Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 837 Taking stock of gains
"Young master, these are all the things you need."

The next morning, One-Eyed Dragon came to Xiao Ran with a box.

The box was opened, and inside were the items that had been mentioned to Li Botong before. There were quite a few items, and Li Botong had collected them all in just one night.

"it is good."

Xiao Ran put the items into her own space and scrutinized the face of the second-in-command.

Back then, this second-in-command was just a one-eyed bandit, but now he has become a pillar of the Amazing Pavilion.

Xiao Ran passed on a portion of the Soul Cultivation Technique to him, greatly enhancing the Second Leader's mental strength. Previously, his one eye could only control small sparrows, but now he can control larger birds and beasts.

"One-Eyed, Manager Li recommends you to work at the counter. From now on, you'll be in charge of things at the counter."

"Ah!!" Upon hearing this news, One-Eyed was also stunned, and exclaimed in surprise, "This... I... I wasn't prepared at all, why are you suddenly asking me to work on the counter?"

"Shanggui" means to be a shopkeeper.

One-Eyed has now developed the ability to work independently, and he is managing the accounts in the back office with great efficiency.

This brings us to the profound mystery of the Soul Cultivation Technique, which not only greatly enhanced the One-Eyed Man's spiritual power but also granted him the ability to remember everything he saw.

"This is Manager Li's idea. Manager Li has also prepared a gift for you."

Xiao Ran pointed to a box on a small table to the side, indicating that One-Eyed should open it.

When the one-eyed man opened the box, he found a scroll of incantations inside.

"This is a Level F profession in the Golden Man sequence. Manager, it suits your status perfectly. From now on, the Amazing Pavilion will be under your management."

The Gold Master sequence is the highest starting position among all career sequences.

It's not that ordinary people can't become shopkeepers.

Rather, the position of shopkeeper doesn't offer any special abilities, and the boost is minimal.

For the average person to obtain this rune, it has absolutely no effect on them, and they unnecessarily occupy one of the three professions.

However, the advancement and ability of a shopkeeper are related to financial resources.

The higher your financial resources, the faster you advance in rank.

As the saying goes, even a hero can be brought down by a single penny; the birthday gifts forced Yang Zhi to join the Liangshan bandits.

The amount of money that can be mobilized is a direct reflection of the power of this sequence.

How much money can an ordinary person mobilize?
Therefore, this profession is destined to be one that ordinary people cannot choose.

As the manager, One-Eyed will not only be able to quickly rise to prominence with the financial resources of Amazing Pavilion, adding strength to it, but will also be able to better manage Amazing Pavilion.

"Then... what about the old shopkeeper?" One-Eyed looked up at Xiao Ran.

"Once you take over everything, Old Li will retire."

Li Botong was getting old after all. He had guarded the shop for Li Jingqi his whole life, and now, seeing Jingqi Pavilion's business thriving and growing stronger, Li Botong chose to retire gracefully.

As early as last night, Li Botong had discussed this matter with Xiao Ran, and he had mentioned retirement more than once.

Xiao Ran knew that she couldn't keep him in the end, which is why One-Eyed came to deliver the goods early this morning.

After One-Eyed gradually took over the affairs of the counter, Li Botong officially retired.

Looking at the scroll in the box, the one-eyed man solemnly raised the box high: "Young master, I will never forget your great kindness, but I have a request for you."

"what?"

The one-eyed man raised his head and said, "Old shopkeeper has no children. I am willing to take you to my home to live out your days and treat you as my own father."

Although he entered the Amazing Pavilion because of Xiao Ran, the old manager had been helping him all along. He never looked down on him for being a bandit, nor for his rugged appearance and one-eyed appearance. If it weren't for his personal guidance, the one-eyed man knew he wouldn't be where he is today.

Xiao Ran nodded: "You can talk to Old Li about this yourself. Go to the accounting office later, sign the contract, and then put it on the shelf."

"Yes!"

After One-Eyed left with the box, Xiao Ran took out her notebook from her spatial storage, quickly marked it with a checkmark, and then wrote down a few small goals.

These small goals are not troublesome, but they are all fragmented and are things that Xiao Ran needs to complete within three months before heading to Northeast China.

For example, his advancement as a paper craftsman actually shows that his current mastery of paper crafting is still very shallow.

This isn't difficult. After Yang Fengchui woke up last night, these old men kept talking non-stop. I'll go find them after he rests.

As the saying goes, "Yang is the master of musical instruments, and Zhou is the master of paper figures." The legitimate successor of the Zhou family is right here, so it would be too easy for me to learn.

The second thing is about myself, and that is about my parents.

Grandpa had promised to tell me about this after the matter of the Yangfeng Hammer was settled.

The third thing is to eliminate those foreign teams that have infiltrated Ruzhou.

Xiao Ran guessed that Wu Man would make a big fuss in the next couple of days, and after observing secretly, it wouldn't be difficult to find these guys.

Then, Xiao Ran recorded several other miscellaneous things in her notebook.

After Xiao Ran recorded these things, she organized them slightly, marked the order, and immediately had an idea in her mind, knowing what she should do next.

However, before doing all that, there's one small thing I need to do.

This matter was not written down in the notebook.

Xiao Ran walked to the entrance of the backyard. It was a small alley, the sides of which had long been blocked off, with only a mailbox standing there. Xiao Ran opened the mailbox. Although the task completed during this trip to Guizhou hadn't been highly rated, it was still a worthwhile experience.

Upon opening the email, the first thing I took out was a profession scroll: [Wood Cultivator].

D-level profession.

Xiao Ran casually tossed it into his spatial storage; he wasn't interested in this kind of profession that he'd never even heard of.

He continued exploring and took a peculiar flower out of the mailbox.

Grade C consumable [Millennium Insect Flower]

Privilege: Rebirth.

You can implant a worm egg inside your body. The egg will absorb one-third of your attributes, but you can be reborn through the egg after death.
But after your rebirth, you can only live in the form of an insect, and you can only maintain that form for twenty-eight days.

Privilege 2: Breaking Free

When your life force comes to an end after 28 days, you will regain the ability to be human in the last hour.

Looking at the privilege attribute of the item in front of him, Xiao Ran was surprised, amazed that this cursed object was so magical, but upon closer thought, he felt it was useless.

This thing is good, but it requires taking away one-third of one's own attributes. You should know that's one-third of one's total attributes, which will reduce a professional's strength by at least half.

Moreover, even after rebirth, it remains in the form of an insect, and can only maintain this form for twenty-eight days.

"No wonder you're only a C-grade cursed item."

Xiao Ran put the item into her spatial storage, planning to sell it at the front desk later.

Then Xiao Ran took out three more items from the mailbox.

C-Rank Cursed Item: [Fungus Fruit]

This thing is a cursed object. After Xiao Ran activated it using the profession of a thief, he saw the following attributes.

【Fruit Smugglers】

Privilege 1: Parasite

After parasitizing a corpse, the fungal fruit will reside within it. The user can transfer their consciousness into the corpse through the parasitic hyphae and acquire all of the corpse's abilities. (However, they cannot use the corpse's spatial dimension.)
Duration: 24 hour
Cooldown time: 38 hours
Privilege 2: Bacterial Explosion

After 10 hours of parasitism, privileges can be activated, resulting in self-destruction.

The longer the parasitic period lasts, the greater the power of the self-destruction.

This item was quite a good fit for the thieves.

The other two items are both Grade B cursed items.

Grade B cursed item: Azure Pearl

After Xiao Ran tried activating the item using the three different professions, she put it away.

It's not that this thing is bad; the key to this cursed artifact is its manipulation of water elementals.

It can control water.

However, it doesn't match any of his three professions, and the abilities he gains after activation are also disappointing.

Grade B Cursed Item: [Spirit Fungus Cultivation Bag]

This device can cultivate mycelial spores and produce various special mycelial spores by adding various items.

Xiao Ran felt that this thing was not suitable for her, but Wu Man seemed to be a good match.

So overall, my reward increase this time was not high, or even non-existent, which is normal.

Even for most beginners, the rewards are often disappointing despite their hard work in completing tasks. Xiao Ran's experience is relatively rare.

So he accepted the gifts and went to find Wu Man.

Wu Man's Zhen Ding Wei and Jing Qi Ge are separated by only one wall, and there is even a door between them, so it is very convenient to visit each other.

Upon arriving at Zhen Ding Wei, one sees Huang Le at the counter engrossed in using an abacus, looking quite pleased with himself.

It's obvious that this kid is really living a comfortable life.

Xiao Ran tapped on the table, and Huang Le looked up. Upon seeing Xiao Ran, his face lit up with joy: "I was just saying I was going to come find you later."

"What, planning to go out and explore with me?" Xiao Ran asked jokingly.

Huang Le was startled and quickly shook his head, saying, "No, no, I really can't handle that kind of brawl. I think... things are fine as they are now."

After saying that, Huang Le lowered his voice and said, "At the end of this month, I will receive 20,000 yuan in ghost money as dividends, enough to support my family and make our lives comfortable. I heard that my daughter has started school, and life is getting better and better."

Huang Le's face was beaming with smiles, and Xiao Ran smiled too, genuinely happy for Huang Le.

Huang Le was a beginner in the same cohort as Xiao Ran before the arrival of the Lost City.

Xiao Ran is already preparing to become a B-level professional, but Huang Le is still only at E-level, which shows how big the gap is between the two.

All I can say is that Huang Le is just like that—easygoing and adaptable, living in harmony with the world.

Wu Man had mentioned him once when she met him in the Lost City, but he's still the same now, which shows that he's really not suited to be a professional. Being a beginner and earning a decent income is actually the best outcome.

So by now, Xiao Ran and Wu Man have long since stopped worrying about Huang Le's lack of ambition. Instead, Wu Man has settled down and let Huang Le be a small manager, giving him a share of the business and helping her run Zhen Ding Wei.

(End of this chapter)