were wide open, unable to rest in death...
Before you continue