Underworld Player

Just when Bai Zhi was beginning to suspect that the girl was planning to keep his hundred Hell Dollars for herself, she sighed and waved her arm. As her long sleeves rippled through the air, the money magically appeared in Bai Zhi\'s hands.

"Dear guest, \'tis my sincere hope that thou surviveth to the end of this selection."

Bai Zhi stared at her, waiting for her to continue, but having delivered that enigmatic line, the ghostly girl fell completely silent, lowering her head and turned her attention back to her zither.

Realizing that she had no more to say, Bai Zhi narrowed his eyes at her, then turned to leave.

Thus far, he had experienced four different shops, and had found each shopkeeper to differ wildly, not only in personality, but in their form as well—paper dolls, clowns, ragdolls and ghostly spirits... What could possibly be next?

Even though he had successfully collected enough cash to buy a bus ticket out of there, Bai Zhi was no closer to understanding why this strange village at the entrance to the Underworld even existed at all. The shopkeepers had given him no useful information in this regard, and the bus driver\'s cryptic words were of little help. One thing was clear—he was not the first to arrive at this place.

She said it was a "selection"... If this is part of an elaborate process of picking a candidate of some sort, then...

Bai Zhi mulled over the ghostly shopkeeper\'s last words as he exited her otherworldly bamboo grove. As he stepped out onto the main street, Bai Zhi saw Lin He leaving the first shop on the opposite row, but the young man looked to be in bad shape. Half his body was covered in fresh blood as he stumbled unsteadily out. As soon as he made it out the door, Lin He\'s knees buckled and he sat down suddenly on the ground.

Bai Zhi glanced at the last shop on his row, but after a moment\'s thought, he stepped determinedly toward Lin He—after all, he had collected enough for the bus fare, there was no need to risk his life any further.

Soon, he was next to Lin He. Up close, it became clear that something had ripped a chunk of flesh off Lin He\'s left arm, leaving a gaping wound deep enough to expose part of the bone underneath. Blood poured from this wound, soaking Lin He\'s shirt and forming crimson rivulets down his arm, ending at his fingers where they dripped to the ground in a dreary rhythm.

Lin He noticed Bai Zhi approaching, and a look of surprise flashed across his face as he realized Bai Zhi was completely unharmed.

Finally, Lin He managed to force a wry smile. "I hate to let you see me like this—I was careless and they got me."

"Need a hand?"

Bai Zhi waggled his eyebrows as he retrieved his three key medical supplies—a blade, duct tape and a stapler—and laid them out before Lin He.

"These supplies are very effective. Everyone who\'s used them agrees."

Swiftly realizing what Bai Zhi was offering to do with those three tools, Lin He grimaced and said, "...Save them. I have healing items on me."

He pulled out a large chunk of something that looked like modeling clay and reluctantly tore off about a quarter, which he applied to the gaping wound on his arm.

[ Item Name: Reconstructive Clay ]

[ Type: Consumable ]

[ Class: Rare ]

[ To Use: Tear it and wear it. ]

[ Effect: Greatly heals injuries, corresponding to the amount of Clay used. Use more to heal more, grants full effect within a minute of use. ]

[ Restrictions: None ]

[ Note: Don\'t expect to stick a decapitated head back on with this. Use your head. ]

A minute later, Lin He peeled off the layer of clay covering the wounded area on his arm to reveal that the once-gruesome injury was now restored and good as new. After briefly flexing his arm and rotating his shoulder, he turned his attention to Bai Zhi.

Staring at the other Player\'s undamaged form, Lin He said somewhat incredulously, "Have you already gotten past three shops, Black&White?"

He had seen Bai Zhi walk out of the fourth shop on the opposite row with his own eyes, and before that, similarly seen the guy walk into

the second shop, so that was proof enough that Bai Zhi had cleared that many challenges.

Who could blame him for being surprised? He himself had taken much longer to crack even one challenge, and suffered grievous wounds in the process. Meanwhile, Bai Zhi was the lower-leveled Player with lower stats, but had managed to breeze past three shops without a scratch...

That guy couldn\'t have plugged in some cheat code or something, could he?

"Ah, yeah. I have enough for the bus fare."

Bai Zhi gave Lin He a lazy glance, then looked at the shop that he had just exited. It was called Pool Hall, and the shopkeeper looked like a ginger cat in a yellow riding jacket*. Presently, it was sitting on the counter and looking in their direction.

Lin He got up and explained, "The challenge here is to beat the shopkeeper at pool. 8-ball rules—pick stripes or solids, pocket all your balls, then the 8-ball—first person to pocket the 8-ball wins. The catch is that if you hit your opponent\'s balls, the monsters trapped within will be summoned to attack you. Not to mention that sly cat, it—"

"Gimme a minute." Bai Zhi waved his hand and left Lin He looking after him in shock as he strode into the Pool Hall.

Five minutes later, Bai Zhi walked out, still unharmed.

"Come on, let\'s go get Xu Feng."

Lin He, who had watched the whole game of pool from outside, was flabbergasted. "How, how... how did you do that?"

"Hmm? It\'s easy. Nothing but basic geometry."

Bai Zhi strolled casually past Lin He and arrived in front of the second shop, which Xu Feng had last been seen entering. However, when he peeked inside, his heart sank a little.

The shopkeeper for this "Gourmet House" looked like a man with the head of a pig. He wore an apron and sat behind a counter, smoking, but more importantly, Xu Feng was nowhere to be seen. Incidentally, about a dozen dark shapes could be seen hanging from iron hooks next to a blazing fire on a stove.

Upon seeing the two Players at the door, the pig-man tossed the cigarette he was smoking into its mouth, chewed a couple of times and swallowed. He stood up, rising to his full height of over two meters.

"Youse guys hungry?"

Frowning, Bai Zhi bluntly asked the shopkeeper, "The rules?" He had no intention of making small talk.

"Simple." The pig-man\'s large mouth widened into a grin, then he said in a booming voice, "Beat me in a culinary contest! Or... eat the delicious food I cooked up."

*Also known as magua (马褂), a style of jacket worn by males during the Qing dynasty.

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