Chapter 23.2

Editors: Alysia & Kat

Proofreader: Junyans 

How interesting. Not only did Wu Laoliu know of the presence of the Travel Services, but he also knew that the Travel Services “supervised” their communication at all times.

Wei Xun licked his itchy canine teeth, placed the tip of his teeth on his lower lip, and put pressure to his pale lip, making it seem redder. He resembled a vampire duke lurking in the shadows, recklessly exuding a mysterious charm.

Even Wu Laoliu was momentarily stunned by the sight. Suddenly, he seemed to have made up his mind and finally whispered, “You must buy at least one bamboo basket, or the whole tour group will be annihilated.”

“Anyone can weave this kind of ragged bamboo basket.” 

Ignoring Wu Laoliu’s sneering and mocking eyes, Wei Xun said slowly, “I think the bamboo basket should be made of a special material. But I see this type of bamboo all around us, outside the homestay.”

There was unquestionably a correlation between baby bamboo baskets and Baby Bamboo Miao Village.

Wu Laoliu did not respond, but the maggots beneath this black wrinkled skin wriggled and rustled, as if they were meeting. Wei Xun not only reminded him that the bamboo baskets given by Travel Services were made of special materials, but he also warned him that he could see the bamboo baskets’ qualities. It was an oblique indication that he couldn’t deceive Wei Xun.

If Wu Laoliu could make a similar bamboo basket——

Wei Xun said slowly, “I couldn’t be bothered to buy such worn-out bamboo baskets. If I have to buy something, wouldn’t it be better off for me to buy ones that the locals had just weaved at a lower price——”

When he said these words, Wu Laoliu was as stiff as a stone statue, his muddy eyes staring at Wei Xun. When Wei Xun scrutinized him, he could find that Wu Laoliu’s rigid body was trembling slightly, various cracks collapsed on the skin, and the maggots were vaguely visible.

Wei Xun got it. The locals and tour guides couldn’t trade privately.

“Of course, the hospitable locals certainly won’t ask me for money.” 

Wei Xun rapidly switched the topic of his conversation, and Wu Laoliu’s cracked skin joined together again. Seeing this scene, Wei Xun clearly understood what occurred.

“If you want me to buy this worn-out bamboo basket, I will.”

Wei Xun said lazily, “But…if I buy a bamboo basket, you should give me ten more.”

For a brief period, Wu Laoliu’s body seemed taut again, as if he was frightened of something, or apprehensive and suspicious of something. 

Even after a long wait, the incident he feared happening and the incident he was on guard against did not appear.

They couldn’t buy and sell in private, but Wu Laoliu could give it to him.

Even though Wu Laoliu’s face was stiff, and he had no expression, his eyes were darting desperately, like a maggot dancing a break dance, exposing his excitement.

“But the bamboo basket that you will give me can’t be this shabby.”

Wei Xun said, “Since we came to Xiangxi for a visit, we must always bring some high-quality and specialty products back.”

Wei Xun remembered how the note described the baby bamboo basket: [What? How much is this basket? Even if you gave me 800 points, I wouldn’t want this basket! Even gullible children and child ghosts will never like this kind of bamboo basket!] 

Children and child ghosts would never like it. This kind of bamboo basket made of ragged material should not be the best material.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Purchasing props with points made sense as well, since it served to lessen the difficulty of tours, but the Travel Services couldn’t permit the tourists to live easy lives.

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Wu Laoliu’s face twitched and he smoked from the hookah in silence. It wasn’t known how long elapsed before he suddenly said hoarsely.

“It’s too much for me to give you ten. I, Wu Laoliu, have never committed to a business without profits.”

“If you buy two bamboo baskets, I’ll give you four. But for the two bamboo baskets I sell, I want to sell them for 1800 each.”

“Hiss.” 

Hearing this, Wei Xun turned and left without hesitation. When he walked to the door in two to three strides, he heard Wu Laoliu’s hoarse and slightly eager voice: “Why are you walking away! Let’s bargain, let’s bargain. Let’s talk, let’s talk. How could you, a child of the later generation, leave straight away!”

“Buy two bamboo baskets and I’ll give you six. Isn’t this a good deal!”

“I’ll buy one bamboo basket and you’ll give me nine. I’ll pay a thousand points for that bamboo basket.”

Wei Xun turned back and leaned lazily against the door frame. Seeing that Wu Laoliu stood up, the maggots in his entire body squirming and fluctuating, he vigilantly leaned closer to the door, “I’m warning you, don’t use that same dirty trick again, or we will not negotiate!” 

“You, you, you, you——”

Wu Laoliu was so enraged that maggots started dancing in his eyes. He was so furious that he broke the water bowl of his hookah. He heaved and wheezed, and his pupils contracted to the size of the tip of a needle, his expression frightening. An oppressive invisible air dispersed, chilling, gloomy, and causing one’s hair to stand at the ends.

“Well, are you selling it or not? I’m leaving if you don’t want to do business with me.”

Wei Xun remained unimpressed. Instead, he saw Wu Laoliu was “cracking” again. He was on high alert and retreated, with about half of his body outside the door. Wu Laoliu slapped the counter violently. The counter, which had already crumbled due to Wei Xun, fully collapsed, and the white insect bodies gushed out like white rice. 

“You’ll sell me one bamboo basket and give me seven, the same price as I’ve stated!”

Wu Laoliu finally said fiercely, “I’ll sell you 1500 for that bamboo basket, otherwise, there’s no need for us to negotiate.”

“Give me eight bamboo baskets.”

Wei Xun cleverly and hypocritically said, “As soon as I saw Brother Wu, I felt like we were quite fated. If you give me another one, it can be regarded as your gift to me, a person of the younger generation.” 

Wei Xun is a young man in comparison to Wu Laoliu’s old vegetable skin. And he was not ashamed to pose as a person of the younger generation.

“You have eight tourists in total! What’s the use of nine bamboo baskets!”

Wu Laoliu was furious, “People who are too greedy will go to hell after death!”

“I’d really like to see if hell is fun.” 

Wei Xun smiled and said, “How are there only eight people? I’m also human. Can’t I also take a look at the bamboo basket?”

“You, you——”

“Alright, you will only harm your body if you get angry, you will only harm your body if you get angry.”

Wei Xun acted as if he was in a dilemma. He hesitantly muttered, as if he was bearing the pain of someone cutting his flesh, “Well, since I’m fated with Brother Wu, I’ll add another 55 points. I’ll use 1555 points to buy the worn-out bamboo basket. You can give me eight. How about it? Aren’t I a good brother?” 

“Scram, scram for me!”

Wu Laoliu was furious. He was so indignant that his fingers were trembling, and he pointed to the door.

“Hurry, scram!”

Wei Xun followed along the flow of the conversation, “Okay, okay, I’ll scram.” 

Just as he went out and was about to close the door, the worn-out bamboo basket was thrown out and it happened to smash on him.

“Take your bamboo basket and scram!”

“Don’t forget to return for lunch in the afternoon!”

When the dirty bamboo basket hit him, Wei Xun hooked it with the tip of his claws and saw that Wu Laoliu had thrown out a “Moldy Baby Bamboo Basket”. He smiled delightfully. 

He would have to wait till the afternoon to know if his and Wu Laoliu’s “good transaction” would be successful.

Carrying the basket, Wei Xun went back to the house to take a bath and sleep without feeling any psychological pressure. He didn’t wake up until noon.

When Wei Xun wandered to Wu Laoliu’s stilted building for lunch, he saw a pile of things covered with dry thatch under the corner of the table. He showed a smile, indicating that he had understood.

On the contrary, Wu Laoliu seemed to feel guilty. After Wei Xun entered the door, he immediately closed the door and looked at the sky, unable to move his legs and hands nimbly. Seeing Wei Xun squatting near the thatch and about to open the thatch to see what was inside, Wu Laoliu’s eyebrows trembled. He knocked his bamboo chopsticks on the back of Wei Xun’s hand and roared. 

“What are you doing!”

“Inspection.”

Wei Xun smiled lazily. When his fingers touched the pile of things just now, the information jumped up. He immediately knew that the deal was successful.

[Name: Exquisite Baby Bamboo Basket] 

[Quality: Ordinary]

[Function: It can be used to carry a child. Of course, a child ghost could also be carried too]

[Note: It’s a strong and durable basket woven by the locals in Xiangxi. Children and child ghosts like it very much]

Unexpectedly, Wu Laoliu acted so fast. It was as if he weaved all the bamboo baskets just using a morning’s time. 

“What inspection? Don’t casually move around in my place!”

Wu Laoliu was making an empty show of strength, the maggots in his eyes trembling nervously.

“Take the bamboo baskets and scram!”

After checking that the bamboo baskets woven by Wu Laoliu were indeed props, Wei Xun raised his eyebrow, glanced thoughtfully over at Wu Laoliu’s hand and noticed that a string of Buddha beads were twisted in his hand. 

The Buddha beads were shining in red light. At one glance, Wei Xun could tell that it was something good, but it doesn’t look like something that should be in Xiangxi.

There was a strong sense of incongruence in Wu Laoliu’s body.

Did he weave that many bamboo baskets in the morning, or had he long thought of this idea?

Very smart——he’s too smart. Locals? Was he born as a Local, or—— 

“I’ll head off now, head off now.”

Wei Xun dragged his voice, picked up the bamboo baskets made with hemp rope beneath the thatch, tossed them over his shoulder, turned to Wu Laoliu, and winked at him as he walked out, “Brother Wu, do you believe in Buddhism?”

“It has nothing to do with you.”

Wu Laoliu replied stiffly, and Wei Xun didn’t care about his reaction. 

“But I still have to say——”

Wei Xun lowered his voice and stared at Wu Laoliu without blinking for a moment: “In my opinion, Buddha will expiate the sins of humans, but he won’t care about monsters.”

Buzz, buzz——

The peculiar rustling and buzzing filled the entire area, as if hundreds of millions of maggots were present. At the time, mottled white patches floated on the walls, ceilings, and even the floors, as if the entire stilted building was infested with maggots. The thin, mildew-like black specks were actually a plethora of pairs of eyes. 

Wei Xun’s words had just reached Wu Laoliu’s innermost core.

Wu Laoliu sat in a chair, his eyes as indifferent and numb as glass, and his whole person was like a stone wax statue, a soulless puppet, but the sense of terror and pressure he was emanating was getting stronger and stronger.

He stared at Wei Xun, and the entire “stilted building” gazed at Wei Xun. Any feigned tranquility would be peeled away under the creeping malice that seemed like an abyss, revealing one’s truest emotions.

“It’s too cold here. It’s truly cold and dirty here.” 

Wei Xun merely shivered and complained, “I say, old man, although you can never regain your youth, you must at least be a clean old man and be good to yourself.”

“If I were as old as you, I am confident I wouldn’t be in such a small, broken-down place.”

The countless eyes coagulated and fell on Wei Xun’s arm. Although his nails were trimmed neatly, it was still unlike a human’s long black nails.

He wasn’t the only monster here. 

The strong and deep malice gradually converged and hid. Wu Laoliu trembled all over and blinked slowly as if he had recovered. Wei Xun was still standing by the door and even walked back for two steps. He tilted his head and observed Wu Laoliu’s expression with interest. Wu Laoliu slapped on the table fiercely and threw out his chopsticks.

“Scram, quickly scram!”

Wei Xun retreated to the door: “Dear, dear, it was obviously you who was trying to give me something. Why is your attitude so horrible?”

“Brother Wu, with just a glance, I feel that we are very fated——” 

“Scram!”

Bang!

The door slammed in front of Wei Xun. It was barely a centimeter away from the tip of Wei Xun’s nose. The door would have smacked him in the face if he hadn’t leaned back in time. Wei Xun was not furious, but rather pleased. He proceeded down the stilted building, humming a melody, to his room.

Wu Laoliu sat on a chair in the stilted structure. His eyes were as cloudy as broken glass, and he appeared to have reverted to the form of a rock sculpture. A swarm of maggots poured from his seven orifices and landed on the table. Wu Laoliu’s body shriveled up gradually, and the remainder of his human skin crumbled. 

White maggots occupied the whole table. They wriggled and touched each other, using a language humans couldn’t understand. They were greedy and eager, as they circled around the golden light spot, floating like a firefly in the center of the table.

That was the 1550 points Wei Xun gave him for the transaction, but now, this point did not belong to him.

[Monster No.38, you have completed a basic transaction and sold Moldy Baby Bamboo Basket X1]

When the elegant and low voice suddenly rang in the stilted building, all the maggots stopped crawling instantly and “prostrated” on the table like a group of rice, as if they were fearfully surrendering. 

[The Moldy Baby Bamboo Basket costs 500 points and the price you sold it for is 1555 points. No.38 may obtain 1055 points. Will all the points be used for atonement?]

In the end, Wu Laoliu lied. The cost price of a bamboo basket was 500, not 1000. The maggots nodded together, and less than half of the jumping golden light spots disappeared in thin air. The remaining golden light spots were integrated into the maggots. The maggots’ original gray bodies were plated with a layer of light golden light, and they couldn’t help wriggling, seemingly comfortable and satisfied.

But when the voice sounded again, all the bugs froze.