Chapter Twelve

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The cricket hid in the darkness, gazing at the human who had entered its domain with an anticipation it had never felt before.

Youxing had apparently asked the apartment chief to advance her five thousand star credits from the public funds. In reality, she had spent only five hundred credits on materials that first day.

Candy cost twenty credits per five hundred grams, and Youxing had bought seven thousand five hundred grams.

The assorted supplementary ingredients had cost two hundred credits.

While experimenting with the recipe, more than eighty percent of the materials had been wasted, but the two jars of candy they produced still contained over two hundred pieces.

At ninety-nine credits apiece, selling just five candies would recoup the cost of the materials. Cricket finally gained a practical understanding of how a shop could make money.

Zhu Jin sprawled against the glass window and saw the two jars of candy.

On the pitch-black, silent abandoned street, the candy jars before her were the only things ablaze with color. They gave off a faint glow, like a starry sky on a summer night.

Youxing repeated herself three times before the customer finally seemed to react. In a panic, she pulled several star credits from her pocket.

“Give me candy.”

People who worked and lived in the upper-level star districts had almost entirely stopped using cash, but hunters and logistical personnel entering hauntings carried a little on their persons.

The custom originated from an old Blue Star saying: “Money can make the devil turn a millstone.” There were countless evil spirits in hauntings, and when one was trapped in a desperate situation with nowhere left to turn, money might just offer a way out.

Every time Zhu Jin entered a haunting, she tucked several star credits into her clothes as a talisman of safety. She had never expected that the talisman would truly come in handy one day.

The bill she handed over was worth one thousand credits. Her mind was too muddled to say what duration of candy she wanted.

Moving slowly, Youxing counted out five pieces of Closed-Mouth Candy with a duration of five minutes and packed them in a small paper bag. Then she poured three pieces with a duration of two minutes from the other jar into a paper bag marked “Gift.” She handed everything to Zhu Jin, along with five one-credit coins as change.

The customer stared blankly. Her palm faced upward, loosely clutching a handful of candy and coins, but she did not move for a long while.

Seeing that the customer had no strength left to feed the monsters pursuing her, Youxing hesitated for a moment before taking a piece of candy wrapped in red paper from her shoulder bag and placing it in Zhu Jin’s hand.

“You’re the shop’s first customer, so I’m giving you a piece of candy that hasn’t officially gone on sale yet. After eating it, you won’t be able to hear those irritating, spiteful remarks. Its effect lasts fifteen minutes.”

By the time Youxing repeated herself for the third time, Zhu Jin seemed to sense something. She lowered her eyes to the candy lying in her palm, dropped the paper bags and coins from her other hand, seized the brilliantly red candy, and, with trembling fingers, tore open the wrapper and stuffed it into her mouth.

The ceaseless buzzing in her ears receded like the tide. Drained of strength, Zhu Jin slid down the glass and sat in the corner, her face deathly pale and her eyes tightly shut as she savored this hard-won moment of peace.

In a dark alley not far away, a young man stood beneath a tree, having witnessed the entire bizarre and inexplicable scene.

When had such a strange shop appeared in the Tongue Knife Haunting? Unless his memory was mistaken, the shop had not been there when he passed along this street yesterday.

Yet the man was no longer certain that his perceptions or memories could be trusted.

After hesitating for some time, Zhou Zi grew restless. At the far end of the street behind him, two or three black shadows were slowly drawing near.

Within seconds, those vicious, grating voices began ringing in his ears again.

“So what if you graduated from a prestigious university? In the office, you’re still nothing but a gofer fetching tea and water!”

“With those clumsy, pathetic hands of yours, just looking at you is annoying. You’re not even as useful as a robot!”

“Every day you fawn over the boss like a dog, terrified that no one will notice you. Bah!”

…

Zhou Zi’s expression was numb. He seemed not to have heard them, or perhaps he had grown used to them. Yet his feet turned, and he walked straight toward the blood-red candy shop across the street.

When he reached it, a vague figure seemed to be sitting behind the glass window. Zhou Zi started slightly, lowered his gaze, and noticed the young woman leaning against the wall as though asleep. He slowly approached and asked tentatively, “What happened to her?”

As he spoke, Zhou Zi did not dare look directly at the person behind the glass. His gaze remained fixed on the window, where he happened to see the two jars of candy.

Youxing raised an eyebrow and answered gently, “She ate some candy. She’s probably resting.”

Zhou Zi could not stop himself from looking up. Following the sound of her voice, he asked, “Candy?”

“Would you like to buy some?” Youxing said. “The shop is celebrating its opening today. Buy one, get one free.”

Zhou Zi felt a strange sensation. He had actually encountered a monster in a haunting whose thoughts and speech were so clear.

Everyone knew that aside from攻略ers, the only beings in hauntings were monsters that came to claim lives.

Zhou Zi assumed that Youxing was a monster.

He did not dare ask more questions. He glanced down at Zhu Jin leaning against the wall, then looked up again.

“What did she buy? I’ll have the same.”

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Youxing counted out five pieces of five-minute Closed-Mouth Candy, then three pieces with a duration of two minutes. She wrapped them separately and handed them over.

“Nine hundred and ninety-five star credits.”

Zhou Zi watched Youxing pack the candy. In the end, he could not hold back his question.

“Wasn’t it buy one, get one free? Why are you only giving me three?”

Youxing remained perfectly calm.

“The buy-one-get-one-free promotion is limited to the first three orders.”

Zhou Zi raised his eyebrows slightly. Never mind what use the candy might have. He had never heard of a monster in a haunting that accepted star credits or even knew how to run a promotion.

This was Zhou Zi’s first time entering a haunting, but he was an avid enthusiast. He usually frequented various haunting forums and had heard攻略ers often mention the saying, “Money can make the devil turn a millstone.” Out of habit, he carried a little cash on him.

Candy that cost one hundred and ninety-nine credits per piece would have earned the shopkeeper a thorough scolding if sold outside. But in a haunting, Zhou Zi even considered the price remarkably fair.

Youxing accepted the one-thousand-credit bill and returned five credits.

As she handed over the change, she pointed to the paper bags and coins scattered by the window.

“Please put these candies and the change into the other customer’s pocket by the wall. The shop will give you an additional piece of candy that hasn’t gone on sale yet.”

It was merely a small favor, so Zhou Zi did as she asked. In return, he received a candy wrapped in vivid red paper.

“What’s different about this one?”

“The candy you purchased is called Closed-Mouth Candy,” Youxing explained. “It can temporarily silence the monsters within the domain for five minutes. The free samples last two minutes. The candy I gave you is called Closed-Ear Candy. After eating it, you won’t be able to hear the voices of the wandering monsters around you for fifteen minutes.”

Zhou Zi’s eyes widened in disbelief.

The candy had special effects—and both humans and monsters could eat it.

It all seemed rather unreliable.

After a brief moment of distraction, he noticed that a sign reading “Closed” had appeared on the window at some point. The half-detached door beside the glass window had also shut.

An inexplicable chill crept up Zhou Zi’s spine. He stuffed the candy into his pocket and strode away.

***

Ninth Star District, Jundu Hotel.

Chu Jing, Huo Yuandu, and the captains of two other攻略 teams from the Blood Rose Strange Tale Research Institute were all stationed outside Room 1313.

That day, after meeting the three captains at the hotel entrance, Chu Jing had failed to keep quiet and let them learn that she had entered the Tongue Knife Haunting.

They had no time to investigate how Chu Jing had emerged from the Tongue Knife Haunting unscathed. Once they learned that its entrance was located inside one of the hotel rooms, the four of them returned to the hotel and insisted on staying in Room 1313.

Yet they had kept watch inside the room for three or four days without sensing the presence of any door.

Ji Chao, the captain of Team Two, sat on the sofa and asked Chu Jing once again, “Was the woman who entered the Tongue Knife Haunting with you really Youxing?”

Chu Jing nodded awkwardly.

That day, when she mentioned that her employer was named Youxing, the other two captains had exchanged meaningful looks with their own captain, while Huo Yuandu’s expression had darkened.

Only then had Chu Jing learned that the captain’s girlfriend was also named Youxing—or, more precisely, his ex-girlfriend.

At first, she had assumed it was merely a coincidence. But after seeing the breakup message Youxing had last sent through Huo Yuandu’s star ring, even Chu Jing’s expression had turned complicated.

It really was the same Youxing she had met.

As for why Youxing had appeared in the Ninth Star District or how she had entered the Tongue Knife Haunting, Chu Jing could offer no explanation.

Their relationship had been purely that of employer and hired hand. After the mission ended, Youxing seemed to have blocked her, making it impossible to contact her at all.

Ji Chao looked toward Huo Yuandu, whose face was still grim.

“It’s been four days. Are we really going to keep waiting? Even if we do find the door, Youxing won’t be inside. Are we still going in?”

“Who said we’re doing this for her?” Huo Yuandu replied. “The Tongue Knife Haunting was already one of our designated targets. Now that we’ve found the entrance, we can’t let this lead go.”

Ji Chao shrugged.

“Yes, yes, whatever you say. But even if the door appears again, are we really going in just like that?”

Chu Jing suddenly sensed something. Staring at the corner of the room, she said, “The door’s open.”

Huo Yuandu looked up.

Ji Chao rose and walked toward the corner, seeming almost unable to believe it.

“It really is a door—and it appeared already open.”

He turned to the other two captains.

“Go in?”

Huo Yuandu nodded.

Wu Chi, the captain of Team Three, who had been leaning silently against the bed, slowly shook his head.

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Chu Jing gripped the short blade strapped to her thigh and rose.

“I’m going in again.”

Ji Chao interrupted her.

“Wu Chi and I agree. We shouldn’t enter for the time being.”

Huo Yuandu ignored him and walked straight toward the coldest, darkest corner of the room.

Chu Jing followed.

In the blink of an eye, the two of them disappeared.

Ji Chao sighed.

“It’s good to be young—reckless and unconcerned with the consequences.”

***

After finishing her business, Cricket returned to the candy shop and found the door closed. Youxing was sprawled across the table, so Cricket floated over and poked her.

“Why did you close the shop?”

Youxing opened her eyes.

“It’s a matter of the rules. The sales limit on the first day seems to be ten pieces of candy. Once they’re sold, the shop is forcibly closed.”

Although it was her own domain, Cricket still found the situation exasperating.

“Then what are we supposed to do? We made so much candy, but can only sell ten pieces a day?”

“Treat it like an upgrade game,” Youxing said. “Once I recover tomorrow, I’ll come back in and modify the rules. For now, take me home.”

Cricket easily lifted Youxing into her arms and carried her outside the shop.

“Where did you go just now?” Youxing asked.

Cricket made no attempt to hide it.

“A few humans wanted to come in, so I kindly let them.”

Youxing did not ask anything further.

Cricket, however, was curious.

“How was the effect of the Coward’s Candy?”

Coward’s Candy was the name Cricket had given the Closed-Ear Candy. Though blocking one’s ears and refusing to listen was effective, it was ultimately rather cowardly.

“…I gave two pieces to customers. The effect seems to have been fairly good.”

There had still been a little material left that night, so Youxing had tried making a sample.

She had eaten one herself and confirmed that it worked, but she had not recorded the exact proportions of the recipe. Reproducing it would require further adjustments.

As soon as Youxing returned to the apartment, she received a message from Yan Zhen: the apartment chief wished to see her.

But because her mental energy was exhausted, she was temporarily unable to move about freely, so Yan Zhen came to collect several candy samples instead.

On the fifteenth floor, the apartment chief lifted a candy and held it beneath an oddly shaped lamp for a closer look.

The candy appeared utterly ordinary. Under the blue-green light, however, the shell of mental energy wrapped around its surface peeled away, revealing the power of rules layered beneath it.

Unable to resist, Yan Zhen leaned closer. When he saw the distorted writing on the candy’s surface, he was startled.

“I heard that Youxing is skilled at projecting mental energy outward to cook food, and that she uses the same method to make these special candies. But how did rules come to be inscribed on this candy?”

The apartment chief pondered for a long while.

“There is only one possibility. The true nature of Youxing’s ability is not the projection of mental energy.”

“You mean Youxing has a supernatural ability? But her records…”

“The records identify her as an unaltered native human. She remained that way until she resigned from White Iris. But that does not mean she could never acquire a supernatural ability in her lifetime.”

“Even someone born unaltered can still gain an ability?”

“It is rare, but the probability is not zero. I have heard a human rumor that some people awaken an ability at the age of thirty, while others never awaken one in their entire lives. Youxing may be the former kind.”

Yan Zhen wanted to say that, while browsing the internet, he often saw people making a certain claim: humans die at thirty.

If a person had not achieved something by the age of thirty, or had failed to find a life partner, it was as though they were already dead.

To society, they were nothing but a parasite clinging to its bones, harmful and useless.

The apartment chief took an ancient leather case from a drawer and handed it to Yan Zhen.

“Take this to Youxing. Use it to inscribe rules. It will serve her better than the Scissors of Severing Evil.”

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