Lantern Sister is still very capable.

Chapter 58 Poor Ghost

Late at night, in the underground shopping district of Deer Alley, a boy and a girl, two children, entered the door panting. The wind chimes in front of the door rang, waking up Lu Shizong, who was dozing off at the front desk.

"What's wrong?" Lu Shizong asked, squinting his eyes.

"Doctor, my brother is back!" the boy announced loudly, his black eyes shining as he looked at Lu Shizong expectantly.

"Doctor, I just gave directions to a young lady! She's going to her dad's place!" The girl couldn't help but stand on tiptoe, leaning over the front desk and looking up to report.

Just as Lu Shizong was about to ask the girl who she was asking for directions, the door was suddenly flung open with a loud bang, making a creaking sound as if it were about to collapse, which made Lu Shizong's head throb with anger.

"Old man, I'm back from my robbery!" Shi Qingyu swaggered into Doctor's Flower Shop, leaned against the counter, and said with a grin, "You don't know, that major general was really strong. I didn't dare to face him head-on, so I could only resort to sneak attacks. Luckily, I got the stuff without any problems!"

Shi Qingyu raised the blue potion in her hand and shook it gently, making Lu Shizong dizzy.

"Stop!" Lu Shizong interrupted his smug adopted son and asked, "Where are those foreigners?"

Shi Qingyu grinned, her expression twisted and less friendly: "Of course I've marked you. Just wait for Dad to bring people to clean you up!"

Half an hour ago, in the underground street of Deer Alley, at Old Man's Teahouse.

Even late at night, the teahouse is still quite crowded. Although it is a teahouse, it also offers a variety of alcoholic beverages, including rice wine, red wine, baijiu, beer, spirits, and whiskey. On the contrary, there are relatively few people drinking tea.

The owner of the teahouse was named Cheng Tie, nicknamed "Old Man". He had never had a wife or children and was a bachelor all his life, but he was kind, generous and loyal, and the residents of Little Deer Lane respected him.

"Daughter, tea or wine?" Cheng Tie asked, fiddling with the ice hockey puck and glancing at the person sitting at the bar.

"What's the difference?" the visitor asked, looking around at the room's decor.

The teahouse's decor is quite interesting. The entrance is a typical bat-door design found in 20th-century Western films—a door that barely touches the ground or a frame, serving only to obscure the view. Inside is a spacious area, mostly furnished with wooden tables and chairs, old-fashioned yet down-to-earth. Several low square and round tables are placed in the center, while tall bar tables and stools line the walls. In the corner, there's a circle of wooden tables and chairs with built-in cabinets, filled with plants, creating a sense of privacy and soundproofing. Directly opposite the door is a bar counter, behind which stands the owner, Cheng Tie. Behind him, cabinets are overflowing with various items—some shelves hold tea canisters, others bottles of liquor—a seemingly chaotic yet orderly arrangement, a truly contradictory sight.

The other person sitting at the bar heard the question and enthusiastically answered: "Drinking tea is for doing tasks, drinking alcohol is for posting tasks. Of course, if you're just here to have fun, then just take it as a joke."

“I can tell you’re no ordinary girl.” Cheng Tie said as he magically pulled a bottle of milk from under the bar, filled a glass, and pushed it in front of the girl, earnestly saying, “After you’ve satisfied your curiosity, go home and get some sleep.”

A kind-hearted person nearby, seeing this, burst into laughter, slamming his hand on the wooden bar counter, which rattled loudly: "Hahaha, old man, you're absolutely amazing!"

"I'll have tea." Chu Deng picked up the milk and drank it without changing her expression. The milk was very fragrant, and the slightly sweet and mellow taste made her squint her eyes. It was delicious.

Gulu gulu gulu——

"I don't know the rules, I'm just trying to earn some pocket money." After saying that, Chu Deng pushed the empty cup back. "Another cup, please."

Cheng Tie filled the cup for everyone and carefully examined Chu Deng. He noticed that the girl showed neither shame at being ridiculed nor timidity in unfamiliar surroundings. Her composure was truly remarkable. He had some guesses in his mind and asked, "Can you tell me what her attribute is?"

Ordinary people might find this a bit abrupt, but his teahouse caters to people with superpowers. The fact that this girl wasn't surprised to see his teahouse staff adding ice to customers' drinks with their bare hands as soon as she entered shows that they are kindred spirits.

"Fire element."

Cheng Tie hesitated for a few seconds, then filled Chu Deng's milk cup for the third time. "How about this? There's a double-cross tonight, with a lot of people and relatively little pay. It's mainly for the beginners to practice. Since it's your first time at a teahouse, daughter, why don't you give it a try?"

Chu Deng nodded: "Okay."

A kind-hearted person nearby suddenly spoke up: "Little girl, if you get scared later, you can hide behind me!"

Chu Deng's gaze shifted to this person, who was wearing a blue and white baseball cap and holding a cup of tea, sipping it slowly. His behavior and attire made him look very young, yet he possessed an indescribable air of maturity.

The abrupt remark seemed to have embarrassed the man. Chu Deng could sense that there was no malice in the words. The man scratched his head, and Chu Deng noticed that his ears had turned red.

Seeing that Chu Deng was staring at him, the man hurriedly explained, "I... I only saw you alone. It would be bad to explain if you got hurt..."

The voice grew softer and softer until it was almost as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

"Thank you, just call me [Red Fish]."

“Red Fish…” the man murmured, then seemed to come back to his senses, his voice trembling slightly, “I am called [Sunny Day], and I have lightning-type abilities.”

"Red Fish, your token is for recording. It contains a chip, and you can check the records of each mission. You can upgrade by accumulating a certain number of missions, and different levels have different permissions. Bronze can't issue missions, they can only do missions. Silver can issue missions to Bronze, and Gold can designate someone to issue missions. The specific rules are on the wall in the northwest corner, where there's a mission issuing machine. Our teahouse only handles underground missions in Haishi. Every mission is checked by a specialist, so we're honest and fair." Cheng Tie tossed Chu Deng a token engraved with the words "Bronze".

Chu Deng gripped the token. "How is the mission reward calculated?"

"The mission number you've accepted mainly involves assisting the Gold-ranked members in harassing the enemy. There are two enemies: a level 4 Gold-ranked member and a level 4 Wood-ranked member. Just follow the instructions from the commander [Clock]," Cheng Tie said. "The mission reward is provided by the mission initiator and is stored in the teahouse. There are a total of 20 people participating in this mission: 10 Bronze-ranked, 7 Silver-ranked, and 3 Gold-ranked. The percentage of the mission reward varies depending on the rank: Bronze-ranked members will share 10% of the total reward, Silver-ranked members will share 30%, and Gold-ranked members will share 60%. The reward for mission number 10 is 10 million."

10 in task funds...

"How much are the crystal cores?" Chu Deng asked.

These task platforms typically also handle transactions between task participants and store resources for trading purposes.

Cheng Tie's eyes flashed: "The crystal cores here are of better quality, and they will be 20% more expensive than the market price. Level 1 crystal cores are 120,000 each, Level 2 are 3.2 million each, and Level 3 are 120 million each. Rare ones are 360,000 for Level 1, 6.5 million for Level 2, and 150 million for Level 3. Also, we don't sell space-type crystal cores, but if you have any, I'll buy them."

"..." Chu Deng pondered for a moment. The five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, earth) add up to 60, and the lightning, wind, and ice add up to 144 million. All of these add up to 204 million, enough for half a house in Hai City. The space-type crystal cores are even more priceless.

"Hiss..." Chu Deng groaned, thinking about her meager savings, "Can I buy on credit?"