Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 610 The Method to Solve the Problem
Wang Bo was surrounded and beaten by the crowd, and soon he was knocked unconscious.

Seeing this, everyone ignored him, sat up straight again, and turned their attention to Xiao Ran. After venting their frustrations on Wang Bo, the tense emotions of these newcomers immediately eased.

"What is your main quest?" Xiao Ran finally asked.

"The main quest is to get here, and then there are no more prompts," a newbie said.

"Is there no follow-up?"

"Not yet, sir. Do you have any updates?"

Xiao Ran shook her head and said, "No, I'm the same as you, I just arrived not long ago."

He said this aloud, but in his heart he was thinking, "The missions are different. Could it be because I'm a professional? Then what mission do Pumpkin and the others have?"

Just as Xiao Ran was pondering, a cool breeze swept through the courtyard, and bright red lanterns were hung up in the courtyard.

The bright red light made people uneasy.

At the same time, blood-red characters began to appear in front of everyone.

"The memorial banquet for the deceased begins. All participants, please follow these rules."

Rule 1: Each table must have fifteen dishes, and each dish will randomly add 1 to 3 negative stars to the people at the table.

Rule 2: Each time you choose a dish, you must pay the corresponding price.

Rule 3: If there are fewer than fifteen dishes on the table when the birthday banquet begins, everyone will be punished.

Looking at the rules in front of them, everyone exchanged bewildered glances.

Some people couldn't help but wonder, "If there are fifteen dishes at each table, why don't I just give up my seat? If there's no seat, I won't have to choose, right?"

Just then, I saw those figures around me without seats suddenly letting out painful howls under the red lights.

Then their bodies began to change, gradually transforming into sumptuous dishes before everyone's eyes.

Chicken, duck, fish, meat, delicacies from land and sea—every dish is exquisite and tempting.

But everyone who saw this turned pale and lost all interest in the food.

Xiao Ran sat in the chair and saw this scene, but she was not surprised. In fact, this so-called funeral banquet was clearly aimed at them, the newcomers.

The purpose is to obtain the negative stars. Considering Li Xuyin's previous intentions, it's clear that Zhang Qi wants to extract something from that girl, but she's not strong enough. Now she wants to collect more negative stars to help her complete the so-called ritual.

"This is troublesome. We're both the player and the referee. We can't just sit here and take the hits. We need to think of a way to break her rules."

At this moment, Jin Chanzi secretly transmitted his voice to Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran looked at the golden toad: "How do we break this?"

"This is a dream realm created by her. If you can find a way to break her dream, you can break this so-called Ghost Festival. I don't know exactly how to break it, but..."

Jin Chanzi paused for a moment, his eyes looking around: "My master said that everything has rules to follow and standards to abide by. Rules are round and standards are square, so heaven is square and earth is round. The bigger the rules, the smaller the square and circle. If the rules are too big, they can't restrain what's inside, and that's easy to break this square and circle."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ran stared at Jin Chanzi, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Your master is right. Don't say it again."

Why does Xiao Ran make such a simple statement sound so mysterious, using all these rules and regulations, and the concept of heaven and earth?

However, he roughly understood the meaning of those words.

Clearly, for Zhang Qi to maintain this funeral banquet is also a drain on her. As long as we find a way to break this balance and make it impossible for her to maintain it, the so-called funeral banquet will collapse without us having to fight it.

But how can we break her balance?
Just as Xiao Ran was pondering this in her heart, a group of people dressed in mourning clothes walked in and began to pick up the food around the table.

Xiao Ran looked up and saw that this group of people was none other than Ghost Doctor and Pumpkin.

The expressions on these people's faces were equally unpleasant.

Each person picked up a dish, silently walked to the table, and held up their food, waiting for others to choose.

Upon closer inspection, everyone noticed that each dish had a different price tag, and these prices were quite bizarre.

A serving of roast duck, priced at: one leg.

A dish of braised pork intestines, priced at: one eye.

A plate of braised beef, priced at: one finger bone...

The price tag made everyone's scalp tingle. To choose a dish, you had to disassemble a part of yourself. Plus, the dish was made from a human. Just thinking about it made them feel nauseous.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran asked Jin Chanzi, who was standing to the side, "Do you have any more Heart-Connecting Talismans? Give me one."

Jin Chanzi silently took out a yellow talisman from his sleeve and handed it to Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran took the yellow talisman, held it in her palm, and then stood up under everyone's gaze, pointing to the pumpkin holding a plate of grilled fish: "I choose this dish."

Pumpkin looked up at Xiao Ran unexpectedly, a moment of confusion flashing in her eyes, but she still stepped forward and placed the grilled fish in her hand in front of Xiao Ran.

The price of this grilled fish is one left hand.

Xiao Ran patted the [Yin Soldier Gourd] at his waist and summoned a corpse. In full view of everyone, he tore off an arm and handed it to Pumpkin. Pumpkin reached out and took the left arm.

Upon seeing this, the expressions on the faces of the Ghost Doctor and the others changed drastically. They wanted to say something, but were stopped by Pumpkin's gaze.

However, just as Pumpkin took the left hand, she suddenly looked up at Xiao Ran.

He then silently stepped aside.

After the dish was served, a negative star appeared above everyone's heads. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief; they were lucky, it was only one negative star.

"How about it? Can you hear me?"

Xiao Ran looked at the pumpkin.

Pumpkin's eyes lit up, and she looked at Xiao Ran.

"You...you're giving me this because you're planning to cooperate with me?"

"I guess so. Everyone's having a tough time right now. Your main quest should be different from Ghost Doctor's. What is it? Can you tell me?"

"It is indeed different. Professionals generally have higher requirements for their tasks than beginners. My task is to save people, while the Ghost Doctor and the others' main task is to prevent Zhang Jingmin from completing the ritual."

"So what are the rules for you serving the dishes? For each dish we choose, in addition to paying the price, each of us also needs to randomly receive one to three negative stars."

"Similar to you, after we collect the price, we randomly give us negative stars based on the quality of the price we receive. For example, the arm you gave me is the worst quality and I got three negative stars."

At this point, Pumpkin couldn't help but show a hint of resentment on his face, clearly dissatisfied with the price Xiao Ran had given.

If the price is not right, they can actually choose to refund Xiao Ran for the price of one negative star. However, Xiao Ran will have to pay again or accept double the negative stars as punishment.

"That's it."

Xiao Ran frowned and pondered for a moment. Just as Jin Chanzi said, Zhang Qi's rule was indeed hypocritical, and they were indeed in a very passive position.

Xiao Ran then took the opportunity to ask Pumpkin and the others if they had seen Zhang Qi after they caught up with them upstairs.

Pumpkin didn't hide anything from them. When they caught up, Zhang Qi had already completed the first half of the ceremony. Zhang Qi is Zhang Jingmin, and the girl with missing limbs is her child.

After she gave birth to the child, the child was raised by the hospital, but the child's health problems were not caused by Ghost Master and his group.

In fact, if it weren't for Ghost Master and his group intervening in time and using every means at their disposal, this girl would have died long ago.

Her body was deteriorating rapidly. First, her limbs developed extremely serious lesions, and Ghost Master and the others had no choice but to amputate them.

Later, she suffered from organ failure, then became mute, and eventually developed symptoms in her left eye, requiring surgery to remove both eyes.

Previously, some bigwigs in the group speculated that this child had taken away Zhang Jingmin's power, but she herself was not a normal child; she was probably a dead infant who had been resurrected.

Although it was a case of being reborn into another body, the physical body still could not withstand the passage of time and continued to develop serious illnesses until her body collapsed and she died. This was an irreversible process unless she was given a new body, but the characteristics of her soul would inevitably cause the new body to decay at an even faster rate.

Pumpkin told Xiao Ran everything she knew.

The reason why Pumpkin's attitude changed so quickly was not because Pumpkin had any other intentions, but because the main mission of the two could not be failed and there was no other choice.

In other words, Pumpkin and Xiao Ran are actually on the same side. Compared to them, Ghost Master and his group are actually obstacles. If they stand in his way, Pumpkin will not hesitate to take them out first.

After all, nothing matters compared to one's own life.

"That's it!"

Xiao Ran closed her eyes, carefully searching for clues in Pumpkin's words that could break the deadlock.

Meanwhile, the others also began to prepare to choose their dishes.

Looking at the prices on these dishes, his expression turned extremely unpleasant.

"Big guy!"

Just then, someone called out to Xiao Ran, "Hey bro, the price tag on that dish is a pair of eyes, could you perhaps..."

As he spoke, his gaze fell upon the corpse beside Xiao Ran, his meaning quite clear.

Before Xiao Ran could answer, the Ghost Doctor immediately exclaimed, "That won't do! All the price tags must be live items, they must be taken directly from the body."

As soon as the Ghost Doctor uttered these words, everyone slammed their fists on the table and began to curse.

They already had a grudge against the Ghost Doctor, wishing they could skin him alive, so naturally they weren't going to be polite to him: "Damn it, are you crazy? Your menu says you need long hair, I'm a real man, where would I get long hair?!"

"Damn it, if you don't give me a way to live, I won't give you a way to live either. At worst, we'll all perish together."

Despite the curses from the crowd, the Ghost Doctor remained unconcerned and urged, "If you're going to choose your dishes, hurry up, or we'll go find someone else. We're not in a rush. We can put together a human figure. I'm just worried that you won't be able to put together a table full of dishes. Then, hehe..."

As the Ghost Doctor spoke, he glanced at the other tables, where the guests were already staring longingly at the food in their hands.

However, upon hearing the Ghost Doctor's words, Xiao Ran suddenly thought of something, her brows relaxed, and she looked up at Jin Chanzi: "I know how to solve this problem."

(End of this chapter)