[Handy / Deft Hands]?
What is this?
Li Miao read the reward description carefully:
[Congratulations, Haunted House Owner. You will possess a pair of very dexterous hands. You will achieve twice the result with half the effort in whatever you do. Whatever you think in your mind, your hands can execute perfectly and smoothly.]
This reward sounded good. Li Miao clicked to claim it.
She felt a white light flash across her hands, but then nothing special happened.
Li Miao wiggled her fingers. They felt the same as before.
The Painted Skin demon leaned in. “Master, light an incense stick for me.”
Li Miao looked at her and understood. She wanted to test the reward herself too.
She took the incense burner and lit a stick of incense.
A bright red flame lit up.
The Painted Skin demon closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and sighed in praise. “Delicious!”
Ruhua also leaned in to smell it and exclaimed, “It tastes even better than before.”
The Painted Skin demon nodded. “Not only does it taste better, but my injured soul body has also solidified a bit.”
She had been whipped three times by Mingye earlier, injuring her soul, and hadn’t fully recovered yet.
Hearing this, Li Miao flexed her fingers and felt carefully. She discovered they were indeed much more dexterous than before.
Previously, she was clumsy, often dropping plates. Her hands were useless for delicate needlework or crafts.
Even her handwriting was ugly.
Thinking of this, Li Miao suddenly had an idea.
She immediately ran back to the lounge, took out the talisman paper, brush, and cinnabar.
Calming her mind, she visualized the strokes of the Exorcism Talisman, then began to draw.
This time, her strokes were incredibly fluid, without a single hesitation. As she finished the last stroke, a spiritual light glowed within the talisman.
“Success!” Ruhua exclaimed.
She didn’t dare get close, standing far away to look at the talisman on the table.
The Painted Skin demon stepped forward, wanting to sense it, but as soon as she got close, she felt a burning pain and cried out, “So powerful!”
This Exorcism Talisman was several times stronger than any she had seen before.
With ordinary Exorcism Talismans, she couldn’t get within three steps. But with the one Li Miao drew, she couldn’t even get within ten steps.
Meanwhile, abroad, Li Si, who was participating in an e-sports competition, suddenly found his hands failing him.
Previously, his mechanics were incredible. He was a top-tier e-sports player with incredibly fast hand speed, known in the industry as “Shadowless Hands.”
But now, his hand speed couldn’t keep up at all. His reactions were slow, and he was fumbling.
How could this be?
His teammates shouted anxiously, “Si, what’s wrong? Do something! Why aren’t you moving? Attack them!”
Despite their shouts, Li Si didn’t react.
Li Si was the best on their team. Once he made a mistake, the whole team’s rhythm fell apart.
Inevitably, they lost.
They were favorites to win the championship, but they didn’t even make the finals.
The audience was in an uproar. Netizens watching the livestream worldwide couldn’t believe it.
Li Si was “Shadowless Hands,” a top-three player internationally. And he didn’t even make the finals!
It was too shocking, too unbelievable!
Public opinion exploded; everyone was discussing it.
Some said Li Si was in bad form and that everyone makes mistakes—he was human, not a god.
Others said he had run out of talent and regressed, no longer a top player.
Li Si, at the center of the storm, experienced failure for the first time and was distraught.
He stared blankly at his hands, unable to understand what had happened.
Why did my hands suddenly stop working?
He was a dual star in e-sports and racing. Although not in the entertainment industry, he had fans worldwide.
He was used to being praised and worshipped.
Now, facing defeat, he couldn’t accept reality and fell into a deep depression.
Li Miao didn’t follow e-sports, so she knew nothing about what happened to Li Si.
She was busy with the haunted house business.
Thanks to Wang Jian’s positive review and his group’s promotion, Li Miao’s haunted house gained a small burst of popularity.
Wang Jian loved adventure and horror elements, and his circle shared his interests. Hearing that the Painted Skin theme was terrifying, they were all curious to see it.
Many people came to check it out.
After playing, they all gave 5-star reviews, saying it was incredibly fun, the horror atmosphere was maxed out, and it was worth the trip.
The only 3-star review came from someone who was too scared. They complained that the haunted house was too terrifying and asked why the owner didn’t warn them.
After playing, they were too scared to sleep for days, having nightmares whenever they did, until their mom took them to a temple to burn incense.
Even though it was a 3-star review, it attracted even more people.
Calls flooded in, inquiring and booking appointments.
Li Miao currently has only one dungeon, which can hold just about a dozen people at a time. She can only run a few sessions each day, so many people aren’t able to get in.
This made Li Miao anxious.
She wanted to open a second dungeon, but she lacked money and manpower.
Ruhua’s Brothel dungeon was different from the Painted Skin one.
The Painted Skin dungeon only needed one ghost and two or three NPCs, but the Brothel needed many people.
A brothel couldn’t just have Ruhua as the only courtesan.
Just as she was worrying, the app flashed.
Li Miao clicked it and found rewards:
[Congratulations, Painted Skin dungeon visitor count reached 100. Scenario Upgrade: Beginner Scenario upgraded to Intermediate Scenario.]
[Congratulations, Fengdu Haunted House visitor count reached 100. Reward: Yang Energy Hut.]
[Visitor count reached 100. Unlocked: Wealth Summoning Talisman.]
Wealth Summoning Talisman?
Wow!
Just what she needed! Li Miao quickly claimed the rewards.
The Wealth Summoning Talisman wasn’t urgent; she needed to practice drawing it first.
First, the scenario upgrade.
What does upgrading from Beginner to Intermediate mean?
Li Miao brought Ruhua and the Painted Skin demon to the second floor.
As soon as they arrived, they saw a dense fog that seemed to engulf the entire floor.
Walking in, they saw the sun in the sky and dark clouds.
It felt like a separate world, not inside a building at all.
“Wow, it’s so realistic!” Li Miao was shocked. She directed Ruhua to fly up and touch the sun to see if it was real.
Ruhua glanced at it and replied, “It’s an illusion. But although it’s an illusion, it still suppresses us ghosts.”
Li Miao took the two ghosts around the second floor and found it incredibly vast, almost boundless.
The buildings, animals, plants, and even the pebbles on the ground were incredibly realistic.
It felt like really being in ancient times.
If the Intermediate Scenario is this awesome, the Advanced Scenario must be heavenly!
The happiest of the three was the Painted Skin demon.
She darted around joyfully. “This is my home now! I love it! I feel like I can control everything here.”
With the Painted Skin dungeon upgraded to be huge and realistic, Li Miao felt it could accommodate hundreds of people at once.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have that many NPCs.
Still short of ghosts!
She thought of the third blind box.