After being poisoned by mushrooms, all the strange creatures became fascinated by me.

the other side.

Lian Shi let out a painful wail.

"I'm so hungry! I'm so hungry!"

"Hang in there, hang in there," Lian Sheng reassured him repeatedly. "Once we get out of here, we'll go eat braised pork belly, half lean and half fat, the fat not greasy, the lean not dry, bursting with juice with every bite, the sauce coating it all over with a glistening sheen. And we'll have a few bowls of perfectly cooked, fragrant rice..."

The conversation ended with both of them shutting up and swallowing.

They had previously slaughtered everyone in the corridor as easily as cutting melons and vegetables. Little did they expect that among them were hidden people like the blue-clad old woman Zhao Jiuzhi, who had come back from the dead.

Once their bodies are damaged to the point of death, a disgustingly greasy substance oozes from the wounds, acting like some kind of adhesive to piece their bodies back together and allow them to stagger back to their feet.

These resurrected people recovered quickly; after only a few steps, they began picking up weapons from the ground and attacking them again.

There were only a few people, not enough to pose a threat to them, but the strange aroma that filled the entire floor along with the grease made them very hungry.

They could only watch out for each other to prevent being tempted to lie down on the ground and lick it a couple of times.

Just then, the two suddenly turned their heads and looked at the figure that had suddenly appeared at the other end of the corridor.

"Sand?"

"Is the chivalrous one not present?"

"—Didn't you reform yourself?"

Snow covered the ground floor of the building.

Tang Li was still pondering those jars.

The first one she chose was the jar with the name "Chen Wanqing" on it.

Tang Li touched the faded seal and noticed that it had been tampered with. She gently peeled back the brittle seal; the jar was almost empty, with a smooth, oily interior.

So that's how it is; the contents had already been removed. Only a small remnant remained at the bottom of the jar, glittering in the light of the firelight.

Tang Li stretched out her arm and pulled it out. In her palm was an earring. The carving was ordinary. It was shaped like a small silver fish with a small ruby ​​embedded in its eye.

Tang Li couldn't find anything familiar in her memory. She put the earrings away and began to examine the other wine jars.

This time, she observed for a while and chose another jar from the innermost part. This jar was covered with a thick layer of dust, and the seal was intact and tightly attached to the mouth of the jar. On it, two words were written in a flamboyant style: Hong Jiu.

Tang Li hugged the jar with both hands and tried to lift it down. This time, it was so heavy that her face turned red before she finally managed to get it down.

The contents inside were still sloshing around—liquid?

It was only at this point that Tang Li realized how inexperienced she was. She knew that the contents of the jar might be dangerous, but she didn't know how to take precautions.

What if the things inside escape? Should we lock the door behind us?

What if she can't win and tries to run away?

In the end, all I could do was buy some gloves, a mask, a protective apron, and other random things from the store and wear them haphazardly.

Tang Li took a deep breath, sprayed a layer of water mist onto the wine jar with a humidifier, moistened the seal, and then began to lift a corner and peel it off little by little.

It was at the very moment the seal on the wine jar was opened.

"Beep beep beep beep beep—"

The system—the part of the system page that had been blocked—suddenly refreshed with several system notifications.

[System notification: An unsettling, detached state has been detected nearby. Would you like to add it to your "Killer Achievements Score"?]

Your current assassin rank is: None (You have not yet reached the minimum rank of Assassin Apprentice). You are 1 battle point away from leveling up.

[Friendly Reminder: To add the target mission to your "Assassin's Marks Score," you must personally deliver the fatal blow.]

Tang Li's eyes widened: ? ? ?

This familiar statement... So there are two paths to becoming a "top killer": besides using the lives of indigenous people, you can also level up by killing monsters.

In that moment of distraction, the jar, which had just been slightly opened, began to overflow with black grease. Only after seeing it with her own eyes did Tang Li realize that its appearance when mixed with the blue-clothed old woman's blood was actually quite attractive.

Lian Shi previously described it as "like the leftovers at the bottom of a pot that's been fried thousands of times with meatballs and fried meat," but Tang Li felt that even gutter oil would be an unfair comparison. This stuff seems to evoke a primal sense of disgust.

So... could this be the "celestial wine" that the guards have been yearning for?

The dark, sticky stuff was churning and boiling in the wine jar. Tang Li had a premonition and took a step back without hesitation.

"Plop—"

They narrowly avoided a gush of viscous liquid that was about to erupt from the wine jar.

The slime missed Tang Li, and she lost her strength in mid-air before falling to the ground, rolling around in the dust. She looked like a dead rat that had accidentally fallen into a meat grinder and been ground into a paste, skin and all.

The dead rat, sticky and gooey, wriggled toward Tang Li.

At the same time, the wine jar spewed out sticky liquid towards Tang Li one after another, as if spitting out clumps of phlegm.

Tang Li is going crazy!

Leaving aside the actual harm caused, the trauma inflicted on her psyche is already an unbearable burden for her.

A cyan-gold ring bloomed with unprecedented dazzling brilliance in Tang Li's palm. While dodging, she used the cyan halo to remotely envelop a puddle of slime on the ground, silently reciting in her heart with unprecedented piety: "Offering to you, offering to you, offering to you..."

Blue Light: ?

A drowsy god in the distance: ?

God rejected your disgusting gift.

Tang Li: Ahhhhhh, I'm here, I'm here.

She tried to trap more slime with the blue light, silently pleading in despair: Help me, help me, help me...

A flash of blue light caused ripples to reluctantly appear.

Invisible smoke emanated from her palm, gradually transforming into a veil-like blue light in her hand.

Tang Li seemed to sense something, and casually flicked the blue light towards the slime on the ground. As soon as the light approached, the slime began to boil and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Tang Li breathed a sigh of relief and continued to repeat the process. After two or three rounds, she seemed to gradually master the method and technique, using the blue light to flick off the dark slime one by one, as if catching a ball. In her movements, she unconsciously used her internal energy, and Tang Li became more and more at ease.

It was like attending a thoroughly enjoyable physical education class. At the end, she waved her hand and accurately threw the streak of blue light into the jar.

"Bang!"

It was as if I could see oil splattering everywhere inside the wine jar.

Then there was no more sound or trace.

Tang Li walked closer and saw that the strange oily substance was no longer in the jar, only a little bit of something remained at the bottom.

She reached in and pulled out a handkerchief embroidered with bamboo.

[System notification: Number of monsters killed: 1]

Congratulations! You have successfully upgraded to "Assassin Apprentice"! Keep up the good work!

The reward is...points...items...

What a bumper harvest!

The next moment, Tang Li stared at the silent jars and smiled darkly.

A faint green light emanated from his eyes.