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

Inside the guesthouse.

Empty plastic containers from braised chicken rice were piled up on the coffee table.

Ayougu leaned back on the sofa cushions without any regard for her image and let out a loud burp.

She patted her round belly and squinted her eyes contentedly.

The silver necklace hanging around her neck made a crisp clinking sound with her movements.

After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, their confidence returned.

The Miao girl nimbly got up from the carpet, brushed the crumbs off her jeans, grabbed the tattered bag containing dead insects, and swaggered toward the door of the guesthouse.

"I've finished my meal and paid the bills. I'm not playing with you city folks anymore."

She gripped the doorknob, turned her head without turning back, and uttered a perfunctory remark.

Lin Ye leaned back in the single sofa, his legs crossed.

He lit a cigarette, held it between his fingers, exhaled a grayish-white smoke ring, and stared calmly at the door.

"Take care, and remember to turn left after you go out. There's a pedestrian bridge over there, and the cardboard boxes under the bridge are quite soft and windproof." Lin Ye said lazily.

Ayougula froze the moment she opened the door.

She turned around, her face full of suspicion: "What do you mean? I have 500,000 yuan in my account, who wants to sleep under a bridge!"

Fatty Wang sat beside her, picking his teeth and grinning, "Little sister, is this your first time coming down the mountain? You need an ID to stay in a hotel in the city, and judging by your appearance, you definitely don't have one. Plus, dressed like that, which reputable hotel would dare to take you in?"

"If you encounter a patrol officer checking temporary residence permits, they will send you directly to a detention center and lock you up for ten days to half a month. They provide food and lodging there, and you'll be working on a sewing machine until your legs cramp up."

Upon hearing "stepping on a sewing machine," a genuine panic flashed in Ayougu's eyes.

That's exactly right. She sneaked out of the mountains without any identification.

Looking back on this period, she had been living a life of hardship, only occasionally encountering some shady shops that didn't require ID...

Ah Yougu bit her lower lip, caught in a dilemma, and could only reluctantly retreat to the coffee table.

"So... what exactly do you want to do?"

She clutched her phone in her pocket, afraid that Lin Ye would take the 500,000 yuan back.

Lin Ye stubbed out his cigarette and leaned forward slightly.

"In business, I believe in equal exchange. You understand poison and can identify unorthodox and evil things. Stay here and be my technical consultant. I'll provide you with food and lodging, and I'll also help you resolve your illegal residency issue."

"And you'll get a base salary every month, plus extra commission for big projects."

He pointed to the floor beneath his feet and offered his terms: "During the renovation of the funeral parlor, the second bedroom in this guesthouse is yours."

Ayougu's eyes darted around twice.

This business is a sure thing, but it's really difficult for me to move around in the city all by myself.

She immediately puffed out her chest, cleared her throat, and said, "Deal! But let's make it clear first, I want a commission, otherwise I won't do it!"

Although Ayougu spoke toughly, her eyes kept wandering around the living room.

Then, she seemingly casually sat down on the sofa, but in reality, her right hand was hidden in the wide cuff of her sleeve. With a gentle flick of her fingertips, a few wisps of fine purple powder silently scattered along the edge of the carpet.

"Don't plant lookouts here."

Lin Ye didn't even raise his head, smoke curling between his fingers.

"That's Frostnova's territory. If she eats your little darlings like snacks, I won't make up for it a second time."

Ayougu's face stiffened, and he awkwardly withdrew his hand, secretly surprised.

Although the man didn't turn around, it was as if he had eyes in the back of his head, allowing him to accurately perceive the flow of Gu energy.

She pouted, unconvinced: "It's just a professional habit! Big cities are full of steel and concrete, and my little guys get lost easily, so I have to leave some markings for them."

Even so, she obediently suppressed her thoughts.

Moreover, she discovered that in this guesthouse, besides the oppressive aura of pure yang emanating from Lin Ye, which was as intense as the blazing sun, there was also something else.

The woman in black, who hadn't said much, exuded a terrifyingly high level of deathly aura.

According to ancient records in Miao territory, it is an "absolute domain" possessed only by corpse kings that have remained unchanged for thousands of years.

"I've got it."

Lin Ye flicked his cigarette ash and continued speaking.

"You're not allowed to curse people on the street. There are rules in the city. If you break the rules, I can give you 500,000, or I can make you spit it out."

Ayougu felt a chill run down her spine under his icy gaze. She shrank back, completely losing her previous fierceness, and obediently peeled off a chocolate and stuffed it into her mouth, mumbling indistinctly, "Okay."

"Buzzing—the sky is blue, the autumn grass smells sweet, it's paradise in my heart~"

Just then, Wang Pangzi's cell phone, which was on the table, started vibrating violently.

A caller ID with the contact name "Tenant Xiao Chen" was flashing on the screen.

The fat man answered the phone.

A male voice, thick with sobs, came through the receiver.

The voice trembled violently, and the background noise included the whooshing sound of the wind and the electrical noise of the electric vehicle.

"Brother Wang! Help, Brother Wang! I'm possessed!"

The fat man frowned, pressed the speakerphone button, and placed the phone on the table.

"Don't panic! Speak calmly and slowly. What evil spirit has possessed you?"

Xiao Chen is a young man who delivers food. He usually rents a small, old, partitioned room under the name of Fatty.

He is an honest and simple man who works hard from dawn till dusk every day just to earn a few extra dollars in delivery fees.

Xiao Chen on the other end of the phone swallowed hard, his voice broken and intermittent.

"I took a delivery order tonight. The customer ordered 100 yuan worth of barbecue and asked it to be delivered to the abandoned machinery factory residential compound in the south of the city."

"You know, that place was demolished three years ago, and there aren't even streetlights anymore, but I gritted my teeth and took the job for the fifty yuan delivery fee."

"I rode my bike to the ruins, and the GPS showed it was right beneath my feet! I was carrying a barbecue bag, just about to call a client. Suddenly, the bag felt incredibly heavy, like it was about to explode! I looked down and saw that all that was left of the meat skewers were bare bamboo sticks! All the meat was gone!"

At this point, Xiao Chen completely broke down in tears and burst into sobs.

"I was terrified. I jumped on my bike and rode away, but..."

"But that bag is right there on my handlebars, and I can't untie it! And I've been riding for half an hour, and all I see are identical ruins. I'm stuck in a maze!"

After listening to Xiao Chen's account, a hint of interest flashed in Lin Ye's eyes.

"Fatty, have him share his real-time location and send it to my phone."

Lin Ye stood up and grabbed the black coat draped over the back of the chair.

He looked at Shuangxing, who was about to get ice cream from the refrigerator, and Ayougu, the Miao consultant who had just joined the company.

"Let's go. I'll take you to catch a thief who ate and dashed."

The night was deep in the abandoned residential compound of the Chengnan Machinery Factory.

This area has long been without water and electricity.

The demolition left behind a mountain of construction waste.

The area was overgrown with weeds, and when the wind blew, the rusty tin signboard made a jarring rattling sound.

Following the location, Lin Ye and his group groped their way into the desolate ruins.

Ayougu walked in the middle of the group.

She held a small glass bottle that emitted a faint green glow in her hand, using it to light the way she walked.

The bottle contained several mutated fireflies that could glow.

Leng Yue did not come along; she was in a critical period of integrating with the essence of the drought demon and would remain in seclusion at the inn tonight.

But dealing with this level of brats was more than enough for Lin Ye with these few people.

"Brother-in-law, there's not a soul in sight here. What if that delivery guy got eaten?"

Shuangxing tugged at Lin Ye's sleeve, looking around.

Lin Ye stopped in his tracks, his gaze fixed on the back of a collapsed red brick wall ahead.

"They weren't eaten, but they were terrified."

He quickly walked around the brick wall.

A yellow food delivery scooter lay overturned in a pile of broken bricks.

A plastic bag was tightly wrapped around the handlebars.

The packaging boxes in the bag were empty, leaving only a pile of greasy bamboo skewers.

Xiao Chen huddled in the corner, covering his head, trembling violently, and muttering the names of various deities under his breath.

Hearing footsteps, Xiao Chen looked up in fright.

Upon recognizing Wang Pangzi, he immediately pounced on him, grabbing Pangzi's leg and wiping his tears and snot all over Pangzi's trouser leg.

"Brother Wang! You're finally here! There was a shadow clinging to my back the whole time, chewing on bones! After it finishes its barbecue, it'll definitely eat me!"

Lin Ye ignored Xiao Chen's wailing.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and a golden-red light of yang fire shone deep within his pupils.

The Qi Observation Technique is activated.

With his gaze piercing through the darkness, Lin Ye could clearly see a huge, semi-transparent silhouette floating above the back seat of the electric scooter.

It was an unusually fat male ghost.

It was wearing a loose vest, with layers of skin hanging down to its waist.

Holding a handful of illusory bamboo skewers, he greedily licked the remaining cumin and chili powder off them.

Because it ate too quickly, drops of dark gray, illusory oil dripped down its chin.

This looks like a starving ghost.

Unable to let go of his obsession after death, he lingers in the demolition ruins, using the illusion of ordering takeout to trick the living into offering him food.

Just as Lin Ye was about to take action to drive away the gluttonous ghost, the system's voice popped out crisply in his mind.

"Ding! System notification: Urban legend detected [The Gluttonous Starving Ghost]. Times are changing, and even the Underworld needs KPI assessments. Please finalize your action plan within three minutes and give this freeloader a little shock!"

The light screen suddenly unfolded, revealing three options...