The crying emoji buffered twice on the screen, failing to
"If this is a game bug, as long as we keep a low profile, we can stay together forever."
Xu Zhiyi immediately nodded in understanding.
A few meters behind them, the System Sphere, which had heard every word loud and clear: "…"
A low hum of background noise gradually rose.
This was a lecture hall with plain decor.
Beside the stage, two roll-up banners stood sparsely, their plastic frames and printed company promotional graphics looking like they had a budget of at most fifty yuan—blurry pixels, crude layout, every detail oozing a heavy air of insufficient funding.
A banner was stretched across the stage, red background with white text:
"Our company warmly welcomes all Treasure Appraisal Masters to join us."
The air in the lecture hall was silent.
Perhaps because they were the last or second-to-last to enter the Instance, Xu Zhiyi and Lin Yan appeared in the last two rows of seats in the lecture hall, far from the stage and the crowd, which conveniently allowed them to observe the situation up front.
Aside from the six players with grim expressions, there were also seven or eight young people sitting upright and proper in the venue.
Even without seeing their full faces, it was clear that their demeanor was distinctly different from the tension on the players' faces—not only were their backs straight as rods, fists clenched on their knees, but their eyes were filled with anticipation for their new jobs.
Their physical features were no different from normal people.
Xu Zhiyi's eyelids twitched as she watched, feeling like this was some sort of telecom fraud base, and that any moment the doors would swing open, a park manager would walk in, and the next second they'd be hauled off to have their kidneys harvested.
She was about to pull Lin Yan aside to complain when the microphone on stage suddenly let out a "buzz," instantly drawing everyone's attention.
A host who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere stood on stage with a beaming smile, body slightly bent, dressed in a tailcoat whose wrinkled, worn fabric looked like it had been used for over a dozen grand banquets in a row.
"Greetings, all you reserve Treasure Appraisal Masters!"
The microphone gave out after a few words, but the host didn't seem to mind and began shouting at the top of his lungs, his passionate voice clearly audible even from the last row.
He spent nearly ten minutes introducing the company's glorious history, using quite artistic phrasing, making a three-month-old company sound as time-honored as one established thirty years ago.
Xu Zhiyi covered her face and yawned.
Turning her head, she happened to catch Lin Yan looking down at her. Even caught not paying attention, he remained perfectly composed, and even reached out to pinch her cheek.
The host on stage finally got to the point.
"So, even though all of you are exceptionally talented, joining our company still requires passing a certain threshold…"
As he spoke, two staff members in blue uniforms walked out from the side door of the lecture hall, one after another, distributing name badges and envelopes.
This company really had extremely limited funds.
The name badges didn't even have photos—just a laminated piece of white paper. Xu Zhiyi wondered what the point of identical blank badges was, but a moment later, a black pen was passed forward from the front rows, and they were told to pull out the white paper and write their own names on it.
"…"
After Lin Yan finished writing, one of the staff members immediately stepped forward to take the pen back, looking as if they were afraid of losing the company's precious assets.
Yet despite being this poor, the envelope actually contained a hundred-yuan bill.
The host introduced: "For this internship training, there is only one spot to become a full-time employee of the company. If you want to be converted to permanent staff, you must rank first in the assessment over the next five days…"
Every day, the company would distribute one hundred yuan in startup funds.
All interns were required to go to a place called "Antique Street" to purchase an antique item, and find a Hidden Gem priced higher than what the local vendors were asking.
They had an entire day to compare and select. As long as they returned to the company before 8 PM and participated in the company's Valuation Assessment, they were good.
Intern value was determined by the value of the antique they found.
The company generously provided each intern with a private dormitory, but only the top three could enjoy free meals. The one ranked first could even have a luxurious private bathroom.
After the host finished his introduction, the NPCs erupted in applause.
Xu Zhiyi: "…"
She tore open the envelope and poured out the money. It wasn't the familiar renminbi—instead, the bills bore patterns resembling tree cross-sections, thin and flimsy, with "100" printed in the upper left corner.
A hundred yuan wasn't nearly enough to buy any kind of antique.
"Don't try to cut corners or think you can fool the company with your own belongings." The host's expression suddenly darkened, and with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, he said, "Anything not purchased from the antique market will be valued at zero, and you'll be worth even less."
Perhaps the words were too harsh—this time, even the NPCs didn't nod.
"If you don't believe me, feel free to try it during tonight's Valuation Assessment."
"…" Several players in the front row who were in the middle of unclasping their gold necklaces paused and silently stopped what they were doing.
After delivering his round of threats, the host seemed considerably refreshed and immediately moved to shoo them off to work. However, there were clearly experienced players among them, and one seized the moment to ask loudly, "If someone ranks last, will there be a punishment?"
"How could you call it a punishment?" he said warmly. "It's just that the company thinks this master might prefer to refine their appraisal skills, and wouldn't mind spending an extra night outside, settling their thoughts, before coming back."
The questioner's face turned very grim.
Staying in the company dormitory wasn't necessarily without danger, but being locked outside for a night could practically be equated with waiting to die.
There was no use overthinking it. The two employees who had been handing out badges changed into security uniforms and shooed them all out.
As they walked out the main gate, the ones in front hadn't even had time to figure out the direction of Antique Street when they were first greeted by locals waiting at the company entrance, who shoved two flyers into their hands.
"…"
A photography studio advertisement, a supermarket promotion, and a recruitment notice printed densely with a full range of job positions.
The locals shoved the flyers and ran off.
Leaving only Xu Zhiyi, clutching the flyers, standing in the wind, utterly bewildered.
At someone else's company entrance, handing recruitment notices to their interns?
The two security guards, however, were unfazed and even generously told them to keep the flyers, especially the recruitment notice.
Xu Zhiyi: "…"
She gave them a rough scan. Most of the job listings were manual labor odd jobs—housekeeping, food delivery, kitchen help—all of which looked fairly normal.
The only unusual thing was probably the six big characters printed at the top:
HIGH PAY, DAILY WAGES.
Xu Zhiyi was skeptical of both things.
She casually tidied up the flyers and was about to roll them up and toss them in a trash can, but Lin Yan took them from her and tucked them into her bag.
"They'll come in handy."
After leaving the company, they crossed one intersection and arrived at Antique Street.
This place had no proper shops to speak of. The entire street was lined with ordinary single-story houses, their doors and windows shut tight, while the owners sat outside with long, thin wooden boards set up before them, covered in a jumble of trinkets.
There was none of the elegance one would expect from antiques.
Most of the items on display were incredibly cheap—there weren't even many ceramic pieces, and some stalls had things that looked like pebbles casually picked up from a riverbank.
Yet every single item bore the same uniform price: one hundred yuan.
Beside each stall stood a wooden sign with three lines carved into it, quite the take-it-or-leave-it clause.
No haggling. All sales final. No returns or exchanges.
Though the terms were cold and unfeeling, the local shopkeepers' appearances were quite sympathetic—sunken cheeks, deep dark circles under their eyes, that kind of listlessness brought on by overwork, much like the wage slaves clocking into the corporate grind.
This easily endeared them to players, making them seem like ordinary folks you could reason with.
A smooth-talking player immediately plucked up the courage, pointed at a trinket, and tried to negotiate.
The shopkeeper looked agreeable enough and nodded, saying, "Sure, we can haggle. Just trade me something you've got on you."
The girl didn't hesitate. Her hand moved swiftly to her neck, and in two or three motions, she'd slipped off her gold necklace.
"What would I want with your necklace?" the shopkeeper asked, looking at her baffled.
"Then…"
She touched her knee, still wearing that agreeable expression, and said, "The weather's been damp and chilly lately. My knee's been acting up."
"My knee's not so great either…" the gold necklace said with an awkward laugh, backing away several steps before practically sprinting off from the stall.
The players watching let out sighs.
No haggling meant you could only buy one item—no room for error.
You had to choose carefully, and with thousands of items to look over, a single day suddenly felt extremely tight. The players who'd been gathered around quickly dispersed once they'd sized up the situation.
Xu Zhiyi and Lin Yan also began browsing and picking through the goods.
At the first stall, she crouched down and picked up a grimy little bronze tripod that looked like it had some age to it.
Flipping it over to check the bottom, she saw stamped on the back: "Made in the Shang and Zhou dynasties."
"…"
More like "Made last week."
But the shopkeeper had already launched into his spiel: "Miss, I didn't expect you to have such an eye! This is the most precious item I have here…"
He'd have been better off staying quiet—the moment she heard that, Xu Zhiyi warily set it back down.
The shopkeeper: "…"
Just then, Lin Yan reached for another item on the board.
"Didn't think you two would see through me. Actually, this one here is my stall's most valuable piece. I don't tell just anyone who comes by…" the shopkeeper smoothly pivoted.
Xu Zhiyi: "…"
Did they really look that much like easy marks?
But even knowing full well they were being played for fools, they still had to buy something from here and leave with it.
Xu Zhiyi searched the stall helplessly for a long while, when her peripheral vision suddenly caught a familiar flash of purple, and her eyes lit up.
It was a miniature incense burner, very much like the one from the Huamei Middle School Instance. When the lid was opened, it was empty inside, but carried a faint, deep, lingering fragrance.
This time, it was definitely a sure thing.
Xu Zhiyi turned around, eager to share the good news with Lin Yan, but the stall owner's enthusiasm remained as fiery as ever. He blurted out, "Great eye, great eye! This is the most precious item in our shop!"
"…"
She held the incense burner, momentarily unable to make up her mind, and looked to her brother for help.
Lin Yan nodded at her and handed the money to the owner. "We'll take it."
After bidding farewell to the beaming owner, Xu Zhiyi pulled Lin Yan toward the deeper part of the market. "Alright, now it's time to pick out something for you."
"No need."
"…Why?" That response immediately put Xu Zhiyi on edge, afraid of repeating the same mistake as with the Meihua junior high school incident. "Brother, don't you know you'll get kicked out of the company for this—"
"Isn't that perfect?" He smiled.
Xu Zhiyi frowned at him.
"I thought you'd be more than happy to let me crash in your room tonight."
"Happy, happy! Super happy!" The panic that had just risen in her quickly dissolved, replaced by excitement. "But we still have plenty of time. What should we do now?"
"Don't we still have a hundred yuan left?"
"Huh?"
Lin Yan pulled out the supermarket promo flyer and said with a grin, "Come on, it's been a while since we went grocery shopping together."
On the way out of the antique street, a man in a black hoodie with the hood pulled up suddenly walked toward them.
Lin Yan kept him at a social distance.
"You two are the probationary employees of that Antique Culture Co., Ltd., right? Want to know about getting converted to full-time?" the hooded man said in a low voice.
Xu Zhiyi, who had been about to walk around him and leave, paused mid-step.
"I've got news about Master Yue here." Seeing her interest, the hooded man continued mysteriously. "If you want to get converted, buying this info is your best bet."
"Master Yue?"
"You don't know him? He's the most famous Treasure Appraisal Master in our town! Anything he sets his eyes on, its value skyrockets."
Xu Zhiyi practically had "I don't trust you" written all over her face.
"Anyway, as long as you buy this info from me, your ranking can't possibly be low."
"…How much?"
"Just this much." The hooded man made a figure-eight gesture with his hand.
Xu Zhiyi paused for a second. "Eight yuan or eighty?"
"Eight hundred."
"…"
Xu Zhiyi grabbed Lin Yan and turned to leave without a second thought.
With a daily shopping budget of a hundred yuan, she'd have to scrimp and save for eight days just to afford it.
And the probation period only lasted five days total.
Seeing her attitude, the hooded man didn't try to stop her. He simply quickened his pace and headed deeper into the street, looking for the next potential buyer.
That was when he happened to witness a bullying scene.
On the left was a middle-aged man with small glasses and a burly build, holding a gleaming agate bead bracelet in his hand.
Facing him was a young student. Though she held a dagger in her hand, her presence was clearly far weaker.
The dagger was indeed of excellent quality—its refined design was the kind that even an amateur would instantly recognize as expensive.
"This is what I found first," Ning Siyu said softly.
"I'm not trying to take your thing. We're trading, understand?" The middle-aged man said impatiently. "Look at the quality of this agate—isn't it worth more than that dagger? I'm just trying to help you out since you're young…"
Ning Siyu's face showed the cowardice and hesitation common to twenty-year-olds.
"Alright, just hand it over quickly. I don't know what you're hiding—it's clearly not anything good."
The middle-aged man didn't bother lingering with her. He snatched the dagger away, then after taking two steps, seemed to remember something and tossed the agate back to her.
Because Ning Siyu was looking down, she almost missed the catch.
Such a familiar scene—an outsider throwing his weight around.
The hooded man watched with dwindling interest and was about to leave when he was called out to.
Ning Siyu lifted her face and gave him a warm, friendly smile.
"How much do you charge for your intel?"
The small-town supermarket was two stories. The first floor stocked fruits, vegetables, and daily necessities, while the second floor was a clothing section.
Xu Zhiyi looked left and right, trying to pick out any eerie elements from the merchandise.
She pointed at a teddy bear with black pupils and said gravely, "This thing will definitely blink secretly while we're asleep. We absolutely cannot bring it back."
Lin Yan hummed in agreement. "Don't worry, sis. It's priced at one hundred thirty—we can't afford it right now anyway."
"…"
When they reached the daily necessities aisle, Lin Yan picked up some toiletries—toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, and the like.
Xu Zhiyi couldn't understand her brother's behavior at all.
After all, the host had introduced that the dormitory came fully stocked with all necessary living supplies. There didn't seem to be any need for these extra expenses.
"I'm worried they'll give you low-quality daily necessities," Lin Yan said, scaring her in a flat tone. "Toothbrush bristles falling out, toothpaste diluted with dish soap."
"…"
Xu Zhiyi thought back to how underfunded the company looked and actually found his reasoning somewhat convincing.
But in that case…
She put back the single toothbrush Lin Yan had picked, ran her fingers across two rows of shelves, and chose a couple's set containing two toothbrushes, dropping it into the shopping basket Lin Yan was holding.
The brush handles had two hearts that fit together.
For convenience, they'd often done things like this before—using couple's items, eating couple's meals, since there were rarely set combos made specifically for siblings in this world.
Neither of them thought anything of it. Lin Yan simply did a quick mental calculation of the price, and after confirming it was within budget, silently allowed her choice.
"Then next time before we enter an Instance, we can prepare these things in advance and bring them along."
"No, we can't."
A question mark instantly popped up over Xu Zhiyi's head.
"These items, like phones and computers, give players a sense of security and order. They indirectly lower the game's difficulty."
"Then why are my professional books…"
Still here?
That thing should also significantly strengthen one's connection to modern society, right?
Before she could finish, Lin Yan covered her mouth with his hand.
He whispered by her ear, "Careful—the system might detect that and stop letting you review inside Instances."
That didn't sound like particularly bad news.
Xu Zhiyi blinked her eyes rapidly, rubbed her cheek against his palm, and cheerfully said okay—she'd make sure to act utterly repulsed by her professional books from now on.
Lin Yan tapped her on the head.
At checkout, the seven or eight items added up to exactly one hundred yuan—spending every last bit.
Ninety of it had gone toward improving her quality of life inside the Instance.
As they walked out of the supermarket, they happened to pass by a cake shop, with a row of beautiful pastries displayed on the glass shelves.
"Want a little cake?" Lin Yan asked.
Xu Zhiyi only then remembered that she hadn't even had time to get into the cafeteria at noon, yet now she wasn't all that hungry. She nodded, then shook her head. "Didn't we just spend all our money?"
"I have a way."
Under Xu Zhiyi's expectant gaze, Lin Yan took out the recruitment flyer he'd received at the company entrance. "There's a job here handling corpses at a funeral home. I'm planning to give it a try."
Xu Zhiyi quickly shook her head in refusal.
It sounded extremely dangerous just hearing about it.
"Four hundred for the day shift, five hundred for the night shift."
Xu Zhiyi's head-shaking slowed.
"Then the two of us make eight hundred yuan." She calculated slowly, her eyes practically turning into the shape of money. "Brother, what's the address?"
"Five minutes from here. If I go to the night shift later, we can earn another five hundred."
"Forget the night shift—you still need to sleep."
Lin Yan seemed to have been waiting for her to say exactly that.
Only at moments like this did he feel that his inhuman traits could be confessed without being rejected or despised.
"I never told you, but Specters don't actually need sleep." He smiled faintly. "I can work twenty-four hours a day."
That was a statement only a capitalist would be pleased to hear. Xu Zhiyi, a woman of the working class, immediately grimaced as if she'd just heard some horrifying ghost story.
What do you mean Specters don't need sleep?
Did anyone bother asking her, who needed her brother to sleep beside her?
Her gaze was dark and brooding as she demanded a promise from Lin Yan. "You have to stay with me at night. Absolutely no sneaking off to the night shift in the middle of the night."
Lin Yan lowered his eyes and silently met her gaze for a moment.
Then he softly said, "Okay."
The funeral parlor, built over three months, had its own extraordinary glory days.
But compared to that host, the manager here was far more restrained. He only gave a passionate five-minute speech before moving on to explain the job details.
Employees who had worked there all said it was a good place.
However, the corpse collector position only took one person. With the two of them applying, only one could be hired.
The manager pulled out a thin contract paper, placed it on the table, and smiled. "The parlor advocates fair competition. We don't look at your past credentials—only at whether you can go all out in the present."
The method for determining the candidate was simple.
"Write your names on it, and the contract will reveal who it chooses." The manager took out a black marker, paused, then set down a small knife with heavy implication. "A friendly tip—it prefers signatures in red."
Lin Yan picked up the pen and calmly signed his name.
After finishing, he handed the pen to Xu Zhiyi, then gave a reproachful pat to her hand, which was restlessly reaching for the knife to play with.
Xu Zhiyi: "…"
She silently protested a couple of times but obediently signed the contract.
The manager, who had been waiting for them to turn on each other: "…"
He irritably retrieved the knife and pen, sweeping a vicious glare over the two of them. But soon, he adjusted his mindset—after all, the contract would only keep one person, which would still drive a wedge between them.
"Let's take a look!" The manager shook the contract paper with ill intent, putting on airs. "The one who will ultimately remain here is—"
Ten seconds passed.
A minute passed.
Xu Zhiyi propped her chin on her hand, looking very serious as she waited, though beneath the table, her hand quietly hooked around Lin Yan's dangling fingers and swung them idly back and forth.
The manager beside the transparent table: "…"
On the contract paper, the two names in different handwriting remained stacked together, with no sign of either fading.
"…"
Another half minute passed, and the manager had to admit a fact: this damned contract, for whatever reason today, had decided to keep both of them.
His face turned ashen as he announced the result.
"That's four hundred each, then," Xu Zhiyi reminded him.
"You won't be shortchanged." The manager's face went green.
Whether they'd even live to take it was another question. He consoled himself—anyway, these two were going to die here; it was just that with two people, it'd be a livelier death.
He composed himself, then with a smile plastered back on his face, led them to the corresponding workroom and began introducing the job.
The workroom was a rectangular coffin of a room, with a very high ceiling, and walls that hid claw marks beneath layers of repainting.
Black cloth curtains covered the walls, with a section of conveyor belt jutting out, creaking as it ran—like airport security—extending all the way to the center of the room.
At the far end of the room sat a cremator furnace, glowing dull red, with a bluish ghost fire that gave off no warmth even up close.
Beside the furnace stood a huge wooden barrel, lined with a shallow layer of white ash, its contents unclear.
Maybe it was bone ash.
The conveyor belt would deliver things at irregular intervals, and their job was to feed those things into the furnace and clear out the accumulated combustion waste from the chamber.
The supervisor finished his introduction and left.
The conveyor belt kept running. Xu Zhiyi stared curiously at the black curtain at the far end, guessing what strange creatures might come through.
A pale, bluish male corpse was slowly pushed in.
The moment its head appeared, a blindfold dropped from above, catching Xu Zhiyi's eager gaze.
"…Brother!"
She knew it—why else would he have bought a blindfold back then!
A cool, broad palm covered the top of Xu Zhiyi's head, stopping her from pulling the blindfold off. The sheer size of the touch made her realize belatedly that he'd shifted into his shadow form.
But what was there to hide from her?
By the time her vision finally cleared, the corpse on the conveyor belt had already been neatly placed into the furnace.
Back in human form, Lin Yan stood before Xu Zhiyi, eyes lowered as he asked, "Do I smell like something?"
Xu Zhiyi tilted her head, puzzled.
In the spirit of scientific inquiry, she grabbed the hem of his clothes, pulling him lower.
"I meant my hand."
But he still cooperatively bent down, his face only slightly higher than hers, letting her head nuzzle around his neck, the stray hairs at her temple brushing against his scar.
Xu Zhiyi looked so earnestly intent on finding a scent.
How could her brother bear to disturb her?
"I think…" Xu Zhiyi said gravely. As Lin Yan tilted his ear to listen seriously, she took advantage of his utter lack of guard and planted a kiss—smack—on his cheek.
Lin Yan's pupils abruptly dilated.
Having gotten what she wanted, Xu Zhiyi stepped back two paces, wearing a perfectly innocent expression. "It's a scent that makes you want to get close."
She'd had her eye on that spot all along.
She just hadn't expected the chance to offend him again to come so soon!
Xu Zhiyi certainly hadn't acted rashly—she'd made a very thorough plan: in this environment, Lin Yan couldn't get angry at her, and even if he did, he couldn't just abandon her and walk off.
He could only forgive her.
Beaming with smug delight, Xu Zhiyi had her cheeks cupped in his palms and kneaded with some force. "Xu Zhiyi, you're getting bolder and bolder. Next, are you going to climb right on top of my head?"
Xu Zhiyi obediently let him squish her face.
Thinking to herself—how could she afford not to be bold?
Just like in her first year of high school, when she'd barged uninvited into Lin Yan's room and found her brother holding a fruit knife, staring blankly at his own wrist with hollow eyes.
He'd always had a self-destructive streak.
Although she wasn't entirely sure of the reason, Xu Zhiyi wouldn't allow something like that to happen. She would keep crossing his boundaries, clinging to him, until he had no time to dwell on those negative emotions.
Even if he might give her the cold shoulder in anger for a while as he tried to escape.
But this time, the outcome was far better than that three-and-a-half-day cold war.
After losing his vital signs, Lin Yan's complexion was especially pale, so even the slightest flow of blood became unusually noticeable.
The tips of her brother's ears turned a soft pink.
Xu Zhiyi felt like she'd discovered a new continent. She raised her hand to commit a second offense against her brother, only to have her wrist seized and pressed back down in a very transparent attempt to cover it up.
Before she could call him out, the one with pink-tipped ears instantly transformed into his shadow form and, refusing to communicate, hoisted her onto his shoulder.
Having been through the Meihua Middle School incident once, Xu Zhiyi had become quite adept at this—she adjusted her seating position in just a couple of moves.
She hadn't expected that "riding on his head" was a literal question.
Before she could feel smug for even two or three seconds, shadow-form Lin Yan pulled out her schoolbag and handed her her textbook.
"…"
After becoming a Specter, her brother was getting less and less humane!
Xu Zhiyi miserably opened the table of contents.
Humans and Specters naturally had communication barriers, and the workroom suddenly became quite harmonious and quiet.
The Specter below was methodically handling the body, while the person above was diligently reviewing for her final exams, the rustling sounds serving as white noise.
It felt no different from an ordinary afternoon.
But this warmth would soon turn into screams and tears, and the lingering echoes of death would spread to every corner of the workroom, until it returned to silence once more.
—At least, that's what the funeral home director thought.
He had no idea how ugly their deaths would be. With a malicious smile, he casually stroked the small square box that was about to be placed on the conveyor belt.
The box was empty inside, with a piece of paper stuck to its exterior, bearing a string of thoughtful warnings:
One: Please remember, this wooden box is combustible and will not emerge intact from the furnace;
Two: When looking at the wooden box, do not simultaneously think of the things you fear—the box will not actively harm you;
Three: They will not crawl out of the box.
The human subconscious is a wondrous thing. These out-of-towners who came to work at the funeral home were especially imaginative, dying in all sorts of bizarre ways.
The previous intern had imagined over a dozen highly venomous snakes, and his corpse very creatively displayed signs of death by poisoning, which let the director strut around town for quite a while.
With two people, the eerie things they imagined would only be more complex, leaving them no escape in the narrow, elongated workroom.
The wooden box covered in suggestive rules was gently, and with great anticipation, placed on the conveyor belt.
For three months, the box had hardly ever failed.
But this time, the opponents it faced were—
An illiterate, uneducated brother, and a sister who, though literate, was already dozing off over her textbook.
The wooden box emerged from the black cloth curtain on the conveyor belt, waiting quietly to be picked up.
It was indeed picked up with gentle hands.
And then gently placed into the cremator.
"…"
A few seconds later, tongues of flame licked at the box's edges, devouring the wooden object.
Xu Zhiyi had read this passage over a dozen times now.
She nodded like a pecking chick, only realizing she'd closed her eyes when she opened them again—the whole world felt hazy and drowsy.
Around the time the day shift was about to end, Lin Yan shifted back into his human form. Xu Zhiyi, who had been perched on his shoulder, wobbled unsteadily before he caught her in his arms.
"Sleepy?" Lin Yan said gently. "It's almost time for the Valuation Assessment. Come on, let me take you back to rest."
But Xu Zhiyi, having closed her book, was suddenly full of energy again. She rubbed her hair against his jaw and answered without being asked, "Still the nice-smelling big brother scent."
Not a trace of the funeral parlor's odor had clung to him.
Lin Yan set her down, took her hand, and the smile curling at the corners of his eyes was impossible to hide.
Meanwhile, the manager, beaming with anticipation as he prepared to collect two fresh corpses, pushed open the door—and was greeted by this very scene.
Manager: "…"
Seeing two living people standing there, his smile instantly faltered. "Didn't you two see a wooden box?"
Xu Zhiyi, who hadn't done any work, stayed silent out of guilt. Lin Yan nodded and replied, "We saw it."
"Then where's the box?"
"Burned it."
"Burned it?" The manager's anger flared on the spot, his eyes widening in disbelief as he repeated it several times. "Burned it?"
"What's the problem?" Xu Zhiyi said grumpily from behind Lin Yan. "You're the one who said everything on the conveyor belt has to be burned."
"…"
"You haven't paid us yet. Eight hundred yuan."
"…………"
After collecting their wages, Lin Yan made a detour back to the supermarket and bought a small strawberry cake.
Xu Zhiyi had originally wanted to save the money, but Lin Yan said that tomorrow, eight hundred yuan wouldn't buy them any information. The informant would definitely raise the price the next day, so they might as well spend a little more to improve her quality of life.
As they finished sharing the cake and went to toss the trash, Lin Yan casually picked up a stone from the flower bed nearby, planning to use it as his submission for the assessment. It was dull and gray—clearly something that would rank dead last.
But Xu Zhiyi wasn't satisfied.
Even if they were going to be last place, it shouldn't be with such an ordinary stone that didn't measure up to her brother at all. She tossed aside that sorry excuse for a rock, crouched down, and searched through the roadside flower bed until she finally pinched out a pretty little stone in a soft pink hue.
After carefully wiping it clean with a tissue, she solemnly placed it in Lin Yan's palm, saying that this color was at least a tiny bit worthy of him.
Lin Yan closed his hand around the stone, feeling the lingering warmth of her fingers on its surface.
It was just a tiny stone from the roadside.
But suddenly, he didn't quite want to hand it over.
No matter the inner turmoil, the Valuation Assessment had to go on.
In the small conference room at the company's highest level, the host sat behind a long table with a smile, like an interviewer, as each person took turns stepping forward to submit their antiques for the Valuation Assessment.
The windows were wide open, and a chill wind blew through.
Perfectly suited for activities designed to make one's heart race.
At the center of the long table lay a white cloth, with a crystal ball set right beside it. As long as an antique was placed on the cloth, the crystal ball could estimate its value.
To prove fairness, the host removed his own brooch and placed it on the white cloth.
The ripples within the crystal ball shifted for a few seconds before gradually revealing the number ten thousand.
Before the players could react, the local NPCs nearby—already brimming with excitement—burst into a stir, rubbing their hands together eagerly, dying to see what astronomical prices their appraised antiques would fetch.
The first to be called was a young man full of confidence, carrying up a ceramic bowl.
The confident look on her face suggested this item had just been dug up from some feudal official's tomb, still caked with dirt, extremely fresh.
After a long moment, the crystal ball slowly delivered its verdict.
15 yuan.
The aspiring youth: "…"
His NPC companion with the dyed hair couldn't help but laugh out loud.
He stepped forward even more confidently, placing the flute from his hand onto the white cloth.
A few seconds passed, and the crystal ball revealed its answer.
An even 10 yuan.
This time, it was the aspiring youth's turn to laugh.
Dyed-hair: "…"
While they laughed up on stage, the players below wore expressions more tense than the last, faces grim, clutching the cheap treasures they'd scavenged, unsure if they'd even break double digits.
Before long, the first player to take the stage appeared.
Around thirty or forty years old, named Wang Guangqing, his face a mix of nervousness and eager anticipation. In his hand was a finely crafted dagger, visibly valuable to the naked eye—clearly someone who'd put considerable effort into the antique market.
It was also the first time the warmly smiling host's lips froze stiff, shooting him a wary look.
Wang Guangqing, oblivious, carefully placed the dagger on the white cloth.
The crystal ball delivered its verdict almost instantly.
"Impossible, this is absolutely impossible!" Wang Guangqing shouted, losing control. Before he could grab and shake the crystal ball, the security guards on either side of the long table seized his arms, quickly stuffed a wad of cloth into his mouth, and escorted him to a corner of the conference room to cool down.
This minor disruption didn't affect the continuation of the assessment.
The players who followed, while their appraised prices weren't high either, at least scored higher than "1." Wang Guangqing's expression grew worse and worse, but he waited quietly until the two guards released him, deeming him no longer a threat to disrupt the assessment.
When it was almost Xu Zhiyi's turn, she pulled out the incense burner from her bag to inspect it, checking its condition.
The moment she picked it up, she froze.
The incense burner was noticeably heavier than when she'd put it in that morning. She opened the lid and found it contained nearly half a burner's worth of incense ash.
"Brother?" Xu Zhiyi showed it to Lin Yan in a panic. "When we were at the funeral home, you didn't put ashes in here, did you?"
Lin Yan shook his head.
But before Xu Zhiyi could breathe a sigh of relief, he dipped his fingertip into it and was about to bring it to his lips.
Her face went stiff with fright as she stammered, "Brother, honestly, I don't really need to know what's in there…"
Lin Yan merely held it up to the light, examined it, and said, "Probably not ashes."
"…"
Dear brother, if that's the case, could you please not do such terrifying things?
Just then, the host called her name.
Xu Zhiyi was about to snap the lid shut and head up with the incense burner when her peripheral vision caught a three-inch photo stuck to the lid. She tried to peel it off, but it was stuck so firmly she couldn't budge it.
But with the host staring at her, she had no choice but to stuff the lid into her pocket and present the burner.
In the corner, Wang Guangqing edged a few steps closer to the table.
Before he could get anywhere near her, Lin Yan firmly blocked his line of sight, casting him a cold glance.
A bead of sweat rolled down Wang Guangqing's temple.
Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't provoke a player who seemed this unnervingly calm. But now… he only had one chance left.
"Xu Zhiyi!"
The host slapped the long table, then stood up, his face clearly ecstatic, eyes glued to the ashes in the incense burner. "You're a true Treasure Appraisal Master! An expert among experts! The spot for full-time employment is definitely yours!"
After dragging quite a bit of resentment onto her with that string of praise, his excitement finally settled, and he sat back down in his chair.
After all that flattery, Xu Zhiyi almost thought she'd obtained some treasure worth tens of millions, but the crystal ball slowly, leisurely, only revealed a two-digit number.
Xu Zhiyi, who had waited for a while expecting more zeros to follow: "…"
Still, her score was the highest in the room, beating the second-place score of 20 yuan by a full 50 points—an absolute landslide victory.
Now, only Lin Yan's stone remained unappraised on the field.
But in the eyes of the vast majority, Wang Guangqing's one-yuan dagger was practically a lock for last place.
Xu Zhiyi was cackling inwardly, thinking, just wait—I'll show you all what a zero looks like.
Lin Yan calmly took out his pale pink little stone and placed it on the white cloth.
But who could have predicted that at that moment, Wang Guangqing, standing a few steps from the long table, would charge forward like a madman, grab the stone in front of him, and hurl it out the window.
When he turned back, he didn't meet a panicked face—just more cold sweat sliding down his forehead.
It's fine.
At least he could survive.
Lin Yan watched him indifferently, as if what he'd destroyed belonged to someone utterly insignificant.
His sister beside him, however, was nearly furious enough to explode.
Wang Guangqing was pinned to the ground by security, his cheek pressed against the floor, yet he still smirked, paying her anger no mind.
Survival of the fittest—whose fault was it that Lin Yan wasn't careful enough?
And even if his sister had extraordinary abilities, in these few seconds, there was no turning back.
The host couldn't care less about true fairness in the assessment. He cleared his throat and announced, "Since Lin Yan has no antique to be valued, I hereby declare that the last place goes to—"
As Wang Guangqing secretly gloated, Xu Zhiyi interrupted with a cold laugh: "Who said he doesn't have one?"
Everyone turned to look at her in unison.
Lin Yan also tilted his head toward her.
Xu Zhiyi pulled the lid of the incense burner from her pocket and placed it on the white cloth with a fierce look. "Here, it's my brother's."
The ripples in the crystal ball drifted slowly, leisurely, settling on the price of 2.
Everyone: "??"
That works too?!