[Skill Book: Blood Scythe Blades]
[Quality: Fine]
[Requirement: Eerie Power 220]
[Active Skill: Imbues weapon with Bloodfiend Aura, allowing the release of blood scythe blades from a distance. Up to three blades can be unleashed in succession, each dealing damage and applying a bleeding effect upon impact. The first hit also knocks the target back five meters. Knockback effect triggers only once.]
“Damn, talk about asking and receiving. Deng Zhiwei, are you here to deliver express packages or what?”
Li Ran didn’t hesitate. He immediately learned the skill from the book.
In the next moment, knowledge of how to activate Blood Scythe Blades and its effects flooded his mind.
Li Ran lacked strength in every area right now—anything that boosted his combat ability was a must.
Blood Scythe Blades could be used for both melee and ranged combat. The Bloodfiend Aura imbued in his weapon granted bonus damage, and the ranged version let him hurl three flying scythe blades. If an enemy closed in quickly, the blades could be used to knock them back.
“If used right, that knockback could be a literal lifesaver.”
Li Ran continued searching the corpse, but unfortunately, there was nothing else to loot this time.
“This monster came out from the mutton restaurant’s kitchen…”
A sense of dread crept into Li Ran’s heart.
He stood up and stepped into the mutton restaurant, his expression gradually turning grim.
He smelled a stench—thick, overwhelming, and unmistakably blood.
He walked into the kitchen and slowly pulled aside the curtain.
Then, his pupils shrank violently.
“Urgh!”
Li Ran nearly threw up on the spot.
Thankfully, the things he’d endured in the past few days had toughened his mind.
In the kitchen, he found two mangled corpses, so torn and chewed they were unrecognizable—clearly killed and then devoured by some wild beast. It was a gruesome sight.
But Li Ran had a feeling—those two corpses were likely Grandma Mi’s son and daughter-in-law.
The air was thick with flies, and the floor was crawling with maggots—these bodies had clearly been dead for a long time.
Typically, it took three days for a corpse to start emitting foul gas, then it would begin to rot and attract maggots and flies.
But Deng Zhiwei had only been infected yesterday.
Which meant Deng Zhiwei wasn’t the killer!
He’d merely followed the scent of blood to feast on the already-dead bodies…
That realization made Li Ran think of Grandma Mi’s request.
She had asked him to deliver a letter to her son, and if he couldn’t, to return the letter to her.
Did that mean…
“Grandma Mi already suspected the truth?”
[Mission Complete: Grandma Mi’s Request]
[Completion Rewards: +20 Eerie Power, +200 Points]
[New Mission Unlocked: Find the True Killer!]
[Mission Rewards: +100 Eerie Power, +1000 Points, 1 Fine-Quality Equipment, 1 Fine-Quality Skill Book]
That cold, emotionless voice announcing the new quest echoed again, and Li Ran’s brows lifted.
“So it really was part of a quest line. The ‘request’ was just a travel trigger to activate the real mission. This is where it actually begins.”
“This should be the final leg of Grandma Mi’s quest chain—the rewards are so generous, the danger’s bound to be immense.”
Li Ran’s brow furrowed. “If I’m going to investigate the killer, I can’t overlook any detail at the scene.”
One hour later.
Li Ran stepped outside the shop, taking in a breath of fresh air.
He had taken photos of the crime scene with his phone.
“Both died from what looks like a sharp weapon piercing straight through the skull. Each had a hole the size of a bowl in their head—brains splattered all over like tofu pudding.”
Li Ran thought back to that scene of Wang Qian, the murderer, standing by the window—his body split open like a monstrous flower, a bloody tongue licking the glass as he wrote the word ‘Death’.
“Could it have been Wang Qian who killed the couple?”
“Back when my golden finger activated, it said Wang Qian was a murderous lunatic with five lives on his hands.”
“But no, no… the timing doesn’t line up. There’s a security camera in the mutton restaurant, and Wang Qian fears exposure.”
“Seems like if I want to uncover the truth, I’ll need to dig deeper and find more clues.”
Li Ran gazed thoughtfully at the other surveillance cameras outside the shop.
“In this world, the security cams are just for show, meant to deter certain NPCs. Even if I go to the property management, no one would be there to check the footage—more likely, I'd run into a monster infected by the virus.”
He swept his eyes across the dining area of the store, suspicion in his gaze. Immediately, a few golden-finger-style prompts popped up in front of him.
[The scene is a mess—something horrifying must have happened here.]
[Many unemployed drifters who live in cheap rooms on the second floor of the shop used to come here for meals.]
[There are fragments of paper scattered on the floor. They might provide crucial clues.]
Li Ran furrowed his brows slightly, walked over, and picked up the paper fragments.
Piecing the scraps together, he discovered it was a formal notice.
Employee Termination Notice
Mr. Yu Peng,
During your tenure as Business Manager, you violated the company’s strict non-disclosure agreement, causing massive losses and severe damage to the company’s interests.
According to sanctions outlined by the Legal Department, we have decided to terminate your employment.
You are required to complete your resignation process within seven days and compensate the company with a fine of five million yuan.
The company reserves the right to pursue all legal liabilities.
Hereby notified.
Back Alley, a certain dark alleyway.
“Hey handsome, looking for fun?”
Yu Peng raised his eyelids slightly, giving a glance at the overly made-up, provocatively dressed woman in front of him.
“Yeah.”
He gave a blank nod. The woman immediately wrapped her arm around his.
Yu Peng followed her into a private home secured with an iron gate. Then, they climbed up to a third-floor unit.
To be precise, it wasn’t really a proper unit—it was a room partitioned with poorly insulated wooden boards into several small cubicles.
The lighting was dim. Inside the cubicle was only a filthy, stained bed, a nightstand, and a wastebasket stuffed full of used tissues.
The woman undressed him and got to work energetically.
But he couldn’t feel a thing.
Through a small window, he could see the city’s most bustling district—tall buildings, streams of traffic.
Once, he belonged to that very world.
Now, this city had no place left for him.
He had worked diligently for ten years, and finally managed to buy a home in this city, becoming one of its many mortgage slaves.
But a single termination notice had cast him mercilessly into hell.
Overnight, he was five million in debt. His house was seized. His bank and credit cards were frozen. Friends and colleagues all cut ties with him. Even his girlfriend suddenly left without a word.
He dragged his few belongings 10 KM away to this neighborhood, and with what little cash he had left, paid two months' rent upfront for a room costing 1,200 yuan per month. That first day, he cleaned until late at night. The next morning, when he went to wash his clothes, he realized he didn’t even have a washing machine. He finally broke down, squatted in the corner, and cried.
He often fantasized that he was a swordfish swimming in the open sea—free and unbound, with no natural predators. Whoever dared to mess with him, he’d stab to death with the sword on his head.
But reality was the exact opposite.
Anyone could trample on him.
Being human… was just too exhausting.
(End of Chapter)