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A Fu crawled out from under the door and greeted Zhou Yang with a sinister smile.

Zhou Yang nodded, then hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "I came to your house to work yesterday, but I knocked on the door for a long time and you didn't Gate of Opening."

Weren't you home yesterday?

"Something came up yesterday, so I had to go out to run errands."

"I made quite a few hoes and sickles, and I'll have to sell them everywhere," A Fu said with a sinister smile, his expression unchanged.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yang's eyes showed a hint of envy.

Money is a wonderful thing.

Even the paper money in ghost villages has its uses.

If he had enough paper money, Zhou Yang could at least quickly cultivate the Right Mindfulness Lock to perfection and Phantom-Grown Limb.

With the eight strands of Mindfulness he has now accumulated, even if he opens the Ghost Mouth around his navel, his Mindfulness is enough to lock all the Ghost Mouth all over his body, allowing him to use the Breathing of the Ghost freely.

However, he has recently been practicing Right Mindfulness Lock and often has a feeling that as the Ghost Mouth open completely, Right Mindfulness Lock reaches perfection, and he will Phantom-Grown Limb, which will surely be a matter of one step at a time.

The extent of a limb's capabilities depends entirely on the foundation it has accumulated.

Burning paper money, eating food from the dead, and feeding Ghost Mouth are all ways to build up the foundation for this Phantom-Grown Limb seed.

Therefore, he genuinely admired A Fu.

People like A Fu who own businesses in Guan Village have at least a stable source of income.

A Fu noticed Zhou Yang's expression.

As he walked into the courtyard, he said, "The Revelation Ceremony is getting closer and closer; there are only eight or nine days left, aren't there?"

"Nine Heavens." Zhou Yang's expression was grave.

But deep down, I no longer feel the same way as before; I feel like I've reached a dead end.

He might have nowhere else to go, but isn't the Heigou's path a perfectly smooth road ahead?

Therefore, he can choose to walk the path others take, leaving them with no path to walk.

"Tsk—" A Fu clicked his tongue, then suddenly turned to Zhou Yang with a mysterious smile, "Only nine days left. Do you have enough money to buy thirty catties of rouge?"

"With less fat, your skin won't last long in the future."

"Your skin is crucial to whether you can gain a foothold in this place."

"Whether the leather is good or not, and how long it lasts, is the same as whether you will be good or not, and how long you will live."

Zhou Yang listened to his words with a resistant expression.

Seemingly unable to resist, he took a step back, repeatedly asking, "What lifespan of leather? What's good or bad?"

"I don't understand!"

He actually had a vague idea in his heart.

After the Revelation Ceremony, the skin on his body was tanned using a special tanning agent unique to Guan Village, which may have already made him the legendary Official Body.

Thus, the more fat and oil one accumulates now, the better the quality of the tanned leather will be, which naturally means a higher Official Body one will attain in the future.

However, this Official Body may not necessarily belong to the individual forever, nor can it be passed down through generations.

It may have a limited lifespan.

This timeframe is closely related to how long the leather can be preserved.

Looking at Zhou Yang's expression, A Fu slowly shook his head.

He then gave a forced smile, "It's alright, you can work an extra hour here every day from now on."

"I'll give you a raise, so you can save up enough money to buy cosmetics."

"Let's stay up until almost dark before we finish work today."

"No way!" Zhou Yang refused decisively, using his mother's name as a shield, "My mother forbids me from working so late anymore!"

"There are ghosts at night. My mother was afraid I would be late coming home, so she sent the ghosts to catch me."

"Let me tell you, from now on, you have to let me go home when it's time to leave work."

"Otherwise, she'll inevitably come looking for you!"

A Fu sneered repeatedly upon hearing this, but ultimately said nothing more about making Zhou Yang work an hour later.

Zhou Yang followed him into the shed and busied himself with lighting the furnace to smelt iron.

When the furnace was red-hot, he and A Fu went to shovel iron slag together, and he suddenly said, "My family found me a job guarding the fire tower tomorrow."

"I was thinking, isn't the fire tower also guarded at night?"

"I'm afraid there might be some danger—Master, have you ever guarded the fire tower at night?"

As he spoke, Zhou Yang observed A Fu's expression.

But A Fu always had a fake smile on his face, so Zhou Yang couldn't see anything amiss.

All I heard A Fu say was, "The fire tower—"

Most of the time, there is no danger for the majority of people in Guan Village.

"I saw many people guarding the fire tower. They went out at night and most of them came back during the day. Out of ten, eight or nine would come back. The remaining one or two would not come back, and we could only say they were unlucky."

I wonder if your luck is good or bad?

This isn't something that can be decided by luck.

All the Human-Skin Ghost in Guan Village, even if they guard the fire tower at night, can always return home intact during the day.

Anyone truly alive here who goes to guard the fire tower will likely face a near-certain death.

A Fu already knew that Zhou Yang was a living person. His words today, though seemingly ambiguous, were actually implying that such a living person must be one or two unlucky souls who couldn't return.

"I'm just unlucky—" Zhou Yang said in a low voice, his face slightly pale.

Seeing that he had realized the deeper meaning in his words, A Fu's smile deepened, "When you're unlucky, you have to be careful everywhere you go."

My heart aches.

"On the night you arrived at the fire tower, if something happened and you tried to escape home, your family wouldn't open the Gate of Opening for you. And if you did manage to knock on the door, the people welcoming you in wouldn't be any family members you recognize."

"You want to find a place to hide? This village looks quite big, but I'm afraid there isn't a single place where you can find refuge."

"But the fire tower is near the village entrance. Maybe you can escape from there. Do you want to go outside the village and take a look, Little Yang?"

A Fu revealed that sinister and eerie smile again.

Looking at that smiling face, Zhou Yang could almost see him grinning from ear to ear, drool dripping from his mouth.

"I just want to stay in the village; I have no intention of going out to see the world!"

Zhou Yang shook his head repeatedly, his eyes filled with fear. "Is there any way you can help me?"

What dangers are involved in guarding the fire tower?

"For you, danger will be everywhere at that time."

"Even if you can dodge the first day of the month, how can you dodge the fifteenth?" A Fu gave Zhou Yang a deep look, then shook his head. "Get to work."

He never spoke to Zhou Yang about anything related to the "fire tower" again after that.

Zhou Yang looked uneasy and tried several times to ask him again.

Seeing his cold, stern face, she had no choice but to shut her mouth.

Zhou Yang then pretended to be absent-minded and restless until the end of the workday.

He received his wages for the day from A Fu, and dejectedly bowed to A Fu, saying, "I'll come again tomorrow."

o

He was about to turn around and leave.

Wait a minute!

Just as Zhou Yang reached out to Gate of Opening, A Fu stopped him.

Zhou Yang was on guard, but when he turned around, he looked at A Fu with a blank expression.

A Fu's sinister, fake smile reappeared on his face.

He walked around the charcoal stove in front of him, stood in front of Zhou Yang, waved a piece of white paper in front of Zhou Yang's eyes, and handed the paper to Zhou Yang: "When you are guarding the fire tower, once it gets dark, every moment after that will be very important to you."

Whether you can survive this dark period depends on your own fate.

"However, don't think that just because night has passed and dawn has broken, you can relax—"

"On the contrary, this first day is the most critical time."

"On this first day, stick this white paper banner on your back and keep calling my name in your heart; it will be helpful to you."

At this moment, Zhou Yang listened to A Fu's instructions and looked at the white paper slip in his hand, feeling even a little moved.

He did indeed show a touched expression when he looked at A Fu.

But being moved is just one of the emotions Zhou Yang should feel at this moment.

Beneath this emotional bubble, Zhou Yang's thoughts raced, becoming more and more numerous and profound.

He couldn't help but think about many things.

Nine-tenths of what A Fu said today is true.

For example, the first day was extremely dangerous, and the hours after dark must have been extremely agonizing for a living person like Zhou Yang.

Whether he can overcome this depends entirely on his own fate.

But did the white paper banner that A Fu gave Zhou Yang really work for him?

A Fu had previously cut off the topic of guarding the fire tower, but now he's offering Zhou Yang a helping hand. This isn't because he thinks Zhou Yang is capable...

Out of pity, he developed a kind heart.

He had planned to do this from the very beginning!

After all, Zhou Yang had many doubts about him. When he asked him about the matters related to guarding the fire tower, he was too eager to help Zhou Yang, both answering Zhou Yang's questions and giving him life-saving methods in critical moments. This made Zhou Yang suspicious, and he had to consider his offer of help again and again, hesitating and doubting.

However, his previous refusal to respond to Zhou Yang's concerns only whetted Zhou Yang's appetite.

This also caused Zhou Yang great distress and anxiety.

It's like a drowning person struggling in the water for a long time, about to sink to the bottom, when suddenly someone throws something over from the shore.

No matter what is thrown at them, even if it's a knife, a drowning person will only grip it tightly, letting the blade cut into their flesh and draw blood, but they will never let go!

Zhou Yang understood the key points clearly.

The clearer his understanding became, the more grateful he felt towards A Fu: "Master, if I can come back alive this time, I will definitely..."

"Let's talk about it when you come back alive."

A Fu had a big smile on his face, but there was no smile in his eyes.

He stared at Zhou Yang's face and saw only the young man's heartfelt gratitude towards him.

In fact, because he took the initiative to lend a helping hand, the other party's attitude towards him unconsciously became more intimate.

This is indeed the kind of reaction one would expect from someone who is truly desperate and has nowhere else to turn, after being suddenly rescued.

A Fu was satisfied, and a smile appeared in his eyes, "Go back and get some rest."

"Rest at home tomorrow, so you can conserve your energy for guarding the fire tower tonight."

"Thank you so much, Master! Thank you so much, Master!"

"When I get back, I'll definitely do more work for you!"

Zhou Yang expressed his gratitude profusely before reluctantly leaving A Fu's house.