"Young man, you need to compensate."
"Compensation? Sure."
"Just compensating with money isn't enough."
"That's a coincidence, I think so too."
Zhao Yi walked to the window of the small shop, and the elderly woman inside glanced at him.
"Give me that pack of cigarettes."
The elderly woman stepped off the stool, reached up with difficulty to take it down from the high rack, but when she handed it over, Zhao Yi didn't take it and said:
"Got the wrong one, it's the one next to it."
The elderly woman turned back to get it, going through another round of trouble, got it down and handed it over.
"Got the wrong one again, it's the one next to it."
The elderly woman looked deeply at Zhao Yi, said nothing, turned back to get it, this time she pointed with her dry fingers at the pack:
"Is it this pack?"
"Yes, that's right."
The pack was taken down.
Zhao Yi: "Wrong, it's not this pack."
The elderly woman stopped moving, her arms hanging down, eyes turning grey, said coldly:
"Young man, toying with an old woman like this is not very kind."
Zhao Yi smiled: "You guys almost killed us earlier, was that kind?"
In the elderly woman's grey eyes, a hint of peculiar color flowed as she asked puzzled: "You didn't die?"
Immediately, she flipped open the ledger on the counter, the latest entry, strikingly listing eight names, all crossed off.
"Impossible!"
The elderly woman looked up, staring hard at Zhao Yi.
Zhao Yi leaned forward, bringing his face close to hers, pointed at his own face and said:
"Not dead yet, don't believe it, want to touch it?"
…
In the restaurant, the loud voice of the fat chef continued:
"Hey, I'm talking to you, though your survival surprises me, this is my turf. Taking money and relieving disaster, I pride myself on integrity.
Unless, you can give more than they did, haha!"
As he laughed, several small mice crawled out of his mouth, and even little bugs were moving in and out of his ears.
Li Zhiyuan: "How much did they give?"
Upon hearing this, the fat chef tilted his head back, a series of crackling sounds from his joints made his head fold to his body at a ninety-degree angle, and when he raised it again, a half-transparent official hat appeared on top.
"They didn't give me burned paper, they gave this hat."
Li Zhiyuan: "Where is the person who gave you the hat now?"
Fat chef: "Don't worry, you'll see them soon enough, I'll bring your soul to meet them."
As soon as he finished speaking, the knife originally standing on the table suddenly flew towards Li Zhiyuan.
The young man remained seated, Lin Shuyou moved first to catch the knife.
The fat chef showed no fear, his white coat fell off, revealing a body full of disgusting sores.
"No wonder this job is worth a hat, it really requires some effort."
Li Zhiyuan: "Have you ever wondered why he'd rather give you a hat than deal with it himself?"
Fat chef: "The official doesn't want to dirty his hands, so hires roadside ghosts like us to do the dirty work, isn't that normal?"
Li Zhiyuan said to Lin Shuyou: "Take the hat off him for me."
The fat chef lunged forward.
Lin Shuyou's Shuping eyes opened, he kicked out with a "bang," sending the fat chef flying.
Just before the fat chef hit the ground, Lin Shuyou charged forward, delivering a harsh elbow to his chest, pinning him down as a nebulous mass appeared in his right hand, touching the chef's head, quickly removing the non-existent hat, he retreated back to Brother Xiao Yuan's side.
"Brother Xiao Yuan, here you go."
Li Zhiyuan raised the Compass, received the hat, touched his fingertip to the Compass, and closed his eyes.
In the darkness, a faint light appeared, Li Zhiyuan saw a figure wearing an official robe.
The person wasn't far away, you could say they were nearby.
At that moment, the person also sensed the probe from Li Zhiyuan, turned around, holding a ritual tablet, shouted sternly:
"Impudent!"
In reality, the fat chef with a caved-in chest crawled up; his sores once more inflated, roaring:
"Kill them for me!"
The woman behind him changed, her face turned cone-like, clothes unraveling into red ribbons, her feet transformed into spider legs, her face shrank but her eyes were unchanged, protruding prominently.
The two drivers who were eating stood up, heads tilted to sides, bodies stuck together, fell to the ground, crawled on all fours.
The car repair shop master stood up, ribs broke through his skin, turning him into a white hedgehog.
The motorcycle completely transformed into a paper car, workmanship poor and crude.
Tan Wenbin said to Huang Mao: "Let me introduce you to a place where they make great paper crafts."
Huang Mao remained silent, flesh falling off, staring viciously at Tan Wenbin.
He must have raced cars, chased winds and freedom, making his yellow hair fly freely in life.
The old woman in the small shop grew dense white hair on her face, fingernails lengthened, let out a fierce shriek and clawed at Zhao Yi's face.
Zhao Yi dodged easily, seized the back of her neck and slammed her hard against the counter below.
"Bam!"
The counter shattered, Zhao Yi stomped down, pinning her immobile.
Picking up the pack of cigarettes the old woman had taken earlier, tearing open the wrapper, revealing ten slender fingers painted with various nail polishes, opening the lid, they wriggled continuously, provocatively beckoning to him.
Zhao Yi showed disgust, wanting to toss it aside, yet hesitated and put it in his pocket. He didn't smoke, but someone else might really like them.
Inside the restaurant.
Li Zhiyuan opened his eyes, the Compass again pinpointed a new direction, having confirmed the location of this wave's mastermind, his interest in this place waned.
The young man stood up with the Compass, spoke:
"Alright, let's clear the place."
