Xi Mufu felt a lightness throughout her body—the oppressive force that had been restraining her had vanished.
“I’m fine,” she said softly.
Ji Jiu lowered his eyes, studying her for a moment. Seeing that she had indeed returned to normal, he finally let go.
Xi Mufu looked at Lin Xia and saw that she had her mouth tightly shut, so she didn’t dare ask any more questions.
“Do you want to buy anything else?” Xi Mufu changed the topic and began promoting the gold ingots. “These are good too. I folded them myself.”
All the gold ingots and paper offerings in her shop were made by her. While her craftsmanship wasn’t as exquisite as her grandfather’s, it was still quite good.
Lin Xia had regained her composure. Realizing she couldn’t communicate more with the shopkeepers, she didn’t push it.
Hearing the shopkeeper mention gold ingots, she didn’t hesitate and immediately nodded. “I’ll buy them!”
Although the gold ingots were new items and no player had bought them yet, since they were from the incense shop, they were certainly useful.
Moreover, according to Vice President Pu Yunfeng, once the shopkeeper made a request, players had to comply.
Seeing her agreement, Xi Mufu handed over a package of gold ingots, containing two large and eight small ones.
This time, Xi Mufu selected a skill: [Yin-Yang Eye].
Lin Xia hesitated. “Are you… really choosing this?”
[Yin-Yang Eye] sounded impressive but was actually rather useless—among all her skills and items, it was the least helpful. For example, in the Xiushui Mountain Village dungeon, she had used it once during the day and found the villagers were walking corpses, extremely terrifying.
Other than that, the skill had no real use. She didn’t dare use it at night for fear of frightening herself.
But then she thought: the shopkeeper ran an incense shop and seemed to be a god saving players, surely not afraid of malevolent spirits. Choosing this item seemed reasonable.
Xi Mufu smiled. “It’s fine. I’ll take this one.”
Seeing the beautiful shopkeeper make the decision, Lin Xia didn’t argue further and quickly clicked to complete the transaction.
She looked at the two items in her hands and hesitated, wanting to ask if she could buy more incense paper. She had three items left, meaning she could buy three more times.
Just as she opened her mouth, the interface issued a warning:
[Do not purchase duplicates!]
So, each item could only be bought once?
She thought about buying some cleansing talismans instead. Even if she didn’t need them now, maybe she would be forced into the Wax Museum dungeon later.
But the interface issued another warning:
[Purchase limit reached!]
Lin Xia’s eyes widened. So, each person could only trade twice?
This was a major discovery. Once she exited the dungeon, she would immediately post about it on the player forum.
A faint disappointment welled up—there were many kinds of incense items on the shelves, but she could only buy twice. It was disappointing, but then she realized that simply being able to enter the incense shop and trade with the shopkeepers, obtaining incense paper that countless players desired, was already the luckiest thing she could hope for.
She stopped worrying and solemnly looked at Xi Mufu. “Thank you!”
I hope you are the god who will save us.
She said this silently in her heart.
Xi Mufu sensed the sincerity in her words and even felt a kind of faith energy. Surprised, she glanced at Ji Jiu.
Ji Jiu also noticed it. Narrowing his eyes, he said gravely, “This is a good thing.”
Usually, faith energy only exists when mortals believe in a deity. Was this otherworldly visitor treating Xi Mufu like a god?
That was interesting.
Xi Mufu didn’t dwell on it. She looked at Lin Xia’s face and said, “I’ll give you two protective talismans.”
Recently, she had been learning physiognomy from Ji Jiu and was improving rapidly. She noticed the black aura at Lin Xia’s brow spreading through her body—a sign that her life was in danger. Her talismans were imbued with merit, which should help protect Lin Xia, at least preserving her life.
Lin Xia hadn’t expected such a surprise. She respectfully accepted the talismans. “You’re so kind!”
Xi Mufu shook her head.
At the same time, a notification popped up in her mind:
[Talisman Crafting upgraded to Level 3.]
She paused—she had only given the talismans after noticing Lin Xia’s blackened brow. She had forgotten that the rule for upgrading talismans might involve giving them for free to otherworldly visitors.
It was a pleasant surprise, and she was happy.
Then she thought of her farming skill. Previously, she had guessed she might also need to give some rice to otherworldly visitors to upgrade it. Unfortunately, because she had been busy celebrating the New Year and the professors had taken all the rice for research, she hadn’t prepared any. She would have to try next time.
Lin Xia held five packs of incense paper, a package of gold ingots, and two protective talismans as she left the incense shop. She realized she had also exited the abandoned wooden house, and the male ghost chasing her attacked in the next moment.
Startled, she was about to throw the incense paper, but a flash of golden light appeared. The male ghost was sent flying and gradually dissipated into the night.
Lin Xia: ?
She quickly looked down and saw that the golden light came from one of the talismans. That talisman seemed to have been used once, its glow slightly dimmer than the other.
So the talisman had defeated the male ghost?
The shopkeeper had seen that she was being harassed by ghosts and gave her the talismans?
“She must be a god!” Lin Xia felt both joy and excitement, tears streaming down again.
From being chased by the male ghost, to entering the incense shop and trading with the shopkeeper, to defeating the ghost—she felt like she had lived a dream.
Only now did her heart settle; she truly felt awake.
The village was silent. Normally, this ghost village was dark and terrifying at night. The previous night, she had locked herself indoors, too scared to step outside. But now, walking alone on the empty road, she wasn’t afraid—she had the incense shop’s protection!
“Lin Xia, are you okay?” Other players arrived at that moment.
Originally, nine people had entered the dungeon. Two players had been killed by ghosts in the past two days, leaving seven. They had agreed to help each other, so upon noticing Lin Xia was in trouble, the others risked the danger to find her.
Lin Xia felt truly lucky. She knew some players could betray companions to absorb damage, but her teammates in every dungeon had been good, including this time.
Most importantly, she had found the incense shop!
Being pulled into the infinite-loop world was unfortunate, but meeting the incense shop was sheer luck.
“I’m fine.” She wiped her tears with her sleeve and stood up. “I’m telling you, I just traded in the incense shop! I bought so many things—we’re saved!”