Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 576 Dragon Scale Road

"Ding! We have arrived at Chengguan Avenue. Passengers who wish to alight, please exit through the rear door."

"Pfft!!"

The doors opened, but no one got off. Five or six people were standing in front of the station. When they saw the bus stop, they were about to get on when suddenly the young man behind them sniffed, his expression changed, and he grabbed his companion who was about to board.

"and many more!"

The middle-aged man, who was about to step onto the bus, paused, turned his head in confusion.

"Let's get on the next one," the young man said.

"Get on the next bus??"

The middle-aged man was even more puzzled upon hearing this, as the shuttle bus service was in high demand and could take more than four hours to arrive.

"Are you getting on the bus? If not, don't block the door."

At that moment, a voice urging them on came from inside the carriage.

The group looked up and saw a blurry figure standing in the dimly lit carriage. They couldn't make out what the person looked like, but as the figure approached, a strong smell of blood hit them, radiating a suffocating sense of oppression.

In a daze, the bright red badge on the figure's arm was as dazzling as a sharp sword, making one's mind go blank for a moment.

"me……"

The middle-aged man standing in front of the car door was deathly pale, his head was buzzing, and he felt like his high blood pressure was about to burst his skull, making his vision go black and his whole body go limp.

Fortunately, at that moment, the young man behind him pulled him down with force.

"Sorry, we'll wait for the next one."

The figures in the carriage ignored them, but everyone could feel the slightly disappointed gaze sweeping over them.

"Boom!"

Only after the car doors slammed shut and the engine's hum gradually faded from view did everyone breathe a long sigh of relief, as if waking from a dream.

"Red...red..."

The middle-aged man who was pulled off the bus was still trembling.

"Do not talk!"

The young man behind him covered his mouth and shook his head at him: "We shouldn't talk nonsense about ghost stories. If you discuss them carelessly, you might attract his attention. Such a great evil spirit is not something we beginners can deal with."

After saying that, the young man sighed: "I'm afraid the people in that carriage are already doomed."

Upon hearing his words, everyone broke out in a cold sweat.

"Thanks to Brother Yang Tao, otherwise if we had gotten on the bus without knowing what was going on, I'm afraid..."

"Don't even mention it. Everyone should be more careful in the future. The Armband Killer has reappeared. From now on, everyone should be more careful when taking a train. It's best to stand in front of the carriage door and take a second look before you go."

"Yes, yes, yes, yes."

A collective sigh rippled through the crowd, their faces filled with the relief of surviving a close call.

"These people are really something, standing at the door but not getting on the bus? Are all beginners this timid these days?"

Inside the carriage, Xiao Ran was still muttering to herself, looking quite annoyed.

How's my older brother doing lately?

Xiao Ran walked over to the driver and asked about her older brother's situation.

The driver nodded meekly, swallowed hard, and said, "Okay, everything's fine, it's just a bit too busy."

The landing of the Lost City created many contaminated areas, some large and some small, and the bus station had to take on the responsibility of connecting them.

During this period, the bus station was almost empty. All the drivers were assigned to other jobs. The number of routes increased, but there were too few vehicles. As the station manager, I had to do everything I could to get vehicles and maintain the safety of the routes. I was practically never able to relax.

"Oh, is there a shortage of trains at the station right now?"

"Yes, we're short of drivers, especially. I used to be just a floor sweeper, but now I've been assigned to drive."

"No wonder!"

Xiao Ran understood. No wonder these people dared to be so arrogant; it was simply because the driver wasn't a professional.

"When you get back to the station later, please pass on a message to my brother: I'll take care of the car. If there's a serious shortage of drivers, we can consider using a novice. If there's an opportunity, I'll have someone go find him next time."

The station is the most important resource for all routes in the future city of mystery.

If people realize that the station is currently in a very vulnerable position, allowing others to take advantage of the situation, it would not be good news for Xiao Ran.

Especially the Changchun Association, a force eager to make a comeback.

They may already be aware of this, but they just haven't had the time to act yet.

Therefore, both for public and private reasons, Xiao Ran felt it was necessary to help her older brother.

However, he had neither money nor connections, and the only thing he could do to help his older brother was to introduce the company to him.

The company has sufficient financial, material, and human resources to help the eldest brother stabilize the large number of flight path gaps caused by the collapse of the Lost City during this period.

The company can also gain stable benefits and allies from this, as well as the most important public transportation routes, which is of great strategic significance to the company.

Xiao Ran believed that neither side would miss this opportunity. Of course, whether they could reach an agreement depended on their own wishes. Even if they couldn't reach an agreement in the end, it wouldn't matter; she would just do her best.

"Ding! We have arrived at Longlin Road. Passengers who wish to disembark, please proceed to the rear door." At this point, the bus began to slow down.

Xiao Ran looked out the car window at the familiar yet unfamiliar street.

The bus drove over the shards of glass scattered on the road, the rubber tires making a soft, squeaking sound as they rubbed against the glass. Xiao Ran noticed a layer of grayish-white powder accumulated in the groove of the safety hammer, resembling the residue of some weathered building material.

The original residential buildings have become dilapidated, and all sorts of messy banners are pasted on the doors of shops with various lights on the street.

The neon signposts of the street corner barbershop crackled, and only the word "wash" remained lit up with a purple glow from the three characters for "wash, cut, and blow-dry."

A tangled clump of long hair was stuck inside the rotating lampshade, with half a piece of bloody scalp wrapped around the strands, twitching gently with the frequency of the electric current vibrations.

A yellowed price list was pasted on the shop window. Upon closer inspection, Xiao Ran noticed crooked bloodstains on the yellowed promotional page, which read: "Add good fortune and seven days to your lifespan."

Not far away, a plastic mannequin in front of a hardware store was broken in two, its upper body leaning into a drainage ditch.

Its resin eyeballs face the sky, and a rusty screw is embedded in its iris. Whenever a moth flies by, the screw rotates half a turn clockwise.

The model held a pair of rusty pliers in her palm, with half of a takeout receipt bearing a QR code clamped between the jaws. The order notes read: "Leave it at the door, don't ring the doorbell!!!"

The tempered glass of the community bulletin board is covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and a pandemic prevention notice is slowly moving inside the glass.

As Xiao Ran's gaze followed the piece of paper to the lower right corner, the paper suddenly folded in half on its own, revealing an arrow drawn in red on the back, pointing directly to the community health station two hundred meters away, which was illuminated by a dim blue light.

Even though Xiao Ran was mentally prepared, seeing the completely changed world still weighed heavily on her mind. She wondered how many people could survive in such a world.

"Don't worry, although it looks weird, it's not a big deal. In fact, it's much better than before."

Jin Chanzi looked at the world outside the glass with a calm expression, even thinking it was quite nice. He pointed to the job posting next to him.

Xiao Ran looked in the direction and saw the job posting.

[Zoo is hiring night patrol staff]

Requirement 1: Ability to remain calm under the watchful eyes of 240 people on the monkey mountain (it is recommended to remove the fingerprint of the left middle finger to improve stress resistance).

Requirement 2: Identify non-avian creatures reflected in the waterfowl lake (last week's statistics: 7 mandarin ducks were reflected as children wearing hospital gowns).
Warning: If a tourist wearing a blue striped shirt asks for the time, you must answer, "It's always 29 minutes to dawn."

Daily wage: 10 ghost coins
You can obtain one E-rank job rune each week.

Looking at the job posting, Xiao Ran pondered for a moment, and after putting herself in the position, she felt it was alright.

Although the content may seem strange, it should still be within a safe range as long as you follow the rules above.

There are many jobs like this. As long as you put in a little effort and are quick-witted, you can get through the initial period and gradually adapt, and you will be able to establish yourself in a stable job.

Xiao Ran thought that some people would get on the train at this stop, but occasionally two or three figures would peek out, observe quietly, and then immediately pull their heads back in.

This is actually quite normal. Most people are just starting to explore the Lost City, and some are only just settling down. How could they possibly be running around everywhere?

"Ding, next stop: Fifth Hospital. Passengers, please move to the rear door."

The vehicle restarted and gradually moved further and further away from Longlin Road.

Since there was no one else in the carriage, Xiao Ran threw out the body of the man who claimed to be the deputy director of the hospital. Without needing to stitch it up, he used the new privilege of the [Suppressing Calamity Order], the "Spirit Book," to look through the man's memories.

Privilege 2: The Book of Spirits

You can use the Spirit Book on a corpse to browse its memories, skills, profession, and destiny.

The new privilege is that Xiao Ran no longer needs to stitch up corpses; any corpse can be directly used to plunder memories, skills, and professions using the Spirit Book.

However, it requires energy points to activate.

The source of the energy points still requires Xiao Ran to stitch up the corpse.

Xiao Ran quickly flipped through the guy's memories.

The result greatly disappointed him.

This idiot isn't a deputy director of a hospital at all, and he's not even a member of the Changchun Association.

Who are they?
Well, you can think of it as a shady intermediary.

They specifically target newcomers to the Fifth Hospital for drug trials.

Just as they told Xiao Ran, the trial drug would give Xiao Ran 500 ghost money, plus an E-level professional spell mark.

It sounds good, but actually... the money is for them, not for Xiao Ran and the others.

If they were to enter the Fifth Hospital as required, they would have to sign an agency agreement. Once the agreement was signed, Xiao Ran and the others would be marked as agents whenever they entered the Fifth Hospital.

From now on, life and death will be in their hands. Xiao Ran and her team will be the ones conducting all the drug trials, while they can just collect the benefits from behind the scenes.

If you want to resist, as a beginner, you basically have no room to resist.

"Hmph, you got off easy."

Looking at the men and women they had tricked into entering, Xiao Ran couldn't help but snort coldly and threw the corpses directly into the Yin Soldier Gourd.

What are your plans?

Jin Chanzi looked at Xiao Ran.

After all, the Fifth Hospital is a territory that Changchun has been operating in for a long time. Its rules and supernatural tales are already very well-established. It would not be an easy task for Xiao Ran to destroy this place.

Xiao Ran turned his gaze to the old demon Qinghai beside him and grinned: "Hey, isn't there a ready-made guide?"

(End of this chapter)