Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 688 Are you pickling salted fish?
Gu Xintang leaped over the gate, and his figure was immediately enveloped in a cloud of black mist. The others were also apprehensive upon seeing this.

"Third Young Master!!"

Someone called out from the doorway, but there was no reply from Gu Xintang. Gritting his teeth, he stepped inside as well.

One by one, people rushed through the gate without pausing for a moment.

But some people stood in front of the door for a moment and suddenly regretted it.

A middle-aged man turned around and tried to leave.

This man was a wandering sorcerer recruited by the Prince of Jin. He had some real skills, but not many. The Prince of Jin treated him with respect and was always responsive to his requests.

He promised that as long as one entered the Ghost City, regardless of whether or not the Imperial Seal of the State could be found, one would be given countless riches and treasures.

But now he just wants to leave, to get as far away from this gate as possible.

Unexpectedly, just a few steps after he turned around, a sharp arrow flew by, grazing his scalp and falling to the ground.

Looking up, they saw that Prince Jin and his men were standing on a nearby earthen slope, staring at them. Anyone who dared to run away at this moment would be pierced by a thousand arrows or trampled into mincemeat by horses' hooves.

"Haha, you good-for-nothing! I told you not to get involved in this mess, but you wouldn't listen. Now it's too late to regret it."

Someone made a joking remark, then stepped through the door with a smile.

"Sigh!" Knowing it was too late to regret it, the middle-aged man seemed to resign himself to his fate. He gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and leaped into the doorway, disappearing into the darkness.

“This cover-up is a bit strange. Here are three talismans. Each of you should keep one close to your body. As long as we are within 30 meters of each other, we will all sense them.”

Jin Chanzi stared at the gate for a long time, then subtly took out three talismans from his sleeve and distributed them to Xiao Ran, Wu Man, and Dai Long.

Wu Man took out a small gourd from her spatial storage, opened the stopper, and poured out green powder, sprinkling it on Xiao Ran and the others.

"This is called Sanyang Powder. If you apply it to your body, you can avoid one attack from a ghost story!"

As the powder landed on her body, Xiao Ran felt as if a spiritual force was protecting her. Just as Wu Man had said, this thing was full of yang energy and even contained a tiger's might.

"Good stuff!" Jin Chanzi smiled and moved closer to Wu Man. "Chef, can I have some more?"

"Dream on! That's all I have. This thing is very difficult to deal with unless you're willing to kill the tiger demon!"

As Wu Man spoke, her gaze fell upon the tiger demon beneath Jin Chanzi's rear end.

Even the tiger demon couldn't help but shiver when Wu Man's gaze swept over it.

In fact, this Sanyang powder is a seasoning made from the tendons and membranes inside tiger bones, chicken bones, and deer bones.

This is a technique only a C-level professional chef like Wu Man possesses; other professions would absolutely not have the ability to refine San Yang powder.

"Fine then. I finally managed to acquire this mount, what am I going to ride if you kill me?"

The golden toad shook its head and patted the tiger's head beneath its rear end, signaling it to relax.

"They've all gone in already, let's go in too."

Dai Long spoke up.

"it is good!"

Xiao Ran led the way, followed by Dai Long in second place, Jin Chanzi and Hu Yao in third, and Wu Man in fourth, forming a line. Xiao Ran took a step forward, and half of her foot had already leaped over the strange threshold made of "flesh and blood".

Instantly, a cold, viscous sensation enveloped his calf, carrying a strong corrosive feeling.

"careful!"

He gave a low shout and stepped into the impenetrable darkness without hesitation.

Jin Chanzi, Wu Man, and Dai Long followed closely behind, their figures quickly swallowed by the darkness.

As soon as the figures of the people outside disappeared in front of the gate, the writhing opening contracted and closed rapidly as if it were alive, and in the blink of an eye, the city gate was restored to its original closed state, without leaving a trace.

Outside the city, countless eyes stared intently at the restored city gate, a deathly silence reigning. The wind swept across the wilderness, raising dust and adding to the desolate and chilling atmosphere.

The eyes of the rebel kings revealed a mixture of anticipation and tension. No one could guarantee that they would come out alive, let alone that anyone would be able to obtain the Imperial Seal.

Regardless of whether anyone succeeds, these rebel kings kept glancing at Lu Cheng from time to time.

Just as Gu Xintang said, these rebel kings had reached an agreement to form an alliance, and their target was naturally the military governor in front of them who had not yet claimed the title of king!
Lu Cheng naturally noticed the gazes of these people, but he didn't care.

He gripped the hilt of the Mo Dao tightly, his knuckles white, his gaze as deep and unfathomable as the sea, looking at the ghost city that had devoured his brothers, silently chanting in his heart: "Xiao Ran... come out alive!"

……

As the darkness gradually faded, Xiao Ran's vision became clearer.

A ray of sunlight fell on Xiao Ran's face, while the noisy cries of vendors echoed from the street.

The sunlight was surprisingly warm. Xiao Ran squinted, looking at the vendors hawking their wares on both sides of the street.

An old man wearing a melon-shaped hat pushed a cart past Xiao Ran, calling out, "Freshly steamed buns made with human blood!"

As the car drove by, it attracted many people to buy the buns. The old man lifted the blanket on the bamboo basket, revealing the bright red steamed buns underneath.

"This is made from Miss Lu's blood. You can smell it; it even has a floral fragrance."

Upon hearing this, everyone took out their money to buy the steamed buns in the old man's basket. In no time, the basket was completely emptied of the blood-soaked buns.

The old man then pushed the cart away quickly, completely satisfied.

"This……"

Xiao Ran remained unmoved by the scene before her; it seemed strangely familiar.

"Could it be, yet another city of all living beings?"

With questions in mind, Xiao Ran walked along the street.

On the way, he saw a woman carrying a bamboo basket filled with wriggling eyeballs.

Even more bizarrely, the shadows of all the "pedestrians" twisted in opposite directions, like puppets controlled by invisible threads.

"There's no mistake!"

Before long, Xiao Ran had already formed a basic judgment in her mind: this was another City of All Beings.

However, compared to the previous City of All Beings, this place is more complete and even more perfect.

"If I'm not mistaken, the City of All Beings they encountered before was very likely a prototype that Huang Chao had prepared in advance. After accumulating experience points, he came to Chang'an and created this place."

As Xiao Ran walked to the roadside, an old woman on the street saw her, her face darkened, and she quickly walked up to Xiao Ran, grabbing her arm:
"Li Xiao, what are you doing here? Your father has been sending people everywhere to look for you. Hurry up and go home. Tomorrow night is the 'Great Retreat,' and your family is very busy right now. How can you still have the leisure to waste time here?"

"Li Xiao?"

Xiao Ran was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, but he did not explain. Since this place was created by Huang Chao, everything in front of him was an illusion.

If the pedestrians on the street are illusions, then perhaps we ourselves are also illusions.

But how exactly did Huang Chao manage to do that?

I remember that Huang Chao didn't seem to be good at magic.

"Auntie, what is Da Bi?" Xiao Ran didn't question her identity at all, but instead asked about the Da Bi she mentioned.

"Oh dear, what a tragedy! Tell me, how could the Li family, after three generations, have produced such a good-for-nothing as you? I am your own aunt, and it's fine if you don't acknowledge me, but how come you don't even recognize your own mother? I think you've been drained of your body by that vixen from the brothel, and you've lost your mind."

The old woman in front of us slapped her thigh and wailed, attracting the attention of everyone around us.

When everyone's attention was focused on Xiao Ran, she suddenly felt a tightness in her chest, and a very uncomfortable feeling arose spontaneously, as if a strong sense of rejection was coming towards her.

"not good!"

Realizing something was wrong, Xiao Ran immediately guessed the reason. She put on a look of shame and quickly helped her aunt up by the arm: "Aunt, Aunt, please don't be angry. I... I accidentally bumped my head last night, and my thoughts were all jumbled up. I was talking nonsense just now. I was wrong."

After Xiao Ran's explanation, the old woman's expression softened a bit. She grabbed Xiao Ran's arm and said, "Hurry up, hurry back to find your father. If you go back too late, it will be too late."

Seeing that Xiao Ran was behaving normally, everyone looked away and went back to doing their own thing.

The intense feeling of rejection from before gradually dissipated at this moment.

This immediately put Xiao Ran's mind at ease.

"It seems that there is some kind of special rule here. If one's behavior is different from that of ordinary people and is noticed by the people on the street, this rule will be triggered."

As Xiao Ran walked along, she secretly pondered that at least twelve people had been watching her.

"It seems that the more people who notice something is wrong with them, the faster the triggering will be."

"But...why isn't there any hint at all?"

In the past, when I triggered some kind of strange rule in the labyrinth, a reminder would always appear in front of me.

But now there are not only no reminders, but also no task prompts.

Just as Xiao Ran was wondering about this, the woman who was nominally Xiao Ran's aunt had already pulled Xiao Ran to the front of a store, reminding her, "If your father scolds you later, you should honestly admit your mistake."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ran looked up and saw the words "Li's Salt Shop" clearly written above.

"A salt shop?"

Upon seeing the shop in front of her, Xiao Ran's lips involuntarily curled up slightly.

Unexpectedly, his identity this time was quite good; he was actually the young master of a salt shop.

"Don't just stand there, hurry up and go inside."

Seeing that he didn't move, the old lady thought that the child hadn't figured it out yet, so she pulled Xiao Ran and quickly walked inside.

As soon as she entered, a woman rushed over, grabbed Xiao Ran's arm, and said with tears in her eyes, "Li Xiao, why did you only come back now? Father has already vomited blood."

"This is……"

Xiao Ran looked at the girl in front of her with a blank expression.

Seeing this, the eldest aunt reached out and pinched Xiao Ran: "What are you standing there for? Didn't you hear what your wife said? Hurry up and go check on your father. Is he still alive? If he's dead, be sure to rub salt all over his wounds..."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ran's mind went completely blank. She thought to herself, "Salt? Spread it evenly?? No... is this definitely my dad, or a salted fish??"

(End of this chapter)