79. Genuine, hard-earned blood money

“Did you buy it for me?”

The headless girl, Qian Shaoshao, was instantly overcome with a disbelieving sense of happiness. This was so sudden! Moreover, she vaguely remembered hearing a talkative ghost mention the Returning Nether Hunter Train before—its wares were all rather ordinary.

Even the “accompanying objects” of fierce spirits—those eerie artifacts—could be purchased on the Returning Nether Hunter Train with blade coins.

So Qian Shaoshao hurriedly asked, “Could I have an eerie artifact with its pollution suppressed, is that possible?”

“Of course, you can.” The middle-aged man nodded. Although it was strange for a living person to buy things for a ghost, a living person wielding a penal instrument was even stranger, so what was there to fuss about?

Besides, though he hadn’t been a “shopkeeper” on the Returning Nether Hunter Train for long, in these past two or three years, he’d traversed many shadowy, unreal realms, witnessing countless bizarre phenomena.

“Do you have any other requirements for this eerie artifact? If you do, best mention them now. Otherwise, once I bring out the item, the deal is done—no returns or exchanges.” The middle-aged man continued, showing proper respect to Chen Sheng, but feeling no need to be courteous to a ghost.

Even if the “shopkeeper” was the lowest-ranked on the Returning Nether Hunter Train, he had his own pride.

“Could it be an eerie artifact made out of a blade coin? If not, anything else that looks money-related works too!” Qian Shaoshao widened her eyes in excitement, clearly not picky at all.

“That’s no problem!”

The middle-aged man nodded, turned, and went back onto the train. In just a moment, he returned, carrying a large box.

He opened the box, revealing stacks of blade coins, all neatly arranged, each bearing the largest denomination—fifty. Each fifty-denomination blade coin was encircled by wisps of gray-black vapor.

The middle-aged man took out a fifty-denomination blade coin and handed it to the headless girl.

“This is 'Life-Selling Money.' Its pollution has been suppressed. In any circumstance, it can nullify curses related to lifespan. However, there’s an upper limit—the curse cannot exceed fifty years of lifespan.” The man explained, “Besides that, it can freely seize others’ possessions. Of course, there’s an upper limit—the value of the seized item, when converted, must not exceed fifty years of lifespan.”

Chen Sheng glanced at the fifty-denomination “Life-Selling Money,” surprised by its “equipment effect.”

Yet, it fit perfectly within the concept of “ghost equipment.”

“So a single gold card can only buy one eerie artifact?” Chen Sheng asked.

“Yes, esteemed guest, because it’s the fifty-denomination. If it were a smaller denomination, say, a one-blade coin, you wouldn’t need so many blade coins,” the middle-aged man explained cautiously.

Chen Sheng nodded. A fifty-denomination blade coin artifact with a fifty-year lifespan cap—objectively speaking, its “equipment effect” was very powerful.

After all, Life-Selling Money’s first trait was to nullify any curse related to lifespan, under any circumstances. If one encountered a ghost demanding ten years of life, pulling out this blade coin might even force the ghost to “return” forty years.

Though, it seemed the headless girl couldn’t use Life-Selling Money’s first trait—she was already dead, after all...

So Chen Sheng looked at the headless girl, and Qian Shaoshao seemed to realize this as well. She was about to speak when the middle-aged man said, “The deal is done—no returns or exchanges.”

Then he turned and boarded the steam train. Accompanied by the rhythmic clatter—like the subtle sound of someone realizing they forgot toilet paper beside the tracks—the steam train abruptly sped off. In an instant, both the locomotive and its carriage vanished, leaving behind a few lingering wisps of white smoke, stubbornly rolling about in the air.

“How odd?” Chen Sheng raised an eyebrow in surprise.

The headless girl, Qian Shaoshao, clutched her fifty-denomination eerie artifact and eagerly asked Chen Sheng, “What’s odd?”

“Nothing…” Chen Sheng shook his head. He was puzzled that no recharge prompt had appeared for him. Logically, when he traded with a mysterious merchant, a window should pop up, reminding him to “create happiness with salary,” but even after the merchant left, nothing appeared.

Could it be that this healing game truly had no recharge function?

That wasn’t scientific!

After all, a dog can’t stop eating what the website forbids.

“Or maybe, the version of the game that requires a purchase code actually cost a considerable sum, so later on, no further recharge is necessary?”

At this thought, Chen Sheng felt ashamed of his own misconceptions, stemming from his limited experience.

There was no helping it—poverty breeds humility, let alone broad perspective. To gain broad perspective, one often had to spend money.

“Fortunately, no one knows I looked for a recharge window in this healing game. Otherwise, it would be embarrassing.”

Muttering to himself, Chen Sheng said to the headless girl, “Don’t wander around here. I’ll go buy some oranges and come right back.”

Then, Chen Sheng chose “exit game.”

In an instant, countless runes appeared out of thin air, enveloping Chen Sheng, and he vanished just as quickly—so fast that the headless girl was left stunned.

Qian Shaoshao: “……”

Where did he go?

How did he disappear so suddenly?

Oh, to buy oranges. She’d just wait here for a bit...

Thinking this, Qian Shaoshao looked around, found a corner, hugged her knees, and squatted down.

She only moved a few steps—surely that didn’t count as wandering around?

...

Upon exiting the game, Chen Sheng saw a certain girl locked in a battle of wits with her black-screened laptop, looking as though her brain had been half-boiled at fifty degrees.

“Exiting this healing game” brought no discomfort at all—Chen Sheng had experienced it several times, so he wasn’t surprised. He simply removed his gold-rimmed glasses, lest he log into the game at work tomorrow.

Putting on his original glasses, Chen Sheng walked over to Yu Youxin and asked curiously, “What are you doing?”

“Rock-paper-scissors!” the girl replied, as if it were the most natural thing.

Chen Sheng’s eye twitched as he glanced at the computer screen.

The black screen reflected Yu Youxin and his own figures.

Playing rock-paper-scissors with yourself?

Wouldn’t they draw forever?

So he said, “How about letting me join in?”