Please control me, my divine being!

The town wasn't lively at night.

Except for a few large households where lights were on, everyone else had already turned off their lights and gone to bed early.

Li Qinghe walked along the road, still thinking about the bloody battle in the courtyard earlier.

The sound of the cleaver piercing the matchmaker's body, and the sound of her coughing up blood and whimpering as she died, still seemed to echo in my ears.

So this is what it means for a person to make such unpleasant sounds before they die.

A cold wind blew into her thin clothes. She shook her head, trying to stop herself from overthinking, and quickened her pace, almost running.

By the time I reached the clinic, I was covered in sweat.

The clinic has been very busy lately, so it has not closed or turned off the lights.

Li Qinghe strode in, covered in blood, startling the old doctor, who thought she was some kind of bandit.

After explaining the purpose of the visit.

The doctor breathed a sigh of relief and took out a packet of herbs from under the counter: "Boil it three times, one hour each time. Drinking it will relieve the growth of the sores."

Li Qinghe, without hesitation, hurried home.

Compared to some well-lit towns, the shantytowns are pitch black at night, so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face.

But tonight was different from usual.

In the countryside outside the shantytown, a group of people lit a bonfire, and amidst the swirling incense smoke, they sat around and danced.

Faintly, one can still hear devout prayers being sung: "Ren water connects to the profound, Li fire illuminates the darkness, firstly, I pay homage to the clear heavens and the spirit of the earth; secondly, I pay homage to the abundant harvest of the five grains; thirdly, I pay homage to the immortal master whose magic brings prosperity, to stop the waters and avert disaster..."

The Six Ren Method!

Li Qinghe recalled the old beggar who had blocked her way during the day. She hadn't expected that the Liuren Fajiao (Six Ren Divination Cult) had already developed so many followers and was showing signs of spreading throughout the shantytown.

That's true. Anyone would be tempted if they could receive rice and noodles upon joining the church.

Especially in places like shantytowns.

Li Qinghe didn't delay and hurriedly returned home.

"Mother, I'm back!"

She looked at the blurry outline in the darkness.

There was no response from the other party, just like usual.

She wanted to chat with her mother a little longer, but thinking about how her mother was seriously ill and needed to rest, and how much had happened today, she was too tired and couldn't muster the energy.

"We'll have to brew the medicine tomorrow."

Li Qinghe yawned and glanced into the darkness; the figure remained motionless.

She turned over and fell into a deep sleep with her back to the darkness.

...

"Damn it, where's my ledger?"

Waking up in bed and washing up in a maid's robe, Zhou Qing rushed to the study. As soon as he opened the book and entered the game, he discovered that the sky had fallen.

The valuable job-seeking item I painstakingly acquired yesterday after establishing my base—the slave trader's ledger—has mysteriously vanished from my backpack!

Fortunately, the game's storyline unfolds entirely through text.

Zhou Qing scrolled up and quickly figured out the whole story.

"Jiang Chuling, a new NPC?"

Zhou Qing was relieved; at least the things were still there.

However, this incident also served as a reminder to myself.

Because the characters automatically advance the plot, after you go to sleep, you might wake up the next day and find that the girl you've been raising has been dismembered.

We need to be more careful in this regard.

Without his own control, Li Qinghe's current stats would be no match for any adult.

And shantytowns are not safe places.

Once the main storyline of treating the mother's illness is completed, it's time to go to town, find a job, settle down, have a stable environment and identity, and allow the plot to enter a new phase.

The Six Ren Method, human teeth tissue, divine water, evil sores...

In a place like this, where demons run rampant, staying in the town is safer than in the shantytown.

After you finished brewing the herbs, you brought them to your mother's side, but she remained sitting quietly on the straw mat without reacting.

Left with no other choice

You had no choice but to gently pry open your mother's mouth and slowly feed her the medicine with a spoon.

The medicine dripped down the corner of his mouth.

After much effort, you discover that your mother is too ill to drink her medicine.

It seems that the only way to cure my mother's sores is to have a doctor come to our home...

The game text continues to advance.

Zhou Qing knew that this main quest was not that simple.

The price difference between hiring a doctor to come to your home and buying a packet of herbs is enormous.

With clinics booming right now, hiring a doctor for a house call will likely require paying significantly higher fees than usual.

Making money honestly in this game is too difficult.

If one chooses the wrong path of seeking quick success and instant benefits, there will be many hidden dangers.

After killing several human traffickers yesterday, Zhou Qing noticed that his character's sanity bar fluctuated wildly and needed enough time to calm down.

Furthermore, a skull icon with the number 4 on it has been added next to today's status.

Notoriety: The infamous reputation that spreads when someone is discovered to have used violence or extraordinary means for any reason.

When you have a bad reputation, depending on the number of bad reputation points, you are more likely to be noticed by official constables, demon suppressors, and righteous heroes, and you can also deter evildoers!

A bad reputation will diminish and slowly fade away over time.

Therefore, if you take the wrong path, you're likely to get hammered by an iron fist.

Especially based on the hints between the lines in the text, the world in which the game takes place clearly possesses extraordinary power!

That was something Zhou Qing had always been extremely interested in.

If you can't find extraordinary power in reality, can't you at least have some fun in a game?

Therefore, it is obviously much more efficient to consider making money only after your character has gained initial control over extraordinary powers.

Moreover, the main storyline has now taken on a rather eerie atmosphere.

According to the doctor at the clinic, the sores are very likely caused by some extraordinary force and are a widespread infectious disease.

Can something like this really be cured by a regular clinic?

On both visits to the clinic, the descriptions of the environment in the texts were filled with the wails of patients with ulcers.

"We must figure out exactly what the Evil Sore is. Of course, the premise is that we have the ability to protect ourselves and come into contact with extraordinary power to a certain extent." Zhou Qing had finalized his plan and returned his gaze to the game text.

...

Li Qinghe did not lose heart after the medicine proved ineffective.

She gritted her teeth, glanced at her mother in the darkness, then immediately slung her bamboo basket and wood-chopping knife over her shoulder and went outside.

We arrived at a dilapidated temple in the shantytown.

Jiang Chuling hurried over, picked up the account book, and pointed to a few pages: "Sister Qinghe, take a look at this."

Li Qinghe glanced at them and recognized the words: "On the seventh day of the third month, Wang, the clerk of the yamen, bought two people and brought them to the dock. They exchanged them for three catties of 'divine water' base material. The money and goods were settled."

Jiang Lingchu then pointed to another item: "And this one, on June 19th, send three people to the River God Temple, exchange them for five catties of divine water base material, and the money and goods are settled."

"The government office? The government office and matchmakers actually have dealings?" Li Qinghe murmured absentmindedly, startled.

"It's not just about dealing with the government; the children who were bought were all sent to the water's edge," Jiang Chuling said in a deep voice. "I plan to have a security escort agency send these children home; they all live in the surrounding villages, not too far away."

Yes, they were all taken to the water's edge, and her own mother also fell ill by the water... Li Qinghe felt something was amiss, but with so little information, she couldn't figure out the connection for a while.

It was clear that going to the government office was out of the question.

Choosing a security escort agency is the safest option.

Seeing that Jiang Chuling had made up her mind, Li Qinghe told the girl the location of her home and that she could come to him if she encountered any trouble. Then she ran straight towards the riverbank.

She decided to go to the riverbank herself, hoping to find the source of her mother's illness.

That area is also where the 'Quyin Teng' (a type of herb) grows, and the clinic urgently needs this medicinal material.

My mother's condition is getting worse.

If she wanted to raise a large sum of money in a short time to hire the other party to make a house call, she had no choice but to try her luck by going to the riverbank.

Take back the ledger.

Li Qinghe was preoccupied with worries.

I have dealings with people in the government offices and matchmakers. Will killing four people yesterday bring me danger?

What's more, there are still strange things happening to him that haven't been resolved.

Fortunately, the mysterious being seemed to have lost interest in him today and did not unleash its power to manipulate his body again.

Lost in thought, Li Qinghe unknowingly arrived at the entrance of the fish market.

We haven't gone in yet.

Two sharp-eyed constables standing guard by the roadside spotted the girl who was not trying to hide herself and immediately approached.