Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 637 City of All Beings

"Humph, if you don't accept the toast, you will have to drink the penalty wine."

Watching the old man vanish in a puff of smoke, Wu Man snorted disdainfully.

Looking back at the soup on the table, she couldn't help but feel a little regretful: "What a pity, what a waste of my whole pot of mutton." After thinking for a moment, Wu Man sealed the soup away and put it into her spatial storage, thinking that it might come in handy in the future.

"You're leaving now? What reward do you have for me?"

Xiao Ran walked over and asked.

As this is a ghost story specifically about Wu Man, Xiao Ran is very curious about what the reward will be.

Wu Man glanced at her reward information and her lips twitched slightly: "Not bad, I was rewarded with a special privilege: [Master Chef Certification]."

[Master Chef Certification]: Holders of this privilege can establish a Ghost Story Restaurant in any area of ​​the Lost City. The restaurant will randomly generate three ghost stories.

"So, you can also establish your own business here?"

"This should be."

Xiao Ran thought about it for a moment. Although this ghost story was very specific, if he could complete it, he could establish his own industry here. The reward was pretty good.

Of course, judging from the old man's attitude just now, it's clear that getting this reward won't be easy.

However, looking at it from another perspective, this is actually a good thing.

If Xiao Ran's prediction is correct, any force that wants to establish itself here in the future will first have to trigger this kind of targeted supernatural test. Only after completing the test will they be able to obtain the opportunity to acquire property here.

In contrast, his own Amazing Pavilion has already taken root here, which is a natural advantage for him. In the future, it will probably not be an easy thing for Penglai Tower, Donglongfang, Changchun Club, or even the company to directly intervene.

This undoubtedly adds considerable value to the Amazing Pavilion business.

After resting for a while, the group continued their journey before dawn the next day.

Although they encountered some evil spirits along the way, these minor evil spirits were not worth mentioning. Xiao Ran and the others did not have to do anything. It was only the old demon Qinghai who took action and wiped them out.

But this also allowed Xiao Ran and his group to witness once again the darkness after the world fell apart. It seemed that any Tom, Dick, or Harry could put on a piece of clothing and dare to jump out and call themselves some kind of celestial master or virtuous person, wielding power and influence in the local area.

"There seems to be a city ahead. Let's take a break and rest."

After walking for several days, a county town came into view in the distance.

Seeing this, everyone relaxed.

Although they had Chef Wu Man with them along the way, and Xiao Ran also had two cursed items for temporary lodging, they weren't always eating and sleeping outdoors.

After walking for so long, the group was exhausted from traversing the mountain paths.

Most importantly, they have no idea where they are or how far they are from Ruzhou City.

There's a town right now, which is a good opportunity for them to rest and recuperate, and also to get a better understanding of how much the Lost City has changed.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ran, Qing Hai, Wu Man, Dai Long, Jin Chanzi, and the skinny tiger mount, the five of them and the tiger, began to walk more lightly.

However, once they reached the city gate tower, Xiao Ran and the others' mood immediately soured.

All that could be seen hanging on the city gate were countless human heads.

These heads, men and women, young and old, hung on the city gate, their flesh rotting and infested with maggots, yet they were all still alive, weakly uttering mournful cries.

Blood continued to gush from the severed neck, dripping down like a waterfall of blood above the city gate.

Some people stood under the city gate, holding bowls to catch the falling blood. Once the bowls were full, they carefully placed them in a special wooden bucket.

Xiao Ran and the others didn't know what the wooden barrel was for, but the sight was truly unsettling.

Especially after they got closer and could still hear the little girl calling out "Mother, Mother," their initial hopes for the city completely vanished.

The city gate was only one. Although Xiao Ran and the others were not happy about it, they still gritted their teeth and quickly passed through the blood waterfall in front of the gate.

After the crimson blood stained their bodies, Xiao Ran and the others immediately heard a ghostly whisper.

"Welcome to the City of All Beings. Please abide by the strange tales and rules of this city. You lot, please don't take this lightly. If you make a mistake here, even the Heavenly King himself can't save you."

Xiao Ran looked up following the sound and was surprised to find that the city gate in front of her had actually come to life.

The city gate is its mouth, the windows of the building are its eyes, and its ferocious appearance is like a giant beast lying on the ground.

Xiao Ran and the others hadn't realized before that the city was active.

"is blood!"

The old demon Qinghai rubbed the blood off his body, then held it to his nose and sniffed it. He felt that the blood contained a rich life force.

But besides that, there seems to be some special power hidden inside.

"This is interesting. It's somewhat like a curse spell, but it's different from a curse spell."

Xiao Ran got some blood on his hands and carefully examined the blood with his power of rewind. He could see more than he could see with the Azure Bone Demon. However, the composition of the blood was too complex. Xiao Ran could only tell that someone seemed to be using this method to suppress the people of the entire city.

Once you enter the city and are stained with this blood, you will be under the influence of this curse and will naturally have to follow the rules of the city.

"Everyone be careful, observe more and speak less."

Xiao Ran reminded everyone of something and then took the lead.

After passing through the city gate, the streets were bustling with people, the sounds of vendors hawking their wares filled the air, and everyone wore a smile. Even the road surface was exceptionally clean, as if it had just been washed. But as Xiao Ran's gaze swept across the scene, what she saw was a landscape littered with corpses, piled up like garbage in the streets and alleys.

swarms of flies buzzed around the corpse, most of which was already rotting and infested with maggots.

The pedestrians on the street had stiff faces and a sinister aura. A woman turned around as if she sensed something, and two lines of bloody tears rolled down her fair face.

"This is clearly a ghost town!"

Xiao Ran's heart skipped a beat, thinking, "This must be the work of the Locust Plague Army, but turning this city into a ghost town is probably not Huang Chao's doing."

Anyway, now that we're in the city, we might as well take a walk, see what's going on, and figure out what's on our minds.

"Come on, fresh glutinous rice balls, they're delicious!"

"Steamed cake! Delicious steamed cake!!"

The street vendors' shouts filled the air as large steamers were lifted, releasing plumes of white steam and revealing clusters of bright pink glutinous rice balls that looked incredibly appetizing.

The old man selling fried dough sticks would take a lump of dough, knead it into a long strip, then slap it on the table a couple of times, pull and stretch it, and casually toss it into the oil pot.

"Zizzizi..."

In a short while, a golden-yellow fried dough stick was ready.

Passing by the street corner, there was a small stall selling fried sheep intestines, which was doing booming business.

Freshly slaughtered sheep intestines are wrapped in white oil. The iron griddle is heated until it is red-hot. The intestines are laid out and sizzle with oil. When they are fried until crispy, they are sprinkled with coarse salt and Sichuan peppercorns, wrapped in oil paper, and handed to the waiting customers. The scalding temperature makes the customers switch between their left and right hands to hold them.

Xiao Ran and his companions crossed a stone bridge, and on the other side, a peddler carrying a shoulder pole took a few steps and called out to the surroundings:
"Zao'er!!"

"What is soap?" Xiao Ran initially thought it was some kind of miscellaneous item like soapberry.

The peddler hadn't gone two steps when someone called out to him, and a young woman said, "Give me a bowl."

"okay."

The peddler smiled and lifted the lid of his basket, taking out a porcelain basin.

Inside, there is a transparent jelly made from mung bean flour, soaked in chilled acacia honey water.

The peddler used a bamboo knife to lightly slice the dough into diamond shapes, which were then placed in a celadon bowl. Wisps of cool air emanated from the bowl, carrying a sweet fragrance of osmanthus.

If Xiao Ran hadn't been able to see through the city's facade and know that these were all just illusions, one might actually feel as if they were living in a prosperous era.

Looking at the dazzling array of food on the street, Dai Long looked puzzled and suddenly asked, "Have you noticed?"

"What??"

Everyone looked at Dai Long, who frowned and glanced around: "They... don't seem to have paid."

Hearing Dai Long's words, the others came to their senses.

"Yes, I only saw them eating, but I didn't see a single one of them pay."

Jin Chanzi also felt something was strange.

"We'll see if we try." Wu Man looked around and pointed ahead: "Let's go with this place."

Wu Man arrived at a sesame seed cake stall. The sesame seed cake was similar to a baked flatbread. There were two people at the stall.

One person is responsible for making the dough, and the other is responsible for baking the flatbread.

The dough slapped onto the griddle with a crisp "smack," and when sprinkled with sesame seeds, it scattered like flowers from a fairy's shower, then stuck to the side of the oven wall.

The flatbread puffs up like an air sac once it's baked, and when you bite into it, a burst of hot air mixed with the aroma of milk bursts out. If you add some tenderly cooked mutton on top, the taste is simply...

"Boss, two pancakes."

Wu Man pointed to the flatbread on the stall.

"okay."

The shopkeeper took out some oil paper to wrap Wu Man, and handed her the pancake with both hands, saying, "Have a good trip, sir. Please come again if you like it."

Wu Man touched the warm flatbread in her hand, but didn't leave. She smiled and asked, "I haven't paid you yet. How much are these two flatbreads?"

Upon hearing Wu Man's words, the shopkeeper was taken aback, then smiled and said, "Sir, you must be from out of town."

"Yes, I just arrived."

"No wonder, here it's free, eat and drink as you please."

"No money?? Then what kind of business are you doing..."

"Haha, don't worry about the money, someone already paid it. Look."

The owner pointed to the flour bucket next to him, which was full of fine white flour.

Wu Man and the others were puzzled. When they arrived, they saw only people on the verge of death, or even famine victims who resorted to cannibalism.

Where did all this grain come from? And it doesn't look like it came out of thin air.

Just as Wu Man and the others were wondering, Xiao Ran squinted at the wooden bucket the shopkeeper was using to serve noodles, and suddenly realized: "So that's how it is, it really is karma!"

(End of this chapter)