I started on a rocking horse and relied on watching ads to dominate the highway survival charts.

A few seconds later, a dozen wisps of mist slowly emerged.

They were much denser than the fog usually seen, so dense that they were almost visible to the naked eye, and Huo Yunzhi could hear their faint whispers from a great distance.

The mist clung to the ground, as if imbued with life, and was now consciously spreading and approaching her location in the form of a white snake.

Huo Yunzhi smiled and then quickly made a hand seal: "That saves me the trouble of searching door to door."

Several streaks of red light flew out from his palm, instantly dispelling the mist beneath his feet.

"Purify!"

[Current karma: 10...20...30...]

The karma value in her mind kept rising, and it broke through the 100 mark in less than an hour. At this time, Huo Yunzhi had only dealt with the pollution in a few rooms.

The remaining mist in the corridor seemed endless, with wisps of white fog surging towards her one after another.

"The completely polluted service area is indeed troublesome. Without the Crimson Lotus of Karmic Fire, this place is definitely not something a lowly Yellow-rank ghost messenger like me can get involved in."

The crimson lotus of karmic fire in his palm bloomed more and more vividly, bursting out waves of heat. The flickering flames pierced through the mist, peeling away the layers of darkness in the corridor.

The karma points that were almost full started to be consumed rapidly again.

This ebb and flow creates a perfect closed loop!

[Service area cleanup progress: 15%]

Huo Yunzhi sighed as she looked at the purification progress: "Looks like I won't be able to sleep tonight."

The next day, at 6:55 AM.

The surviving players gathered in the lobby on the first floor of the Lijing Hotel.

Qin Yuanshan paced back and forth anxiously: "We're about to check out, why hasn't Sister Huo come out yet?"

"What are you panicking about? She took the elevator all night, so it's perfectly normal for her to get up a little late in the morning! Besides, the rules don't say that you can't check out after 7 a.m., so it's okay if you're a little late."

"Indeed, I just confirmed this with the manager. As long as you check out before 11:00 AM, you can leave safely."

Xu Xiu walked back from the front desk, still holding the rules sheet given to her by the manager.

"Then can we stay here a little longer?" Miao Miao was very happy.

"I don't recommend staying in service areas for too long. Vehicles are already difficult to move in extreme cold mode, and if you stay there, it's hard to guarantee that you'll have enough time to complete the mileage."

Furthermore, it might trigger hidden rules, and then it might not be so easy to escape unscathed.

Xu Xiu's words reminded everyone present.

No danger occurred in the latter half of the night, and because the hotel rooms were so comfortable, everyone subconsciously overlooked the fact that the Lijing Hotel was actually a rather dangerous service area.

"Sister Xu is right. I'd better hurry back to the highway. I only drove 50 kilometers yesterday. If I dawdle any longer, I won't be able to escape if the collapse catches up with me."

The scheduled call rang at seven o'clock sharp, and the players lined up to check out without hesitation.

"Each player will be charged 100 Survival Coins. VIPs who have already checked out can receive a seafood mushroom gift box as a souvenir and will be randomly given a number tag."

Please proceed to the parking area to drive your vehicle in the order indicated by the numbers. Do not cut in line to avoid situations such as parallel lanes.

Thank you again for choosing Lijing Hotel. We look forward to your next visit.

Xu Xiu drew card number 1.

Before she left, she gave a bunch of recovery potions and vitality capsules to Qin Yuanshan and Miaomiao.

Take care, and see you again sometime.

Qin Yuanshan was deeply moved: "Sister Xiuxiu, please keep in touch!"

When Miao Miao left, she also gave a lot of temporary tattoos to Qin Yuanshan.

"Little buddy, even though you look weak, I still hope we can meet again. Also, try to say less on the world channel next time, or that system bastard will cover your mouth again."

"Okay." Qin Yuanshan learned Sichuan dialect quickly.

"You idiot, don't you dare copy me!"

"Same to you."

Qin Yuanshan drove Miao Miao away in anger. Looking at his number eight, he hesitated for a while before turning around and leaving the Lijing Hotel.

after an hour

[Purification complete. Service area NO.772's current pollution level: Slight. Ranking rises to NO.128. 15000 Survival Coins can be collected.]

[Congratulations to the ghost messenger on completing the promotion mission.]

The airflow from the hidden floors was drawn together to form a visible vortex.

Huo Yunzhi stood in the center of the vortex, her clothes fluttering.

She felt something deep within her soul break free of its chains, and the aura of the ghost messengers surged like a flood bursting its banks.

The terrifying aura permeated several floors, directly affecting the ghosts who were having their morning meeting on the seventh floor.

The head chef and manager were alright, but the ordinary ghosts were all unsteady on their feet, staggering and falling to the ground under Huo Yunzhi's oppressive aura.

The manager steadied himself on the table: "What happened?"

"It seems to be coming from the Ghost Messenger... Wait, this aura is... Profound level! Yes, Profound level! The Ghost Messenger has successfully advanced! I should have known! Quick, check our hotel's information!"

"Ranked 128th for minor pollution... Great! We don't have to become faceless ghosts!"

Upon hearing this news, the fallen ghosts wept with joy, and some of them so excited that they twisted their heads off, achieving a physical act of embracing each other and crying.

The head chef, tears streaming down his face, exclaimed, "Don't cry! Prepare a feast right away to properly reward the ghost messenger!"

In the corridor outside, after an unknown amount of time, the gale gradually subsided, and everything returned to calm.

Huo Yunzhi closed her eyes tightly, focusing intently on the many changes that followed her advancement to the Xuan-level Ghost Messenger.

First, there are the skills of the ghost messengers themselves.

The capacity for purification, trial, and imprisonment has been doubled.

In addition, the maximum amount of karma that can be stored has increased from the initial 200 to 400.

Simultaneously, the Karmic Fire Lotus also changed; the edges of its petals, now a ring of gold lines, added a touch of solemnity and holiness.

[Parameter changes detected for this service area; updated to prefecture-level city promotion criteria; current progress (1/5)]

Huo Yunzhi became incredibly excited: "It really can purify one as much as two!"

She had wanted to stop earlier while cleaning the service area, but then she remembered that Ms. Meng said that to be promoted to a prefecture-level city, she needed to clean up five completely polluted service areas.

So she conducted an experiment to see if she could complete the Xuan-level promotion task at the same time as meeting the Yellow-level upgrade requirements by purifying a completely polluted service area.

The result is that the task can indeed be overwritten.

Huo Yunzhi put away the red lotus, rubbed her stiff neck, and then opened the system screen to check the time: "It's already eight o'clock...tsk, I've stayed up all night again."

[A significant decrease in pollution was detected in the service area; rules are being rewritten...]