Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 24 Trading
When I left the orphanage, the sun was already setting in the west.

Although I don't have any timekeeping device, judging from the changing position of the sun, it is probably around 2 p.m.

Based on the experience from last time, this script will likely enter nighttime mode around 5 o'clock, and then forcibly pull you into the security room.

However, despite the tight timeframe, Zhou You didn't seem too anxious; in fact, he appeared rather leisurely.

When he left the orphanage, he had already found a well-preserved, high-quality hemp rope. If he failed to find any clues to break the barrier and saw signs of darkness, he would immediately find a propitious place to hang himself.

When the script is rewritten, it will start again at 12 o'clock, so there will be plenty of time.

We walked through the alley and arrived at that intersection again.

However, just like before, every intersection here is still shrouded in a bottomless fog, and it seems that as soon as a person enters, they will immediately lose their way.

Now Zhou You understands that the area he can explore during the day is directly proportional to the area he can explore at night. The more he walks at night, the more places he can pass through during the day. Conversely, if he doesn't walk at night, thick fog will block his way, telling him that the road is impassable.

"That's a good thing, at least it tells me the area to explore, so I won't just wander around like a headless fly in a bunch of places."

Zhou You muttered to himself, then turned around cleanly and walked away to other places.

Unlike the nighttime scene where there is only one main road, the daytime streets are filled with many intricate alleys. Most of them lead you back to the starting point after wandering around for a while, and only a few will lead you to some special buildings—but these are usually locked and cannot be opened at all.

Zhou You didn't have the time to try them all, so after thinking it over carefully, he chose a more efficient method.

On the first day, he had already memorized the route map at the entrance, so now all he needed to do was simple: eliminate all routes that were probably unrelated to this intersection—such as XX Treatment Center, Proctology Hospital, and the like—and then focus on finding those side streets that might be relevant, or those that weren't marked at all.

This will significantly shorten the time.

Ultimately, it was still a matter of luck; everything depended on chance.

After stumbling and trying for a full hour, Zhou You finally encountered an anomaly that he had never encountered before.

—It was a pitch-black door.

There was nothing marked on the door, nor was there a plaque like those commonly found on shops; there was only a line of small characters written on the doorplate.

"Old Lady Zhao's Trading Hut".

There is another line of notes below.

"No Taoist priests or monks are welcome, nor are any penniless people. If any of these people trespass, they will bear the consequences themselves."

Incidentally, the phrase "bear the consequences" was written in bright red dye, with deliberately drawn lines at the edges, making it look as if it were written in blood.

Zhou You looked himself over.

"First of all, I am not a religious person, so it's okay."

Then he checked his pockets again—unsurprisingly, there was nothing there.

However, he showed no embarrassment whatsoever.

"Although I am indeed broke now, I used to have a large sum of money. It has just been temporarily transferred to someone else's hands. In a broad sense, I am still a rich man, so I am not a penniless pauper."

Having made this perfect conclusion, Zhou You confidently pushed open the black door.

But his confident demeanor shattered the next moment, and he choked on his own, tears and snot streaming down his face. The reason was simple: the smell inside the door was just too strong!
It felt like a piece of pork had been in a humid, warm environment for a week, then put in a septic tank to ferment for three days, and finally sent to Lao Ba for some special cooking—in short, the smell was simply beyond what humans could tolerate.

After standing outside the door for several minutes, Zhou You finally managed to regain his senses, but soon, with a look of resignation, he went back inside.

However, perhaps because he had been given some fresh air—or perhaps because his sense of smell had become slightly impaired—Zhou You was not immediately deterred this time. He pinched his nose and looked around, finding that the furnishings in the room were quite normal. Rows of shelves were arranged in the room, with various old bottles and jars on them, making it look like an ordinary secondhand store.

An elderly woman, around seventy or eighty years old, sat at the far end of the room. Her head was half-lowered, and she seemed to be dozing off. Occasionally, heavy snoring could be heard, and she seemed completely unaware of the person who had walked in.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but Zhou You did not let his guard down.

After all, he hadn't forgotten that even in the relatively 'safe' daytime, monsters still existed. If anything went wrong, even the seemingly harmless female cleaner could mutate at any moment.

Therefore, Zhou You cautiously approached and softly called out to the old woman.

"aunt."

no response.

"aunt."

The voice was raised slightly, but the other person remained motionless.

"aunt!"

There was some reaction, but it remained the same.

Finally, Zhou You had no choice but to take a deep breath and roar out loud.

"aunt!!!!"

This time, it finally woke it up.

The old woman finally raised her head, revealing a face full of wrinkles.

"The Neon Corpse Serpent?"

"Sorry, I didn't hear you clearly. What did you say?"

The old woman didn't reply. Instead, she opened her withered mouth and tried to make a few sounds, but after failing, she shook her head and then rummaged under the table.

Zhou You originally thought she was going to take out a set of dentures or something, since many elderly people can't speak clearly after losing their teeth, but unexpectedly she took out a jar.

A jar filled with formalin, with a human head still inside.

The old woman opened the jar, and with a wail, pulled the human head out of the pungent liquid—the thing was still alive!—then forcibly removed the head from the body, replaced it with her own, and tried opening and closing it a few more times before finally putting the jar back in satisfaction.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I've been using this mouthpiece for over ten years, and it seems to be malfunctioning lately. Fortunately, I still have quite a few spare parts. By the way, are you here to buy something?"

She—no, she should say it—said with such enthusiasm.

"So what are you prepared to give up? Money, something of equal value, limbs, internal organs, or perhaps... your own life?"

(End of this chapter)