Chapter 26: The Spoils of War

Clack, clack.

The grinding sound of gears turning grew louder and louder until it resonated throughout the entire hotel. The great door, which the "tenants" had been waiting for with bated breath, finally swung open in a gesture of mercy. From within poured out light—the warmth of the sun, the expanse of a free sky.

"—!!!"

Struck by this searing yellow radiance, the Doorbell Ghost let out a shriek far more heart-wrenching than before. The sharp claws that were about to bore through Li Hua’s waist froze between his large intestine and stomach, unable to move.

First, the dark, filthy skin began to melt, followed rapidly by the bones and hair, which turned to pale ash as if the creature were a paper effigy tossed into a raging furnace.

"Cough... the fighting is over," Li Hua said, his pained expression softening with relief. He clutched the five finger-wide holes in his abdomen and leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down. "Ke, if you’d been a second slower, I really would have died on you."

"Calm down. Look, you’re still alive and kicking," Zhou Ke said, walking over to examine Li Hua's wounds.

The situation was relatively optimistic; by some stroke of luck, the wounds had missed his vital organs, and his life was not currently in danger.

"You’re a grown man, yet here you are whining just because you’ve been poked with a few holes. Aren't you embarrassed?" Zhou Ke, who had emerged from the ordeal almost entirely unscathed, spoke with the ease of someone who didn't have to bear the pain.

Li Hua, however, didn't care much for Zhou Ke’s sharp tongue. He pointed wildly at the floor. "Forget about me for a second, look at the ground! I think I saw that female ghost drop some loot!"

"I don't think you hit your head that hard. This isn't a game; monsters don't drop equipment. Do you want me to give you a 'one-hit 999-level' boost too?"

Zhou Ke hadn't intended to entertain Li Hua’s nonsense, but as his peripheral vision flickered downward, he actually spotted something unusual. Right where the Doorbell Ghost had been reduced to ash, several deep-red, pentagonal crystals lay scattered.

"Haha! I told you so!" Li Hua saw them too.

"Don't get too excited. For all we know, they’re the ghost’s kidney stones," Zhou Ke remarked, unable to resist a jab.

"My beauties, these are 'Magic Crystals,'" Louis said, approaching them. He had regained consciousness; his body seemed fine, though his muscles looked somewhat gaunt, as if his energy had been completely drained.

"Magic Crystals? Sounds pretty sinister," Zhou Ke muttered to himself.

"It’s Magic Crystal," Louis corrected him, unable to help himself. "As the name suggests, they are dropped by boss-level Gate-beasts within the 'Gate.' They are a form of extremely pure Aether crystallization—pure enough that even a Magester can absorb them directly."

He picked up one of the pentagonal crystals and examined it from both sides. "The lowest-grade F-rank Magic Crystals are triangular pyramids. As the Aether content within increases, the number of exterior angles grows."

"A four-cornered cube or rectangular prism is an E-rank Magic Crystal."

"And this five-cornered one... it’s actually a D-rank Magic Crystal! That is absolutely cool!" Louis rubbed the edges of the crystal with his thick palms, clearly enamored.

"What’s the use of absorbing them?" Zhou Ke wanted more detailed information.

"Naturally, to raise one’s own Aether level. A single D-rank Magic Crystal is enough for someone at the first stage of 'Reason Power' to skyrocket to the tenth stage or beyond in just a few days, reaching the level of a 'Candlewick' Magester."

"However, there are some exceptionally cool, rare geniuses who touch the threshold of 'Candlewick' the moment they awaken, for example..." Louis shot a surreptitious glance at Zhou Ke, his implication clear. He mistakenly believed Zhou Ke was that type of genius, as his performance over the past few days had been far too brilliant. It was no exaggeration to say that they had survived solely thanks to him.

"Hmm..." Li Hua knew the truth and wanted to laugh, but didn't dare make a sound.

Zhou Ke, however, had no reaction. First stage of Reason Power was fine; as long as it didn't affect his eating, sleeping, or scrolling on his phone, it didn't matter.

He walked over and picked up a Magic Crystal. Seemingly by design, there were exactly four crystals, enough to be split evenly among the four of them.

"Huh? Is this a drop as well?" Zhou Ke noticed a piece of white cloth, looking as if it had been ripped from the Doorbell Ghost's clothing, lying beneath the crystals. Against the vibrant red of the gems, it was quite inconspicuous.

He touched it out of curiosity, and strange symbols were automatically translated into text in his mind:

[Name: Blood-Stained White Garment]
[Type: One-time use item]
[Rank: D]
[Effect: Designate a target with a physiologically functional head and tear the cloth to use. Targets below D-rank will have their heads uncontrollably twisted off; for targets at or above D-rank, the effect is reduced based on their resistance.]
[Remark: You’d even go after a ghost?!!]

"Interesting," Zhou Ke muttered, passing the blood-stained cloth to the other three, including Linghu Shiyu, who had mostly recovered from her state of fear.

"This item is terrifyingly powerful!" Li Hua exclaimed dramatically.

"The information provided before was perfectly sufficient. What is the point of that redundant remark at the end?" Linghu Shiyu, also encountering dropped items for the first time, was deeply confused. She felt that as a sane person, she was completely out of place in this world.

"Actually, it’s still somewhat useful. It reminds me of a fairy tale I wrote a while ago," Zhou Ke sighed nostalgically.

Ignoring the "I don't want to hear it" expressions on everyone else's faces, Mr. Zhou proceeded as usual. "Since everyone is so eager to listen, I’ll give you a rough summary."

"The protagonist of the story was a corporate slave who was working overtime and wanted a sweet romance more than anything in the world. His job was related to civil engineering, and there were almost no women around."

"In his first year there, all he could think about was when he’d meet a pretty, delicate young woman."

"In the second year, he thought about when he’d meet a young woman."

"Third year: When will there be a woman?"

"Fourth year: Actually, a man wouldn't be so bad."

"Fifth year: Fine, it doesn't even have to be a human."

"Sixth year: Forget it, I’ll take it even if it's not alive!"

Zhou Ke stopped and fell silent. This eerie pause made Linghu Shiyu’s skin crawl. She couldn't help but ask, "And then?"

"And then what?"

"The ending!"

"Oh? He died of sudden cardiac arrest from endless overtime, of course," Zhou Ke replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

After speaking, he looked at Linghu Shiyu with a puzzled expression, as if to say: What a stupid question.

"So, why would you arrange such a realistic ending for the protagonist of a fairy tale?! Is this even a fairy tale for children? It's a dark fairy tale!" The swordswoman Linghu was so angry she almost struck him.

"Getting children familiar with reality early on is beneficial. Otherwise, if they enter society still holding onto the naive fantasy that one will surely succeed as long as one has hope, they’ll get beaten up by reality."

"So you’re taking this opportunity to beat up the child now, is that it?"

"Hmm," Zhou Ke pondered for a moment. "That’s a fair point."

"Fair point my foot!"