Twin female zombies come to the door: My lord, please have mercy!

In 2030, in the old city area of ​​Jiangzhou, it was raining.

The autumn rain has been falling incessantly for three days, soaking the entire Taiping Old Street until it looks like moldy, rotten wood.

A lingering, damp chill permeated the air.

Most of the leaves of the crooked locust tree at the street corner had been knocked off, with only a few withered yellow leaves hanging on the branches, like the tongues of a hanged ghost.

The residents of Taiping Old Street closed their doors and windows early in the morning. Occasionally, one or two pedestrians wrapped in raincoats would hurry by, and when they passed the entrance of the Lin Family Funeral Shop, they would subconsciously quicken their pace.

"Splash!"

The harsh sound of metal scraping against metal echoed through the quiet street.

Lin Ye yawned, forcefully pushed the rusty roller shutter door to the top, then patted the dust off his hands, turned around and looked at the dark and cramped shop, his lips twitching slightly.

On the shelf to his left, gold and silver ingots, incense sticks for guidance, and rows of lifelike paper figures were neatly arranged.

The glass cabinet on the right was crammed with various styles of funeral clothes and yellow paper.

Because it never sees sunlight, the shop always has a strange smell, a mixture of cheap sandalwood and old preservatives.

Lin Ye looked up at the clock on the wall.

It was exactly 3 p.m.

This refers to the "Shen Shi" in the ancient Chinese twelve-hour system.

"Where on earth did that old man learn those rules from, from some utterly shameless feng shui book...?"

Lin Ye muttered to himself as he pulled a thermos from under the counter, unscrewed it, and poured himself a mouthful of goji berry water.

He was an unemployed man who had just graduated. His parents disappeared early in his life, and he was raised by his grandfather.

Two weeks ago, my grandfather also left a suicide note and disappeared.

Besides specifying that the funeral parlor in the city center with its two-story detached apartment building belonged to him, the suicide note also contained a strict rule:

To inherit the property, one must manage the shop for three years. It must open at 3 PM and close at 3 AM every day, without fail.

The gates open at Shenshi, which is 3 PM.

They close at 3:00 AM (the hour of Yin).

Under this yin-world schedule where yang energy was waning and yin energy was waxing, Lin Ye endured it for half a month.

If it weren't for his naturally hot body, which the old man touted as a once-in-a-century "pure yang body," an ordinary person who spent every day with these paper figures and memorial tablets until dawn would probably have already gone to play cards with their ancestors.

The rain intensified, and the sky outside darkened as if it were evening.

Lin Ye pulled over a rocking chair and lay lazily behind the counter.

As a funeral service shop that opens during mealtimes and closes at midnight, business is naturally so dismal that it could bring tears to the eyes of even the God of Wealth.

The slow, rhythmic patter of raindrops drew Lin Ye's gaze beyond the curtain of the front shop to the main room in the backyard.

The layout of this old house is a typical "four waters returning to the hall" courtyard.

Logically speaking, this should be a good feng shui location for accumulating wealth, but the old man deliberately built a dark shed to block out the light in the "Five Ghosts" ominous position right in the center of the courtyard, where a dark coffin weighing over a thousand pounds was placed.

Before he left, the old man mysteriously said that the coffin contained the "marriage" arranged for him, and that he should not touch it carelessly. He told him that when the time was right, his wife would naturally come to his door.

"What the hell is this engagement? What kind of decent person would keep their bride in a coffin? Aren't they afraid she'll get moldy?"

Lin Ye simply assumed the old man's dementia had flared up again.

But for the past two weeks, every midnight he felt that wisps of cold air would seep out of the black coffin, and he could even faintly hear the sound of fingernails scratching wood.

"Since we're just killing time anyway, let's go light some incense so we don't cause any more trouble tonight."

Lin Ye stood up, stretched, and walked to the shelf next to him to prepare to smoke three sticks of incense.

Because the light was too dim, when he reached for the incense, his fingertips accidentally brushed against the bamboo frame of a paper horse.

"hiss--"

The bamboo strip was incredibly sharp, and Lin Ye's index finger was instantly torn open, causing bright red blood to gush out.

Just as Lin Ye was about to look for a band-aid, a drop of blood trickled down his fingertip and landed on a stack of blank yellow paper used for drawing talismans.

In an instant, something unexpected happened!

The drop of blood did not seep out; instead, it seemed to have been boiled in boiling water, emitting a strange, pungent smell of blood with a scorching, pure yang energy.

The smell wafted straight into the backyard with the breeze.

"Thump!"

The dark, gloomy wooden coffin in the backyard, which had been silent for half a month, suddenly emitted a muffled thud, as if something heavy inside had violently struck the coffin lid.

Immediately afterwards, the temperature around us plummeted, and the thermometer on the counter dropped from 25 degrees to 10 degrees at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The paper figures in the shop moved on their own without any wind, all turning their stiff, painted smiling faces toward the backyard!

Lin Ye's scalp tingled, and his heart leaped into his throat.

The instinct of the Pure Yang Dao Body made the hairs on his entire body stand on end.

Just as he turned around to touch the pig-slaughtering knife left by the old man, his retina suddenly distorted, and a semi-transparent light screen popped out without warning.

Accompanying this was a woman's voice, soft and tingling, as if it were whispering in his ear:

"Ding! The 'Please Behave Yourself, My Lord' system is at your service. It has detected a leak of your pure yang blood, which has awakened a thousand-year-old yin entity. Please make a choice within three minutes, or the optimal (most outrageous) option will be randomly selected."

Lin Ye was stunned.

"What?! A system?! Isn't this just like the cheat system in online novels?!"

But before he could even feel overjoyed, he was terrified by the four options that popped up on the screen:

[Option A: Righteous and awe-inspiring – Immediately bite the tip of your tongue, grab a Bagua mirror, and rush into the backyard shouting, "Demon, die!"]

[Reward: A century-old peach wood sword.]

[Consequence: Leng Yue's favorability rating will plummet, and you will be strangled to death in the courtyard with one hand due to the vast difference in strength.]

Option B: The Thirty-Six Stratagems – Scramble out of the shop and call the police for help.

[Reward: Stamina +10.]

[Consequences: The police will treat you like a lunatic, and Leng Yue will go berserk due to the lack of sedation of her yang energy, slaughtering everyone within a five-mile radius.]

Option C: Take advantage of the chaos—rush into the backyard, yank open the coffin lid, and shout passionately, "My wife, I'm here!"

[Reward: Yang Qi cap +50, Leng Yue favorability +30.]

Consequences: You will experience what it truly means to be subjected to both extremes of pleasure and pain.

[Option D: Showing off – Walk up to the coffin, knock three times on the lid, and politely ask, "Hello, SF Express, your takeout has arrived. Please open the coffin to sign for it."]

[Reward: Obtain the limited-time title "Unbridled Lust" (Charm +10, Pain Sensitivity -50% when worn), and randomly trigger a special interaction.]

"What kind of deadly options are these?!"

Lin Ye mentally ranted and raved.

A and B are both doomed, while C...

Looking at the black coffin in the backyard, which was beginning to emit tangible black resentment, he swallowed hard and gritted his teeth, saying:

"System, I choose D! At least it halves the pain, so I can die with some dignity!"

The moment he made his choice, Lin Ye took a deep breath, forced back the trembling of his legs, and lifted the curtain to step into the dimly lit backyard courtyard.

Raindrops pattered against the dark shed, making a rapid, pattering sound.

The dark, gloomy coffin was trembling violently. Three of the ink lines binding the lid had snapped, and black blood was seeping from the cracks.

Lin Ye swallowed hard, walked to the coffin, bent his finger, and actually tapped the heavy coffin lid three times.

"Knock, knock, knock."

Then, in the deathly silence, he forced himself to speak, feigning composure:

"Hello, SF Express, your takeout has arrived. Please open the coffin and sign for it."