Chapter 121: 121

121 "Only pain can wake you from a daydream."

Xu Jiangshan had someone go to the park entrance to pick up salt.

Cars cannot go into the park.

After busying themselves for a while, that black calamity slowly turned into a mass of vapor and then evaporated away.

After it disappeared, only a pile of bones remained on the ground.

They were the remains of the man it had devoured.

Xu Jiangshan called Song Guogang and handed the case over to the criminal police brigade.

The rest was no longer their office's responsibility; they considered the case formally closed, needing only to report to the Underworld to finish it completely.

Besides that, there was another matter.

That was Chen Rang, who, as soon as the matter ended, immediately called the Market Supervision Bureau to file a complaint.

He had them investigate the merchant where he bought the salt and the factory that produced the fake salt.

Actually, it wasn't entirely his fault; real and fake salt look identical, and he truly couldn't tell them apart at all.

But he wouldn't shirk his responsibility; he went back and bought a bag of every kind of salt, conducted research, and wrote an analysis and self-criticism report.

However, regarding these follow-ups, Tushan Jiu, who was skewering meat at home, didn't care about them.

Before leaving, Xie Shiyu also didn't forget to tell the kitchen to prepare midnight barbecue.

When they returned, they went straight to the backyard.

Not long after, Xie Jingting came, drawn by the smell, followed shortly by Xie Jingzhou, who had been staying up late researching the crabs.

They chatted while eating the skewers.

After finishing a skewer, Xie Jingting sighed, "Tsk tsk tsk, our Chef Chen's grilling skill is absolutely superb; if I could drink, I'd have a glass of draft beer— that would be awesome—but alas, I take after my mother."

His first drink was at his coming-of-age ceremony; after tasting that sip of beer, he broke out in a rash and never dared to drink again.

Tushan Jiu suddenly had an idea and then mysteriously asked Xie Jingting, "What kind of drink do you want? I'll get it for you as your sister-in-law, guaranteeing you won't be allergic and will still get your fix—how about that?"

Xie Jingting doubted, "You're sure it won't cause an allergy?"

"Don't you believe me? When have I ever lied to you, sister-in-law? Just wait and you'll get to drink!" Tushan Jiu said while eating a skewer.

To her, these were trivial matters; besides, tomorrow she was going to the office to collect her reward—whatever it turned into, anyway, that reward's ghost power could assume any form; allocating ten years of ghost power to turn into liquor for him would be enough to last him half a lifetime.

Furthermore, she judged his alcohol tolerance to be... just about one cup?

Xie Shiyu and Tushan Jiu exchanged a glance; she narrowed her eyes, and he immediately understood.

Xie Jingzhou's reaction was just as quick; he also guessed roughly what was going on.

In the small building next door, he had a dedicated little laboratory.

Today he researched all afternoon, and even after dinner he never stopped.

As the saying goes, the end of science is mysticism; he conducted repeated experiments on those seafood, and for that purpose he had people send some ordinary market seafood for comparison.

Aside from other factors, just comparing that basin of ordinary seafood he'd messed with—now cold and limp—with the ghost-power seafood still lively and vigorous, even just the life value already exceeds the scope of science.

As for other aspects, such as bodily form, the ghost-power seafood is much larger than ordinary crabs, with high strength values; yet the amazing thing is, although they appear lively, actual testing shows they are not living creatures—they lack respiration, blood circulation, digestion, and other basic functions.

In short, though it appears alive, it is actually an inanimate object.

After researching and researching, he finally gave up completely, because he truly couldn't understand a single thing about it.

Sure enough, the wonder of mysticism cannot be easily explained by scientific data.

By the time everyone had finished eating, it was already almost two in the morning.

Xie Shiyu had originally wanted to ask Tushan Jiu for the "reward," but seeing her yawn, he didn't press the matter and instead let her hurry off to rest.

The future is long; there will be plenty of chances to ask for it.

As for Tushan Jiu, Xie Shiyu didn't mention it, and she had long forgotten about it herself.

After returning to the bedroom, she took a comfortable shower and then fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

But unexpectedly, just as she had fallen asleep, someone grabbed her and dragged her away.

Her grandfather appeared in her dream, bringing her an advance piece of good news.

"Ay yai yai, my dear granddaughter, you're really promising; I heard from your second great-uncle that you placed first in this evaluation, so you can take the exam early on July fifteenth next year!"

Tushan Jiu had been a bit sleepy, but this news was like a shot of adrenaline.

She didn't ask Xiang Yichu, who also tied for first place, whether he would also be taking the exam early; after all, whether he does or not doesn't really concern her.

What she should be concerned about now is whether she still needs to catch ghosts.

This time, the Underworld's reward didn't mention whether advancing the exam also required meeting the evaluation score threshold.

She originally had sixty points, but three were deducted because of the Cheng Xiujuan incident, leaving her with fifty-seven.

The wanted order from the Underworld Monkey Kingdom that she took on added fifteen points to her reward.

Her score should now be seventy-two.

After the revision of the evaluation standard, the passing line is ninety-five.

If, because of this first-place finish, she didn't have to......

Suddenly, a pain shot through her forehead; Tushan Jiu came to, looking at the Tushan disciple who had knocked on her, and said, "Grandfather, does it have to hurt this much?"

Tushan disciple: "Only pain can wake you from a daydream."

"Advance exam is advance exam, evaluation score is evaluation score; these are separate—you still need to meet the passing line before taking the exam!"

Tushan Jiu fell silent for a moment, thinking back and forth, feeling that something was off.

Besides the exam schedule being moved up, it seems her future days will be even busier, right?

If she were to take the exam at twenty-two, she would still have enough time to hunt ghosts and accumulate points.

But with this arrangement, although she doesn't need to accumulate points up to the maximum, she must reach the passing score of ninety-five before the July fifteenth exam next year!

Tushan Jiu: "...... Grandfather, could you tell me which bigwig in the Underworld came up with this reward?"

She'll definitely go check the ledger to see if this good kid is on it!

If he's there, she'll definitely settle the score with him!

Tushan Tu saw her finally react, his expression of watching the show completely unconcealed.

He said, "Hehe, you'd better not think that—this time the idea came from an AI algorithm."

Tushan Jiu stared wide-eyed, looking at her grandfather in disbelief.

Tushan Tu lifted his chin, "How about that, shocking, huh? Our Netherworld is keeping up with the times—after all, there are so many lingering ghosts in the Netherworld, and the leaders also encourage everyone to modernize their lives; many tech companies have sprung up."

Oh, right, recently a company called Yi'an Technology burst onto the scene, shooting straight into the top 100 of the Netherworld rankings, and I even bought some of their shares—I feel this company's future is limitless!

Tushan Jiu's attention was successfully diverted.

This name...

She asked, "Who is the boss of Yi'an?"

Tushan Tu shook his head, "The general manager is a young ghost named Song Jiuan; I don't know who the behind-the-scenes boss is—it's quite mysterious. I've tried to figure it out, but I can't; I guess it might be one of the top three leaders."

Tushan Jiu pressed her lips, saying nothing, thinking: "Can't figure it out—could it possibly be your granddaughter?"