Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 690 Inherited Evil Thoughts
With a few gentle strokes of the brush in her hand, Xiao Ran made the evil spirit that had just run out the door turn back in terror.

The most desperate thing in the world is this moment: knowing that going back means certain death, yet your legs won't obey you and you keep walking back.

Before even entering the store, he started yelling, "Let me go, or I'll kill you! I'll haunt you every day and make your house a living hell!!"

Xiao Ran flicked the brush in her hand, and the evil spirit's body suddenly pressed against the left as the brush moved, involuntarily crashing into the wall.

Before he could even catch his breath, he rolled forward again and fell face-first into the dirt.

Left and right, up and down, Xiao Ran wielded his pen, and the evil spirit's body swayed uncontrollably, falling around in a daze.

Before long, it was like a wilted eggplant, losing all its energy.

When Xiao Ran got tired of playing, she used her pen to pull the other person back into the shop.

The evil spirit, with a mournful face, placed the bag of salt in its hand on the table.

Xiao Ran's fingers moved across the abacus, the beads clicking and clattering, each sound like a hammer blow to the other's heart: "Taking something without asking is stealing; using stones to impersonate money is cheating; running away when discovered is robbery. Tell me, how should I deal with you?"

The evil spirit stood awkwardly by the counter: "I...I...can I repay you with my body?"

Xiao Ran paused in her abacus, turned her head to look at the guy in front of her, and her eyes suddenly turned cold.

Realizing that Xiao Ran seemed to have misunderstood, the evil spirit immediately said, "What I mean is, I can give you my eyes, nose, and intestines."

Hearing the evil spirit's words, Xiao Ran's expression softened slightly. After thinking for a moment, she asked, "Since it's payment in kind, then you can stay here and work for me. Work honestly, and I'll not only give you the salt, but also pay you!"

Upon hearing this, the evil spirit, looking suspicious, asked, "Boss, you're not kidding me, are you?"

Xiao Ran casually tossed him a piece of paper money: "This is your wages for today."

Upon seeing the ghost money fall into its hand, the evil spirit's eyes widened, and it carefully wiped it clean.

He immediately nodded with a beaming smile: "Okay, okay, boss, just give me your orders. I'm very quick and efficient. Whatever you need me to do, I'll definitely do it perfectly."

He shook his head from side to side as he spoke, as if trying to see what kind of work was available.

"Stop looking. Your job isn't in the store; it's outside."

"Outside?"

Xiao Ran stepped out from behind the counter, holding a piece of paper in her hand, and stuck it on the evil spirit's chest and back: "Go on, whichever house has its lights on, you go and wander around its door a couple of times. If no one pays attention to you, go to the next one."

The evil spirit looked down at the two pieces of paper on its chest.

The inscription read: "Imperial Jade Liquor," and "Odd changes, even remains the same."

This nonsensical thing left the evil spirit completely bewildered.

But then I thought, isn't this even better? Someone pays me to go out for a stroll; is there anything simpler in the world?

"come over!"

Xiao Ran pulled the evil spirit aside and whispered the last two sentences of those two paragraphs to him.

"If the other party answers correctly, just tell them that I am at the salt shop. You don't need to say anything else. If the other party asks you to bring something over, come back as soon as possible. I will reward you separately."

"Okay, okay, I'll go right away."

Upon hearing that there were additional benefits, the evil spirit grinned from ear to ear and quickly ran out the door.

"I hope Jin Chanzi and the others see this and can come and join me soon."

Xiao Ran couldn't figure out what was going on here, but he was certain that Huang Chao was up to no good.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ran glanced at the mark on her arm again.

He turned and went into the corridor, opening and examining each of the large wine jars one by one, but he couldn't find a second mark no matter how long he searched.

"Thump—thump! Thump! Thump!"

The sound of the night watchman's drum came again from the street, a rhythm of one slow beat followed by three fast beats, clearly indicating that it was the fourth watch of the night.

Yet the streets remained shrouded in ghostly shadows, with people occasionally entering the shops to buy salt.

Based on the year, 30-year-old items are the most popular to buy, followed by 20-year-old items, while items older than 50 years are completely ignored.

Some people obediently paid the money, while others tried to act tough and cheat.

Of course, he inevitably ended up being taught a lesson by Xiao Ran.

"So simple?"

Looking at the ghostly figures outside, Xiao Ran sat on the counter, feeling increasingly bored. She had thought it would be some troublesome matter, but it turned out to be ridiculously simple.

Just when Xiao Ran thought this so-called great escape would be completely effortless, a strange noise came from the backyard.

"Boom...boom...boom..."

Like a heavy wooden mallet striking soaked leather, the slow, dull sound struck Xiao Ran's heart, making her unsettled.

He stood up and walked towards the backyard in the direction of the sound. When he reached the corridor, he realized that the sound was coming from the thirteen large wine jars, which were neatly arranged and covered with spirit tablets!

Xiao Ran's eyes sharpened, and she quickly walked to the wine jar containing her "father," which was trembling slightly! The memorial tablet covering the jar was shaken askew.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran simply took the spirit tablet down, opened the jar lid and looked inside. There, she saw that the head, which was pale from being pickled in salt, had its eyeballs moving violently beneath its tightly closed eyelids!

Then, the second sip, the third sip… all the wine jars began to resonate! The continuous "thump-thump" sounds blended together, like a dozen hearts pounding simultaneously, unwilling to be silent! The ancestral tablets covering the mouths of the jars, with their names in vermilion ink, seemed to have been soaked in water, and began to seep out a dark liquid, which slowly flowed down the jar walls and spread into the air.

An indescribable chill and resentment surged from the backyard like a tide, instantly filling the entire front hall!

That was an extreme hatred and malice!

“Li Xiao…”

A hoarse, sandpaper-like sound came intermittently from the direction of some wine vat, filled with both temptation and malice.

Xiao Ran looked around, her eyes flashing with a fluorescent light, but after scanning the area, she couldn't see anything at all.

Although I couldn't see anything, I could feel a chill creeping towards me.

"can not see?"

Xiao Ran's brows twitched slightly as he released his mental energy to cover the surroundings, but he soon discovered something that seemed to be trying to entangle with his mental energy.

Realizing something was wrong, Xiao Ran made a quick decision and immediately severed this mental entanglement. Then, she made a hand seal and silently recited a spell to fully activate the [Ink Impression].

A moment later, Xiao Ran suddenly took two steps back. A stream of dark liquid gushed out from the cracks in the blue bricks beneath her feet, like a river rising with the tide, quickly covering the ground with a thin layer of ink.

The ink flowed like a living thing, silently swallowing Xiao Ran's figure and aura.

He was completely absorbed into the shadows of the corridor and the darkness of the floor.

The world instantly flipped in his eyes, colors stripped away, leaving only pure black, white and gray and... those viscous malices writhing wildly beneath the inky "surface"!

"Om..."

The ink field beneath their feet, created by the [Ink Impression] technique, had now become the clearest "developing solution." From the previously empty cracks in the bluestone bricks, countless "black snakes," formed from concentrated resentment and chilling cold, were now gushing outwards in a frenzy!
They are not physical entities, but rather manifestations of evil thoughts that even Xiao Ran cannot see.

The cold, sticky, and nauseatingly putrid smell of blood and brine seeped from the depths of those constantly shaking vats!

These "evil black tides" are like living sludge, spreading and converging on the ground, their target is very clear - the very spot where Xiao Ran was standing!

If he hadn't hidden himself in time, he would probably have been completely entangled and corrupted by this invisible resentment by now!

"Da da da……"

A chaotic series of footsteps abruptly appeared on the surface of the Ink Domain. They weren't Xiao Ran's! They were the tracks left by unseen beings walking across the Ink Domain! They circled the point where Xiao Ran had disappeared, the footprints chaotic, hurried, and filled with obvious anxiety and rage, like hyenas that had lost their prey and were pacing wildly.

"Li... Xiao..." The call, sharp and piercing like sandpaper scraping, grew even more shrill and shrill, filled with a furious rage at being fooled, as if it were being squeezed out simultaneously from every wine vat and even from every crack in the bricks.

"You can't escape...your...bones...your blood...all belong to the Li family..."

Xiao Ran in the Ink Domain held his breath, like a reef lurking beneath the deep sea currents.

He clearly "saw" that after a brief period of chaos, those invisible black tides of evil thoughts began to consciously gather and condense! They no longer flowed aimlessly, but were pulled by invisible threads, transforming into blurry, twisted hands made of pure malice, which began to explore and examine every inch of the ground and walls covered by the ink domain with extreme patience!

Soon, messy handprints covered the surrounding walls, as people groped their way from the walls to the corners, and from the corners to the wooden beams overhead.

Little did they know that Xiao Ran had been only a meter away from them the whole time. He stood behind the innermost wine vat, silently staring at the vat in front of him.

Of the thirteen wine vats, this one exuded the most intense malice. Judging from the ancestral tablet, it should belong to one of the Li family's ancestors.

"what!!!"

Seemingly unable to find Xiao Ran for a long time, the wine vat emitted a frantic scream, the vat shook more violently, and emitted a piercing curse.

"You beast, you beast! You're selling the salt from the Li family! It's the Li family that gave you your livelihood! You beast, how dare you hide?!"

As the curses continued, the lid of the wine jar was forced open.

Inside, the hair on the blackened, pickled head was dancing wildly, and a humanoid malevolent force was tearing open from the top of the head, trying to crawl out of the wine vat.

Xiao Ran stood behind the wine vat, watching the thing crawl out. She raised an eyebrow and casually retrieved the [Guillotine] from her spatial storage…

(End of this chapter)