"Don't you have it?" Qin Nuo watched the Boss Lady's expression and asked.
"Why would a human like you need this?" The Boss Lady handed the note back, questioning him.
"Actually, I'm an employee at the Nether Springs Restaurant, and they sent me to buy this kind of ingredient," Qin Nuo explained.
The Boss Lady laughed, "That's as good as a death sentence for you."
"What do you mean?"
"Even if I gave you Ingredient No. 8, a human like you wouldn't be able to take it back, and you'd lose your life in the process." The Boss Lady sat down and poured herself a glass of water.
"This ingredient is extremely dangerous. Humans can hardly handle it and might even be controlled by it."
Qin Nuo was shocked.
Damn it!
Is this an ingredient or a monster? This sounds terrifying!
"Besides, I won't sell it to you."
"Why not?"
"It's too precious. Those guys at the Nether Springs Restaurant send an employee over every now and then to buy Ingredients No. 1 to 8."
"This stuff can't be bought with just Ghost Currency," the Boss Lady said indifferently.
"If you're only here to buy this, you might as well go back."
Qin Nuo looked troubled, "Going back means death for me too."
"Can I buy it with something other than Ghost Currency?"
The Boss Lady glanced at Qin Nuo's body and smiled, "Though you have a nice figure, I'm not interested in that."
"And human flesh isn't worth much here."
Qin Nuo fell silent.
He suddenly understood.
The hardest part of this task wasn't reaching the Specter Supermarket alive; it was that they simply wouldn't sell Ingredient No. 8!
Perhaps that Pinocchio guy never expected Qin Nuo to bring it back.
Bang! Bang!!
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Suddenly, there was a loud commotion inside the supermarket.
From a distance, Qin Nuo saw a heap of goods flying around, shelves collapsing, and that area becoming a complete mess.
Bang!
The door to the dark room was flung open, and the injured boss rushed out, grabbing a bone-chopping knife and shouting angrily, "That damn thief again, I'm going to chop it to pieces!!"
With that, he charged into the shelving area with the knife.
Not long after, he returned, looking disheveled.
Holding the knife, he gritted his teeth in anger.
"Idiot, don't make the store messier!"
"If you were so capable, you would have caught it long ago. What are you messing around for now?" The Boss Lady tugged at her husband's ear, scolding him.
The boss slashed back at the Boss Lady's arm with the knife, equally hot-tempered, "Damn it, all you do is criticize me. Why don't you go catch it?"
The Boss Lady didn't argue with him and went over to the shelves. Soon, a furious scream came, "It stole 8 items again, worth 500 Ghost Currency in total!"
Hearing this, Qin Nuo roughly understood what was happening.
A thief had actually sneaked into this supermarket?
And from the sound of it, this wasn't the first time; it was a repeat offender.
"Can you tell me about it? Maybe I can help," Qin Nuo asked tentatively.
"You? Get lost, don't get in my way!" The boss was very dismissive of Qin Nuo, or rather, dismissive of humans in general.
The Boss Lady came over, pushed the boss aside, and looked at Qin Nuo with a meaningful smile, "How about this, if you can help us catch that thief, I'll sell you Ingredient No. 8!"
"Deal!" Qin Nuo agreed without hesitation.
What choice did he have besides agreeing?
The boss sneered twice but said nothing.
"Boss, give me two pieces of human donkey skin." A passing customer stopped and shouted.
"Can't you get it yourself? No hands or feet?" The boss turned and cursed.
"Damn, such a rude business, why even open a store!" The ghost cursed and left.
The Boss Lady stabbed the boss in the back with a knife, her eyes fierce, "Do you want this store to keep running or not?"
Qin Nuo ignored the couple who kept stabbing each other and walked towards the shelves.
The supermarket was actually quite large.
Just the arrangement of shelves alone numbered in the hundreds. As Qin Nuo walked inside, he found the goods either covered in dust or scattered on the floor, overall very sloppy, as if they had never been organized.
Suddenly, Qin Nuo heard some noise.
He quickly pinpointed the source of the sound, pulled out the Bone-Crushing Hammer, and turned to swing it.
"Brother, calm down!"
The figure hurriedly spoke up.
"A person?" Qin Nuo was startled, smelling a human scent from the other.
"Yes, a person, I'm a player here, a stock clerk, named Chen Yuan. Like you, I was sent here to participate in the Horror Game," the man said with a smile.
"Stock clerk..."
Qin Nuo looked at the messy shelves and the chaos on the ground, "This is your stocking work?"
Given the boss's temper, always ready to draw a knife, Chen Yuan should have been chopped to pieces by now.
How had Chen Yuan survived with such a work attitude?
"Hehe, isn't there a national protection mechanism?"
"The boss and the Boss Lady only check once a week, so I slack off for five days and tidy up for two," Chen Yuan scratched his head and laughed.
Qin Nuo was astonished.
So this was the national intervention, forcibly adding a protection mechanism!
The supervision was too lax!
No wonder the hot-tempered couple ignored the mess on the floor and only got angry at the goods messed up by the thief!
Thinking about his own work at the Nether Springs Restaurant these past few days, being picked on by the chef, groped by ghosts while sleeping, and eyed by perverted customers, if it weren't for his cleverness and a bit of luck, he would have lost his life long ago!
A slight oversight, neglecting a customer.
Slow service, clumsy hands and feet.
Even a slip of the tongue affecting a diner's mood could cost him his life!
Compared to Qin Nuo's experiences, Chen Yuan's job was like a damn flower in a greenhouse!
This comparison made Qin Nuo feel extremely frustrated.
"I was forcibly sent here," Qin Nuo said with a dark expression.
"I really sympathize with you," Chen Yuan looked at Qin Nuo with pity.
He had participated in the Horror Game only twice, but he knew that being forcibly sent in meant no national protection mechanism.
High danger!
High mortality rate!
Those who returned alive were truly blessed by their ancestors!
Chen Yuan glanced at the boss still arguing outside and whispered, "I heard your conversation with the Boss Lady. You should just go back to where you came from."
"You can't catch that thieving ghost."
"And don't be fooled by the Boss Lady's easygoing manner. Even if you catch that ghost, she definitely won't give you Ingredient No. 8!"
Qin Nuo's face darkened, "Why?"
"Are you really that naive?" Chen Yuan sized up Qin Nuo.
"A human trying to negotiate with ghosts? Let me tell you, your superiors at the Nether Springs Restaurant have tricked our Boss Lady before, and she hates you guys."
"Even if she sells it, she won't sell it to you!"
Qin Nuo's expression grew more serious.
Pinocchio hadn't mentioned any of this, yet he sent him to the Specter Supermarket, clearly setting him up for failure.
Qin Nuo closed his eyes, seemingly making a decision.
After a moment, he opened his eyes and said, "Tell me about the thief in your store."
"Didn't you hear a word I said?" Chen Yuan was surprised.
Qin Nuo replied, "In any case, I can't go back empty-handed."
"I have my ways."