Chapter 12: Crematorium
Weapons and Artifacts: Dagger x4, Three Pure Ones Bell x1, Compass x1, Five Emperors Copper Coin Sword x1, Peach Wood Sword x1, Long Blade x1, Golden Qi Pulse Gun x1.
Special Items: Beginner Workbench x1, Low-Tier Talisman Paper Blueprint x1, Upgrade Card x3, Altar Token x2.
A beginner workbench! It was an amazing tool, and she had managed to obtain it so quickly, along with the blueprint for talisman paper. It looked like she could start her money-making plan right away.
Lin Huai counted her materials. She still didn’t have enough to upgrade her vehicle to level three, but she had almost everything she needed to activate the Yellow Springs Road Guide—she was only missing one ghost soul!
She looked over at the river along the roadside, where several Safety Ambassadors and Vengeful Ghosts were gathered.
Lin Huai flicked a copper coin, striking a Vengeful Ghost squarely on the head.
The moment a player attacks, the monsters in the water crawl out immediately and charge.
Lured by Lin Huai’s strike, the Vengeful Ghost let out an angry screech and lunged forward. Its long, matted hair shot outward, coiling toward her like sharp steel wire.
Lin Huai twirled the copper coin sword in her hand, cleanly slicing through the tangle of hair.
The ghost thrust its pale arms forward, trying to strangle her neck. Lin Huai dropped into a quick crouch. As her copper coin sword slashed through the monster’s throat, her other hand shot out with a sharp squelch, plunging straight into its chest.
When she pulled her hand back, the creature faded into mist. Lin Huai looked down calmly at the pulsating black heart resting in her palm.
A ghost’s heart was its soul.
However, a ghost soul could only be harvested while the creature was still “alive.” Unless someone truly needed one, nobody wasted time collecting them one by one in the middle of a fight.
She pulled out the diamond-shaped jade stone again. A screen popped up right away:
[Materials to activate the Yellow Springs Road Guide are complete. Activate now?]
Lin Huai pressed [Yes].
[Activating Yellow Springs Road Guide…]
[Matching system to vehicle: Electric tricycle with mounted coffin…]
[Match successful. The Yellow Springs Road Guide will turn on automatically when the vehicle restarts. Player, please restart your vehicle.]
The jade stone vanished from her fingers. A small diamond icon lit up on the tricycle’s digital dashboard.
Lin Huai turned the key to start the motor, and a calm, robotic female voice spoke from the speakers:
[Yellow Springs Road Guide activated. Remaining mileage goal for today: 30 kilometers. Ground is flat, skies are clear, no natural disasters detected. Road conditions are good, no forks in the road ahead, path is completely open. Wishing the player a safe and smooth journey.]
As expected of Old Hei’s rewards—they were always top quality.
This guide could even give early warnings for forks in the road and bizarre weather. Even with all her experience from her previous life, Lin Huai was genuinely surprised.
How many incredible treasures had she missed the first time around? She had never seen so many advanced items back then.
The Golden Qi Pulse Gun from the green ghost box was another fantastic find. With that weapon in hand, she would finally feel safe enough to open a bone-crushing box.
However, glancing down at the dark green handprint stamped onto her wrist, Lin Huai forced herself to stay calm. She twisted the throttle, and the electric tricycle sped down the road again.
For the next twenty-four hours, she was forbidden from opening any boxes!
Be patient, she told herself. Keep your hands to yourself!
Covering the thirty kilometers took about an hour.
Her daily travel requirement was complete, but Lin Huai had no plans to pull over and rest. She kept her hand on the throttle and drove ahead, scooping up every supply box she saw along the road and tossing it into the cart to open tomorrow.
She hadn’t traveled much farther when the straight highway ahead suddenly transformed.
Two roads stretched out from the dark rivers on either side, joining the main path to form a large crossroads.
Just across the intersection, a tall, gray building rose from the barren dirt beside the road.
A special site!
Lin Huai’s eyes brightened. She sped up, aiming to dash across the intersection.
At that moment, the Road Guide spoke up with a warning:
[Alert: Entering a special area ahead: Crossroads. Distance: 50 meters.]
[Navigation Advice: Cross the intersection safely and reach the site on the other side—the Crematorium—within 40 seconds. Once the crossroads vanishes, you will not be able to enter.]
The Road Guide could even identify the name of a site in advance! It was another wonderful surprise.
Lin Huai already knew that entering a site came with a strict time limit. But just as she prepared to race across, two massive, ghost-like mountain cats slowly stepped out of the water. Each held a glowing white paper lantern in its jaws.
Behind them marched a silent squad of floating Vengeful Ghosts.
Lin Huai slammed on the brakes. She could fight ordinary ghosts, but crossing paths with these mountain cats was suicide.
Both cats wore matching black coats that looked like official uniforms. A large white character—Difference—was clearly stamped on their backs, and thick iron chains hung around their necks like heavy collars.
They moved with slow, royal steps. Lin Huai parked her vehicle along the edge of the road to let them pass. The two cats kept their heads high, strolling by without sparing her a single glance.
The ghosts trailing behind them, however, could not stop staring. Dozens of twisted, terrifying faces turned around, gazing hungrily at Lin Huai as she sat calmly in her seat, waiting for them to leave.
The moment the two cats crossed the road, Lin Huai twisted the throttle all the way. The little tricycle shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.
Clutching her copper coin sword in one hand, she rammed the front of her cart straight into the cluster of ghosts. She swung the blade in a wide arc, slicing through their forms and bursting across the intersection.
The two giant cats at the front merely glanced back over their shoulders, then kept walking toward the opposite riverbank, completely indifferent to what happened to the spirits behind them.
Beating the timer before the site closed, Lin Huai slammed the brakes, hopped off the cart, and rushed through the doors of the gray building.
From the outside, the place looked like an old, abandoned factory, with several tall brick chimneys rising behind the low roof.
In her past life, she had never encountered the Crematorium. Because she traveled with a coffin, she had only ever visited the Morgue and the Cemetery. After Chen Feng stole her coffin back then, he had run into the Mass Grave—a place that had boosted his strength almost overnight.
The moment Lin Huai stepped inside the entrance, a massive, terrifying zombie stepped forward to block her way. With every step the monster took, the floor beneath its feet burned into a charred black smudge.
Lin Huai caught her breath, spun around on her heel, and grabbed the door handle to run.
Nobody had warned her that the guardian NPC of the Crematorium was a Drought Demon! Entering this place was practically suicide!
Before she could pull the door open, the metal handle grew white-hot and melted into a gooey liquid right in her hand. Behind her, the Drought Demon stood tall, its scarlet eyes glowing like two burning bronze lanterns as it locked its gaze onto her back.
A raspy voice, carrying a dry, suffocating heat wave, rumbled through the room:
“This is the Crematorium. If you didn’t bring a corpse, then I’ll toss you into the furnace instead!”
In that split second between life and death, Lin Huai quickly pointed back toward the entrance.
“I brought a body! It’s outside in my vehicle!”
The Drought Demon paused, eyeing her with suspicion before taking a couple of steps back. It raised a clawed hand and made a brief sign. Two shaggy zombies covered in coarse crimson fur scurried past her, heading straight out the door toward the tricycle parked in front.
