Ita Era

Chapter 108 The Grim Reaper's Tea Party
At 2:30 PM, by the time the believer players realized something was wrong, all the believer NPCs had been slaughtered, and all eight sacrifices had been released. It could be said that the believers' fate was sealed.

Under the relentless pressure from Ding Shi and Sha Bi, the archer, with no hope of turning the tide, shot her own companion and surrendered, on the condition that she have one hour to use the Golden Teleportation Ticket.

Given the archer girl's sincerity and good looks (above 9 out of 10), Ding Shi and Sha Bi shamelessly agreed. They then made a deal.

After using the Golden Teleportation Ticket, the archer is essentially removed from the instance; regardless of whether she has the system-marked mark on her, she has no chance of resurrection. Once in Four Symbols City, the only useful weapon the archer has is the Ita Blade.

The archer woman first sells her own bow.

In the second homecoming instance, the archer works for three days at an archery range to raise travel expenses. Due to her outstanding performance, the range presents her with an Olympic-standard bow. In the primitive era, the archer's homemade arrows are recognized, granting her the crafting skill: Arrow Making. Given sufficient materials, arrows can be automatically crafted over time.

The archer was a master player, her ruthlessness evident in her decisive killing of two of her own companions. She joined the cult because she believed most players were disorganized and lacked the influence of the system-assisted Satanic cult. This conclusion wasn't wrong; most of the eleven players who came to the slaughterhouse today had been tricked by Ding Shi and Yu Yuan.

Ding Shi contributed 10 knives, and Sha Bi contributed 11 knives. The archer girl's eyes and lips twitched, but she still threw the bow to Sha Bi. Ding Shi secretly chuckled, thinking, "Sha Bi, you can learn slowly."

Aside from the bow, most of the items were bought in Ham Town: daggers, bicycle keys, and the archer even took off her boots and underwear.

Both Sha Bi and Ding Shi were shocked. First, they were shocked by the uniqueness of the product, and second, they were shocked by how the archer woman could pull the product out so easily, without exposing herself, by tugging left and right.

Ding Shicheng said honestly, "Girl, forget about the boots, but this underwear... don't you think it should be sold privately? Even though you're very beautiful, we're all too embarrassed to buy it." It's okay to buy it secretly, but not publicly.

The archer rolled her eyes at the two ordinary men, then pulled half a card from her underwear. On it were written two words: "The Era".

Wow! Ding Shi's eyes lit up; Sha Bi's eyes had already lit up when he saw the underwear.

Ding Shi took it without ceremony and examined it. It was a Human Dungeon Card, but only half of it, though it was a universal half. The system explained that finding the other half and combining them would yield the complete card, unlocking the corresponding era dungeon for the Human Grand Dungeon.

For example, if you get half a card from the Stone Age, Iron Age, Feudal Age, or World War II, you can choose one half to combine with the card from that era. The downside is that you need to collect two half cards, but the upside is that you have more choices.

The archer woman said, "This is a team reward given by the system after completing the amusement park ritual. I killed the team leader and got this half of the card."

Why is it hidden in underwear?

The captain was murdered, the card went missing, and the players began to suspect each other, starting a search. Since they only had four inventory slots, they took out four items to fill them. The archer woman was one step ahead; after taking half a card, she stuffed it into the padding of her underwear. Naturally, it wasn't found during the search. Because of the Grim Reaper's presence, it couldn't be ruled out that the captain was killed by him, and that the captain hid the card before dying.

Ding Shi admired the archer woman. She possessed not only the physical beauty and sex appeal of a woman, but also survival skills such as situational awareness, cunning, ruthlessness, and viciousness. However, because she was so cruel, no team dared to take her in.

Ding Shi quoted a price: "30 dollars."

Foolish Bone sighed, “49.5 dollars.” He knew he was about to be humiliated because of his poverty.

Ding Shi smiled and said, "50 dollars." He handed over the money and delivered the goods.

Before Ding Shi could even open his mouth to mock her, Silly Dagger changed the subject, saying, "Beautiful lady, you might not need to use a teleportation ticket." Someone like that is better left in the instance. Others might not know the archer's character, but they do.

The archer was looking forward to seeing Ding Shi; if she could, she wouldn't want to leave the instance.

Ding Shi said, "He likes you, but I only like your looks, sorry. However, I think you would do very well even if you went to Sixiang City."

The archer woman didn't mince words, saying, "I think so too."

Sha Bi glanced at the revolver in Ding Shi's hand and could only give up trying to persuade him, lest Ding Shi find an excuse to shoot him dead.

Sha Bi asked, "Miss, may I ask your name?"

Ding Shi: Fang Ming... such an archaic word.

The archer woman replied, "Why must we have known each other before we meet?"

A golden light enveloped the archer woman, who casually pointed a dagger at him and said, "The underwear is yours." With that, the archer woman vanished with the light.

Ding stood up and reminded her, "Your underwear."

Sha Bi didn't even glance at him, stepping over the bra and walking away. If a girl had secretly slipped it to him before leaving, he might have reluctantly accepted it as a souvenir, after all, they were friends. But now, if he dared to touch the bra even once, Ding Shi would mercilessly mock him for the rest of his life.

With no believers and no offerings, the pig demon and evil spirits were no longer a concern. The Iron-Clad Woman came up with a terrible idea: to burn down Workshop No. 4. After working on it for 20 minutes, they realized there was no flammable material and it wouldn't light. So they gave up and everyone left the slaughterhouse in trucks.

The truck stopped outside the slaughterhouse, and after exchanging greetings, everyone went their separate ways on foot, by bicycle, or by car.

Ding hitched a ride with the woman in red, who said, "There were some problems in Workshop 4 when you and Sha Bi were on the operation."

Ding Shi asked, puzzled, "What's the problem?"

The woman in red said, "The pig demon was wandering about 100 meters away from Workshop 4 when it suddenly roared for about 20 seconds. For the next hour or so, we couldn't find any trace of the pig demon or the evil spirit."

Ding Shi asked, "The pig demon is gone too?"

The woman in red said, "The bandaged girl who was in charge of keeping an eye on the pig demon said that after the pig demon roared, it ran in the opposite direction."

Ding Shi asked, "What are your thoughts?"

The woman in red said, "You and Sha Bi were in Workshop 5 at the time, Yu Yuan was in the command center, and the rest of us were me, Iron Shirt Girl, Liu He, and Bandage Girl. I suspect that someone obtained ghost power and made a pact with an evil spirit. The evil spirit used his living soul power to retrieve the remnant soul from the pig demon's body."

Sha Bi once told everyone how to subdue this evil spirit.

Ding Shi thought for a while: "Forget it, as long as the altar is destroyed, that's enough. Taking away the demonic power is his skill. Besides, I don't think having demonic power is a good thing." Power that backfires is just a last gasp before death, not true power.

……

The woman in red escorted Ding Shi to his doorstep. As soon as Ding Shi opened his bedroom door, the phone in the study on the second floor started ringing incessantly. Ding Shi wasn't in a hurry. He closed the door, washed his hands and face, and went upstairs at his own pace. The phone had already rung three times when Ding Shi picked up the receiver and sat down: "Hello."

Death: "I am Death."

Ding Shi: "I'm a dead ghost." Is that funny?

Death: "I formally invite you to have tea at the Celebrity Tea House tonight from 9 to 10 pm."

Ding Shi: "Do you think I'm stupid?"

Death: "From now until 10 PM, I won't cause any accidents to harm you. There will be no mini-games, and you won't be in danger." Ding Shi thought for a moment and asked, "How much is the travel fee? That is, the transportation fee and the time wasted."

Death paused for a long time before saying, "No."

Ding Shi: "Goodbye."

Death: "Wait, how much do you want?"

Ding Shi thought for a long time: "I don't seem to lack money. Can you give me something else? For example, tell me what ghost power is and how to obtain it."

Death was very generous this time, saying, "Ghost power is about signing a contract with an evil spirit or a ghost king. Contracts are divided into many types, the most suitable for humans being the master-servant contract. The prerequisite for signing this kind of contract is that the evil spirit or ghost king is on the verge of death. The simplest is the submission contract, becoming the servant of the evil spirit or ghost king. I can give you such a contract."

Ding Shi: "No need, thank you. What kind of contract do you have with Duan Pi?"

Death replied, "A short-term apprenticeship contract. As an apprentice, he is obligated to complete the tasks I assign, and upon completion, I must reward him. When he encounters difficulties, I need to provide some assistance. An apprenticeship contract is not a soul contract; it's more like an employment contract."

Ding Shi asked, "What about an equal contract?"

Death replied, "Only when demons and demon kings are in a state of absolute weakness will they sign an equal contract with humans. The equal contract is the most complex and has many classifications. Generally speaking, it is divided into three types. The first type is the summoning contract, where I use a certain price to summon a demon to help me, and I suffer different degrees of backlash depending on the length of the summoning time."

Death: "The second type is a control contract, which transfers control of the body to a demon or demon king. When the demon is attacked, it will activate a counterattack rule, and even though it is limited by a human body, it is still very powerful relative to humans. The drawback of this contract is that the demon will not cherish the body and may even deliberately damage it."

Death: "The third type is a conditional contract. Simply put, I want to achieve a certain goal, and the evil spirit sets a condition. If I can meet the evil spirit's condition, the evil spirit can help me achieve that goal. Both the goal and the condition are limited by strength. For example, if your goal is to destroy Ham Town, no evil spirit can do it, so the condition will not be triggered."

Death: "Are you satisfied with my answer?"

When you give a gift, you must have something in mind!
Ding Shi said, "Okay, I will keep my promise."

Death: "There are currently 20 outsiders in Ham Town. All 20 of them will receive an invitation. If you don't want to reveal your identity, try to disguise yourself as much as possible."

Ding Shi said, "Your well-intentioned reminder made me feel your malice."

Death smiled without saying a word and hung up the phone.

Ding Shi hung up the phone, and it rang again. It was Yu Yuan calling, talking about the Grim Reaper's invitation to tea, and that Wang Meng had almost fully recovered. The two discussed the latter, both agreeing that the dungeon hospital had been incredibly efficient; otherwise, Wang Meng would have been bedridden for another half month. Ding Shi mentioned Sun Qi from Peach Blossom Village; after a night of treatment by the barefoot doctor, the nearly dead Sun Qi was bouncing around the next morning.

……

At 9 p.m., at the Celebrity Tea House, there were no waiters or owners. The tea party was organized by Death's Apprentice, Silly Bone, and there were 14 people participating.

A gust of wind blew by, and all the doors and windows closed. The two latecomers knocked on the doors to no avail.

Sha Bi said, "Hello everyone, I am Sha Bi, the Grim Reaper's apprentice. I am speaking on behalf of the Grim Reaper."

Sha Bi coughed, took out a piece of paper from his pocket, and began to read: "I am Death... Let me put it in normal terms, I am Death, the creator of Ham Town, and also the God of Ham Town. Although I created Ham Town, I cannot interfere with the thoughts and actions of every soul. Because of this, Ham Town was about to become hell. With the blessing of Death, the brave outsiders of Ham Town stopped all of this from happening."

Sha Bi sighed deeply, finished reading the speech, put it away and said, "The grim reaper is very unhappy that someone dared to mess with him, but he cannot directly interfere with the people and affairs of Ham Town. Therefore, he asked us outsiders to remove the evil spirits from four locations: the police station, the amusement park, the pharmaceutical factory, and the experimental middle school."

Foolish Dagger: "Most people should know that the believers successfully completed the sacrifices at these four locations, summoning a demon at each. In other words, these four places are now the domain of demons. We are powerless to destroy the demons, but the Grim Reaper has granted us a pair of eyes that can see inverted crosses."

After thinking for a while, Sha Bi said in the most straightforward way: "Everyone sitting or standing will receive a buff. With this buff, you can see the inverted cross. As long as you take the inverted cross and leave the demon realm, the demons will be forced to return to hell. After completing the task, as a reward, the inverted cross will turn into a gold-level scratch card. As for what you can scratch out, that depends on everyone's luck."

Silly Bone pulled out a stack of cards and continued, "These are Domain Warrior Cards. Using them grants a 72-hour buff. The first effect is that you cannot leave the Domain of Evil after entering it and before obtaining the inverted cross. The second effect is that after entering the Domain of Evil, you will learn the killing rules of the Domain Evils."

Silly Bone stepped off the stage, handed out cards to everyone, and said, "The Warrior Card has been blessed by Lord Death and is valid for this instance."

Ding Shi couldn't help but ask, "The blessing of death? The good fortune of misfortune? The bad luck of fortune?"

Silly Bone: "Haha, Brother Shi is really good at joking."

Ding Shi immediately became alert: "What do you want to do?"

Sha Bi handed out cards to everyone and sat down at Ding Shi's table. This table was full of acquaintances: Hong Yi, Wang Meng, and Yu Yuan. They were the only ones not disguised; most of the others wore hoodies, masks, and sunglasses.
Sha Bi said, "Let's cooperate. I don't need much. The reward is for the four of you. Just give me 100 dollars."

Yu Yuan asked, "In the realm of evil spirits, can I spend points to ask the Grim Reaper questions?"

Sha Bi said, "No. But I am very talented."

Ding Shi shook his head: "No, I don't trust you."

Sha Bi said, "Didn't we cooperate with the slaughterhouse before?"

Ding Shi replied, "That's because we share common interests. $100 isn't even a small amount of interest."

Sha Bi looked at Yu Yuan, knowing that Yu Yuan was half the leader.

Yu Yuan said, "I will not participate."

Silly Dagger said helplessly, "I swear..."

Ding Shi: "To put it bluntly, I only believe the oaths I make among those present."

The woman in red retorted, "I'm very trustworthy too, okay?"

Ding Shi countered, "Are you participating?"

The woman in red paused, realizing she hadn't decided whether to participate, mainly due to the reward. One inverted cross could only be exchanged for one card. Assuming everyone needed the card, an auction would likely be used, with the highest bidder winning, and Ding Shi would probably take it in the end. Furthermore, Yu Yuan had already discussed joining the Fire Seed Tribe with her, and she had agreed.

Ding Shi provided the tribe with half a human dungeon card, and it was a tribe member who formed a team, yet Ding Shi didn't know how to be considerate. Unless Ding Shi didn't want the gold card reward from the inverted cross, the red-clothed girl had no chance at all.

Hongyi and Ding Shi weren't very close, so it's normal that she had her own agenda. Besides, she had never challenged dungeons as a member of the tribe, so she lacked tribe cohesion.

After this analysis, the woman in red realized that participating in the inverted cross challenge was not a wise choice.

Thinking of this, the woman in red softened her tone: "I'll think about it."

(End of this chapter)