Antique Shop Zero: Disfigured School Beauty Becomes a Succubus to Pay Off Debts

On the highway in the Philippines.

"Remember next time, hide your hellish keepsake well! And don't expose your face!"

If the other groups target you, you're dead!

"The bald messenger of hell said as he drove."

Through casual conversations along the way, Yang Xiao gained some understanding of the Dark Council.

The Dark Council has thirteen subcommittees.

They can kill each other as long as it's not during mission periods.

The spoils of war were ram's head pendants.

Despite years of infighting among the thirteen groups, the overall strength of the Dark Council has not diminished in the slightest.

The supernatural powers of the messengers of hell come from the ram's head pendants they wear around their necks.

But this also resulted in strong groups getting stronger and weak groups getting weaker.

Yang Xiao asked:

"We're Group Thirteen in the Dark Council. How strong are we?"

The bald messenger of hell glanced at him:

"There are more than 30 people in one group, and there are two people in our group of thirteen."

He paused, then continued:

"Including you, who just became a messenger of hell, there are now three people."

Yang Xiao remained silent for a while.

According to Zou Jun's memory, he became a messenger of hell by chance.

At that time, Zou Jun encountered a chaotic battle. An injured man fled into an alley, but died from his injuries.

Zou Jun took his bag, which contained a black robe, a mask, and a ram's head pendant.

Not long after, he was contacted by the leader of Group Thirteen, who asked him to attend a meeting wearing a black robe, a mask, and a pendant.

After attending that meeting and meeting with the leader of Group Thirteen, Zou Jun went to Xia Country.

Later, they encountered a group from the Forbidden Society.

The bald-headed messenger from hell said:

"We must never make the same mistake again, and we must always protect our privacy."

When I joined the Dark Council, it had thirty-two groups; now there are only thirteen left.

Now you should know how serious the infighting is within the Dark Council, right?

Even some people in groups one and two couldn't trust their own group members.

There is a risk of death if one's real identity information is exposed.

The allure of a hellish keepsake is simply too great.

By the way, even names can only be given as code names.

We parted in such a rush last time that I didn't give you a code.

The bald-headed messenger of hell is codenamed "Puppet Master," and the messenger sitting next to him is codenamed "Venomous Fang."

Yang Xiao leaned back in his car seat and said with a smile:

"Now that I've revealed my appearance to you, don't I also risk being killed by you?"

The puppeteer snorted angrily:

"Do you know why our Group 13 is the weakest, yet we still manage to exist?"

It's because our Group 13 is united enough and never engages in internal strife!

Although many brothers have died over the years, our Group Thirteen has survived.

Therefore, you two are not allowed to kill each other!

Group 13 will regain its former glory sooner or later!

Yang Xiao always had a smile on his lips.

He clearly saw Venom sitting in the passenger seat, a greedy glint in his eyes.

Yang Xiao pretended not to see it and stretched:

"The United States is quite interesting."

The authorities actually rely on an organization like the Dark Council to handle unusual events.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Venom smiled contemptuously:

"What else can they do? They don't have the means to deal with unusual events."

Yang laughed:

"Can't they research some methods?"

A slight smile appeared on Venom's lips:

"Of course they've studied it."

However, studying the power of hell is virtually impossible.

After all, only items from hell can unleash the power of hell.

Our tokens are all gifts from the great Satan.

Venomous Fang paused, then said:

"They also discovered that the weapon they envisioned could only handle abnormal events and was completely unusable for military purposes."

"Then they might as well give us the money and let us protect them; they'll save a lot of money that way."

Yang Xiao remembered something.

The Anomaly Management Bureau has a machine gun called "Anti-Anomaly Generation 1".

The cost of the bullets used by the machine guns on the night of the siege of Prince Heng was an astronomical sum.

It is said that after the incident, the investigators immediately searched the scene for shell casings with lower wear levels, intending to reprocess and reuse them.

That machine gun was very useful against Prince Heng, but its cost was outrageous for military purposes.

However, the Xia Kingdom government will still strive to expend a great deal of manpower and resources to manufacture this weapon.

Because they simply cannot be affiliated with supernatural forces like the Ghost Inspection Bureau.

They have always believed that the means to protect ordinary people must be in the hands of the government itself, and this has always been the case throughout history.

Well... except for dynasties controlled by those beasts from the Taiping Dao.

Yang Xiao said quietly:

"The Ghost Inspection Bureau and the Anomaly Management Bureau are not the same thing at all."

A disdainful snort escaped from the fang's nostrils:

"The investigators were both stupid and crazy."

Yang Xiao agreed with this point.

Cao Ye is far too paranoid.

My lord, being the emperor, must bear the responsibility of protecting humanity.

He didn't need to be so wary of taboos, and he didn't need to waste so many resources on it.

Honestly, if my owner really wanted to cause trouble, could the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs stop him?

Venomous Fang continued:

"It's not really their fault."

If a supernatural force like the Dark Council existed in Xia Kingdom, they would certainly be like the Ghost Inspection Bureau.

As he spoke, Venomous Fang arrogantly raised his chin:

"Why can't they have that option?"

There's a saying, isn't there?

Children without umbrellas should run faster.

Yang Xiao frowned.

It seems the Dark Council is completely unaware of the situation in Xia Kingdom.

Leaving aside the Forbidden Society, let's talk about the Way of Peace.

Isn't this a supernatural organization?

Venom rolled down the car window, lit a cigarette, and looked like a seasoned veteran.

"The Anomaly Management Bureau is also incompetent."

Despite decades of research into anomalous technologies, dealing with anomalous events remains incredibly difficult.

It is said that in previous years, many people died while dealing with unusual events.

Yang Xiao felt increasingly uneasy as he listened, and his brows furrowed deeply.

"Handling abnormal events, simple?"

He panicked a little when he heard this.

Who exactly are these two people in front of me?

What exactly is the strength of the Dark Council?

Back in the 24th Middle School, when I faced the Seven, I was almost powerless to resist.

You actually say it's simple?

Venomous Fang sneered:

"Of course it's simple. I've handled it four or five times in the past few years."

Yang Xiao was filled with respect:

"You can't judge a book by its cover."

Venomous Fang proudly declared:

"That's right."

Venom suddenly froze:

"That sounds so strange. It doesn't sound like a compliment."

Yang Xiao waved his hand:

"I'm serious. You're quite impressive that you can contain four or five forbidden items all by yourself."

Venomous Fang was stunned:

"Forbidden objects? Containment? What are those?"

Yang Xiao was also stunned:

"Is this the abnormal event you mentioned?"

Have you never taken in a copper coin that could destroy a city?

Or a steam train that can travel on the sea?

Or perhaps, could one summon a giant oil-paper umbrella shaped like a bride?

Venomous Fang frowned:

"I don't understand what you're talking about. You should listen to less urban legends."

No, it's not urban legend; what you're describing belongs to fantasy and mythology.

Listen up, newbie: the thing that causes these unusual events is called a ghost.

It's like the ghost movies you usually watch, the kind of ghosts that actually exist.

Those things are easy to deal with, and there's plenty of money to be made.

The Ghost Inspection Bureau will give you some money, and then the Dark Council will give you another sum of money.

One group's mad killing of other groups' Hell Messengers and their attempts to steal tokens stemmed from their desire to earn more money and recruit more Hell Messengers.

Yang Xiao blinked.

So, you've never actually contained any forbidden items?

A ghost... what is that?

Could it be something like a shapeshifter?

The puppeteer glanced at Yang Xiao and began to explain:

Have you ever heard of Death?

Yang Xiao nodded.

I've heard that the scythe in my master's hand is the weapon of death.

The puppeteer continued:

"Have you ever heard of Lucifer?"

Yang Xiao nodded again.

I've heard of it; my owner killed him.

The puppeteer told a very fantastical story:

"Let me tell you a story that circulates in the Dark Council."

There were once two powerful gods in hell.

One is the Grim Reaper who controls Hell and whose retinue consists of demons and ghosts.

One is my Lord Satan, whose hellish creatures are demons.

After Lucifer's fall, he led one-third of the angels to Hell to fight Death for control of the underworld.

Later, my Lord Satan killed Death, drove away Lucifer, and took control of Hell.

The demons and ghosts under Death's command were almost wiped out, with only a few remnants escaping to the human world.

The human world is not suitable for the survival of hellish creatures.

Demons can transform into ordinary humans on Earth, but they lose their supernatural powers.

Ghosts become extremely weak in the human world and can only hide in toilets or coffins in cemeteries.

Yang Xiao secretly memorized this information, and even added a sentence in his mind:

"The devil can briefly possess a human corpse."

The puppeteer continued:

"The unusual events we handle are usually caused by ghosts."

As for demons? I've never encountered one.

They are extremely rare, and demons are very powerful; even if they cannot move freely in the human world, they can perfectly conceal themselves.