"Boss! I want all the ghost money produced by Tiandi Bank!"
The boss of Yongshou Shop looked at the fair-skinned and sweet girl before him, feeling surprised.
It was rare to see such a young girl handling funeral arrangements with no sadness in her expression.
The boss slowly flicked the ash off his cigarette: "Little girl, how much do you want?"
"All!" Su Qingyu paused for a moment. "As long as it's printed with Tiandi Bank, I want it all!"
"All of it?"
The boss hesitated. His shop was a regular business, and the ghost money he bought was of guaranteed quality, unlike those shoddy stores. For the sake of aesthetics, all the ghost money he stocked was marked with Tiandi Bank.
The ghost money printed with Tiandi Bank was a registered trademark, uniformly produced by a local company.
The entire warehouse was full of this kind.
The boss put out his cigarette and asked: "This… wouldn't it be too much?"
"Not at all! However much you have, I'll take it! Money is not a problem!"
After saying that, Su Qingyu opened her VX (WeChat) balance, stretched her hand forward, and showed it to the boss.
The seven-figure balance made the boss's eyes light up.
With the mentality that not earning money when you have the opportunity is foolish, the boss immediately called his assistant to help Su Qingyu get the goods.
He sighed: "Little girl, you're quite filial. With this money, you can buy out all the stock in my shop."
"I still have more in my card. If you can transfer it from other warehouses, I'll take as much as you have."
"Yes, yes, yes." The boss's eyes narrowed into slits with a smile. "I'll call someone to transfer the goods for you right now."
What was money compared to life?
Besides, she was trading money for more money now.
Su Qingyu paced around the store, her eyes scanning the gold ingots, paper figures, sedans, and various clothes and furniture on the shelves, all used for ancestral worship during the Ghost Festival (中元节 - Zhongyuan Festival).
Some of the more fashionable ones even included modern villas and sports cars.
Recalling the descriptions of these things in the novel, she pointed to the offerings on the shelves: "Boss, I want all of these too."
The boss wondered to himself: Buying so much, would she be able to burn it all?
With professional ethics, the boss still helped her count the goods.
Su Qingyu knew clearly in her heart that this paper money and offerings were not for her ancestors but for herself!
Not long ago, she realized that she had transmigrated into a novel called "Jingkong Jianglin" (惊悚降临 - Horror Descends), becoming an insignificant passerby.
According to the plot development, in three days, the entire world would turn into a human purgatory where horrors run rampant.
As an ordinary person, she would unknowingly step into a copy filled with horrors. Only by using the rules would she be able to survive.
Otherwise, she would be polluted by "it".
At that time, ghost money would be the only universal currency in the horror world.
The rules for using ghost money were:
[Ghost money must be marked with Tiandi Bank.]
[Before burning ghost money, light three incense sticks for yourself.]
[It can only be burned for yourself on the Ghost Festival before the horrors descend.]
Fortunately, tomorrow was the Ghost Festival. Su Qingyu had to seize this last opportunity.
After buying out the ghost money from several funeral shops, the goods filled dozens of pickup trucks.
The movers helped her load the things onto the trucks, then silently complained about Su Qingyu's extravagance.
Even if it was ghost money, at this rate, she would burn through her family fortune!
Su Qingyu clenched her fists inside her coat. If the horror world didn't descend in three days, she would spend the rest of her life in this world working to pay off her debts!
Ghost Festival.
Su Qingyu asked all the truck drivers to deliver the goods to Baishi Mountain before noon. It was a desolate and sparsely populated wilderness.
The drivers delivered the goods early, unloaded them, and didn't want to stay a second longer.
With black crows circling overhead, the bare mountaintop, coupled with the piles of paper money, gold ingots, and the paper figures Su Qingyu was holding in her hands, anyone would curse under their breath: What bad luck!
As for Su Qingyu, she filled up the gasoline and waited quietly. The moment the second hand hit 12, she began to light the incense for herself.
Auspicious beast incense burner, white smoke curling up like mist.
The sandalwood fragrance seemed to penetrate her soul, making Su Qingyu feel an unprecedented tranquility.
Baishi Mountain had no vegetation, only bare white boulders.
When the three incense sticks burned out, Su Qingyu quickly lit a match and threw it onto the pile of paper.
A single spark can start a fire.
To prevent herself from getting hurt, she stood upwind.
The raging fire unexpectedly emitted a green light, as if it had been enhanced, burning extremely fast without Su Qingyu needing to fan the ghost money to help it burn.
Taking advantage of the fire, Su Qingyu threw all the paper figures, paper cars, gold ingots, paper villas, and other things she had bought into the fire.
These things were called offerings.
According to her memory of the novel, the rules for using offerings were:
[Offerings will not be polluted, they will be destroyed.]
[Before the horrors descend, you can make offerings to yourself.]
[After the horrors descend, offerings can be traded or gifted.]
[Offerings are loyal to their owners.]
This meant that after the apocalypse arrived, everything Su Qingyu burned would become real objects.
More importantly, the unpolluted offerings would allow her to get a temporary rest in the horror-ridden world.
After burning everything overnight, Su Qingyu could still smell the lingering sandalwood on her fingers.
Looking at the mess, Su Qingyu responsibly called the cleaning service, hiring ten hourly workers to clean up Baishi Mountain.
Back in her rented apartment, Su Qingyu browsed the internet absentmindedly, trying to find the "Jingkong Jianglin" (惊悚降临 - Horror Descends) novel she had read and topics related to horrors.
But the internet was full of "ghost stories," and there was no such term as "horror."
Su Qingyu scratched her head, her long legs crossed on the computer chair, leaning back with a troubled look.
If it were just an ordinary transmigration, not a transmigration into a book, the house and car she had sold and the credit card debt would force her to restart her life.
"Why aren't there any signs at all?"
"Could it be that there are no warning signs, and the apocalypse will arrive in an instant?"
The fluorescent light on the ceiling was dazzling. The phone rang.
"Qingyu, final exams are coming up soon, why aren't you coming to school?"
The caller was Su Qingyu's deskmate and best friend, Zhuang Xiaofei.
Su Qingyu rubbed her temples and sighed weakly, pretending to be frail: "Xiaofei, I'm not feeling well. I need to take a few days off."
Anyway, the apocalypse would arrive tomorrow.
By then, no one would go to school, and no one would care if Su Qingyu had asked for leave.
As soon as Zhuang Xiaofei heard that her good friend was sick, she immediately asked with concern: "Ah? Are you okay? Do you want me to take a leave of absence and come see you?"
Although she was a transmigrator, Su Qingyu inherited all the original owner's memories, so she still had feelings for this good friend.
"No need, no need, focus on your studies. I'll get better soon." Su Qingyu reminded her kindly: "Xiaofei, tomorrow is the weekend, study hard at home and don't go out casually. Um... if there are any changes in your surroundings, and you find any strange notes, be careful and don't treat it as a prank."
Zhuang Xiaofei
was puzzled. Her confused voice came through the phone: "What are you talking about? That's creepy."
"Are we friends?"
Zhuang Xiaofei answered without hesitation: "Of course we are."
"Then trust me. Go buy some paper crafts, like houses and cars. Light three incense sticks, and burn them!"