Zuo Si’s heart raced; he was naturally overjoyed that Ding Ruxiao could come join him, even feeling a strange excitement.
“I won’t be joining,” Lu Tao said, a bit embarrassed. “Although I really want to help you, my family is indeed facing difficulties.”
“It’s fine,” Zuo Si replied, not caring at all. “I still have over ten thousand yuan; I’ll transfer it to you later. I hope it can help.”
“No need, no need,” Lu Tao waved his hands repeatedly. “Your haunted house just opened; you need money right now. I can’t help, and I don’t want to hold you back.”
Buzz! Buzz!
Zuo Si’s phone rang; it was an unfamiliar number.
“Is this Mr. Zuo? I have your delivery; I’m currently at the entrance of Huaxing Haunted House.”
“I’m here; I’ll be right out.”
Zuo Si hung up the phone and went to the door to sign for two packages.
He couldn’t wait to open the two parcels.
One of the packages contained a rusty surgical knife, but the blade was sharpened to a fine edge.
This should be Lu Liangyuan’s surgical knife; there was nothing unusual about it.
The other package contained a book, the very one titled “Self-Cultivation of Haunted House Employees.”
He didn’t want Ding Ruxiao and Lu Tao to see these two strange items, so he took them directly into the horror scene.
He placed the book in Operating Room 3 and said to the red high heels, “Just look at this book when you have nothing to do; study it well. After you finish, show it to the other ‘people.’ There’s an exam in a couple of days; those who fail will be expelled.”
After giving his instructions, he found a piece of cloth to wrap the surgical knife and stuffed it into his pants pocket.
He couldn’t let Meng Miaoxue see this.
She had a deep grudge against Lu Liangyuan; if she recognized this item, it could lead to serious trouble.
Returning to the small courtyard, after a hearty meal, the three of them began to continue cleaning up.
Zuo Si moved the clown’s costume to the employee passage in the buffer room.
He didn’t rush to open it.
After a whole afternoon, the haunted house was tidied up inside and out, and the three of them were exhausted.
They went to a nearby bathhouse for a shower and changed into a fresh set of clothes.
Zuo Si gave Lu Tao ten thousand yuan, asking him and Ding Ruxiao to help buy some furniture for the haunted house office and employee lounge.
He then made an excuse to leave first.
It had been three or four days since he found the Black Mobile Phone, and he had only completed one Daily Task.
He had to complete another one today.
The Black Mobile Phone required that these three tasks be completed within a week, and now half the time had already passed.
If he delayed any longer, he feared there wouldn’t be enough time.
At that point, if the tasks disappeared, he didn’t know what terrifying things might happen.
Zuo Si took out the Black Mobile Phone and opened the Black Skull App.
He accepted the ‘Midnight Taxi’ Daily Task.
“Wherever there are people, there will be evil. Some evils exist between you and me, while others roam freely.”
“Dear Soul Keeper, congratulations on successfully accepting a one-star horror task, ‘Midnight Taxi.'”
Task Objective: Take the taxi with license plate number QZ6438 to Miaoshan Cemetery by eleven o’clock at midnight and survive until dawn.
Pickup Location: Xiangyang Village bus stop.
Optional Task: Identify and eliminate the evil spirit.
Mission Reminder 1: Ghosts are very sensitive to their kind. Recklessly bringing other ghosts into the task location will directly lead to your task failure or even death.
Mission Reminder 2: Do not get out of the car before reaching Miaoshan Cemetery, or it will result in immediate task failure!
“Can’t bring ghosts into the task location?”
Zuo Si frowned, inwardly lamenting. He had thought this time he could take Meng Miaoxue along, which would make things much simpler.
But he didn’t expect there to be such a restriction.
It was one thing to have to take that taxi, but he also couldn’t get out midway…
Otherwise, Zuo Si could have simply placed Meng Miaoxue’s red high heels near the task location.
That way, when faced with danger, Zuo Si could recklessly retrieve the red high heels, allowing Meng Miaoxue to save him.
Thinking about it now was pointless.
Zuo Si had to think of another way to protect himself.
But facing these mysterious ghosts, he had no idea how to respond.
He had no clues at all.
Even the jade Buddha and the cross he had last time were useless; what else could he use?
It was now seven o’clock in the evening, and there were still four hours until eleven.
He had to make thorough preparations before then.
He pulled out his phone to check the location of Xiangyang Village, and sure enough, it was just as he guessed, located in the southern suburbs.
A taxi ride would take about half an hour.
“Let’s go check out the southern suburb’s grocery market first…”
Zuo Si made his decision, walking while searching on his phone for what items could restrain ghosts.
Just like what he had seen before.
It was nothing more than boy’s urine, sanitary napkins, black dog blood, vermilion, yellow talismans, Peach Wood Sword…
There were countless such items.
There were all sorts of claims online; who could he trust?
He couldn’t buy everything one by one, could he?
But it seemed like that was the only way.
When the time came, he could just throw them all out; surely one of them would be useful.
Thinking of this, Zuo Si suddenly had an idea.
Since it was still early, he might as well go find the Ghost Employees in the haunted house to conduct some experiments.
With that thought, Zuo Si clapped his hands, happily deciding to do just that.
Arriving at the southern suburb’s grocery market, aside from some shops, there were also quite a few street vendors.
It was like a large night market, but a bit more organized.
Whether it was food, daily necessities, or drinks, everything was available.
Zuo Si bought a few skewers of grilled gluten at the entrance, eating as he walked inside.
After wandering around, he managed to buy most of the legendary items that could ward off evil.
He even happened to buy a bowl of black dog blood.
Of course, excluding the sanitary napkins.
As for boy’s urine, he had that himself.
Just as he was about to leave the grocery market with his backpack, a voice caught his attention.
“Young friend, wait, wait…”
Zuo Si looked in the direction of the voice and saw a middle-aged Taoist Priest with a goatee waving at him.
He hesitated for a moment but walked over, glancing at the items laid out by the middle-aged Taoist Priest.
They were some yellow talismans, vermilion, Peach Wood Sword, and evil-repelling copper coins.
Zuo Si had already bought these items at other stalls, and they were just a short distance away from this one, easily visible.
“What can I do for you, Taoist Priest?”
“Little brother, I see your brow is dark, your gaze is vacant, your lips are cracked, and your Primordial Spirit is scattered… If I’m not mistaken, you’ve recently encountered something unclean.”
“Uh… sort of,” Zuo Si touched his face, thinking, ‘I haven’t changed much; is this Taoist trying to fool me?’
“Sigh!” The Taoist Priest sighed. “Little brother, there’s something I don’t know if I should say.”
“Please, go ahead, Taoist Priest.”
“I saw you passing by earlier, and out of boredom, I did a divination based on your appearance.” The Taoist Priest stroked his goatee and shook his head. “Alas! It’s really not good.”
My Midnight Livestream advance chapters (10 chaps) are available at Patreon Support Tier. The Support Tier also has access to the advance chapters of My Dream Goddess (10 chaps) and Hedonist Prodigy (15 chaps). (for limited duration)