Game Square was as bustling as ever, with people brushing past each other on the streets, some wearing bizarre costumes, others clad in uniforms distributed by major organizations.

Wearing the Dragon Head White Lab Coat, Li Ang expertly ignored the curious glances around him, walked straight into the Immaculate Furnace Shop, and took out Magic Potions from his spatial storage ring, placing them on the considerably emptied shelves.

Then, following the content on the surgery application registration form, he sent messages to those who had booked surgeries, notifying them to come in for body modification procedures.

Since ascending to demigod status, Li Ang's Sanity Value, Spirit Energy Value, and Swamp God Power had all increased substantially, allowing him a deeper understanding of the Origin of Life.

The number of surgeries he could perform daily naturally doubled.

However, after the Portal World Battle ended and rewards were distributed, some large organizations confirmed the existence of The Portal World. Feeling the pressure, they began to reveal previously concealed services, lowering their prices.

This included, but was not limited to, forging equipment, body modification, teaching Logistics Skills, etc.

The outflow of technology significantly reduced the prices of service items in the shops across the square, bringing back the days of price wars.

Although there were far more newbie players than before, they had more choices, so the money shop owners earned only increased slightly, not severalfold.

"Hmm... this feels a bit like running a breakfast stall outside a school. The whole street is selling breakfast, but no one makes much profit. Most shops close down due to not affording the rent, only to be taken over by someone else. Shops open and close, over and over...

Luckily, I'm in a business with no costs."

Li Ang's thoughts wandered. He had previously launched a new surgery project for the Immaculate Furnace Shop—customers could provide the body organs of powerful Demons,

such as a fire dragon's flame gland, an electric eel's tail spinal cord generator, and the skin of a night shapeshifter etc.

Li Ang would use the Chimeric Beast Assembly Bench in the Alchemy Workshop to install these organs onto the customers.

While earning a high commission, he could also collect samples of magical beast biological tissue, improve his Alchemy proficiency, and expand his ideas for biological modification.

The biological materials needed for the modifications had to be provided by the customers themselves, and the risks of modification were to be borne by the customers as well. The Immaculate Furnace Shop did not offer any insurance projects or any compensation terms.

Despite these tricky terms, the customers registering and requesting appointments for body modification continued to come in droves.

In some ways, the newly launched synthesis project was considered an important element to maintain the core competitiveness of the Immaculate Furnace.

After casually doing five or six body modification surgeries, Li Ang didn't continue further. Instead, he headed to the game mall to browse the list of products in the marketplace and auction house.

As before, epic-level equipment items were still absent, but there were quite a few more Perfect Level items—most of them were goods released by small local organizations and lone wolves,

Large organizations had such strong internal absorption capabilities that there was always someone in the organization who could make use of an equipment item, solving it internally.

At the current stage, prices for Perfect Level equipment had fallen back to a reasonable range. Even if large organizations had equipment that no one used temporarily, they'd store it, waiting for the right person or linking up with closely connected organizations to exchange resources.

To upgrade the Psychic Ability Manual·Beginner to intermediate, you needed to unlock it with three Perfect Level items.

Since it was not meant for personal use, naturally, the lower the price, the better.

Li Ang scanned through and found only one Perfect Level piece of equipment with an extraordinarily cheap price,

called the Laughing Mask. It had low consumption, a short cooldown, relatively broad use conditions, and excellent special effects, enhancing the user's physical qualities comprehensively upon wearing, and also granting a Mental Blast-like psychic ability.

Both beginners and mid-to-high level players could use it.

The only and biggest drawback was that upon wearing the Laughing Mask, the user must keep it on continuously for the next year, impossible to remove by any means.

Throughout this period, the user's temper would grow increasingly eccentric and violent, filled with unbearable destructive urges, unwilling to think, gradually losing reason, until after the year ends, the user finds the Laughing Mask's next host to finally rid themselves of this curse effect.

If the user dies within the year, then the Laughing Mask's buff and debuff effects will stack, and wearing it might mean instant madness.

This debuff directly compressed the Laughing Mask's use potential to the minimum. Players were eager to pursue strength, true, but if they lost sanity and turned into a complete berserker for a whole year...

The likely outcome would be dying an unexplained death during a script task.

Even large organizations would find it difficult to utilize it in experiments—each experiment might cost at least one mid-level player, so big organizations wouldn't partake in such losing business.

Various factors stacked up leading the Laughing Mask's owner, a player from a small Transcendent organization named Chicago Ghost, to sell it for a price of 10,500.

"It's just a few hundred Game Coins too expensive. Maybe a private chat with the seller could bargain it down a bit."

Li Ang read through the dozen or so remarks on the equipment, each one a senseless and illogical mad rambling, likely left by previous inheritors. "But it's a waste of time, not necessary. I'll just buy it directly."

With the drop in his personal panel's Game Currency balance,

this nailed-on, painted-with-bright-red-smile-pattern iron mask appeared directly in Li Ang's inventory.

With one piece of equipment bought, two more were needed.

Li Ang messaged Mule, asking him to help gather information on cheap Perfect Level items because he needed them urgently.

Mule hadn't replied yet, so Li Ang returned to the Immaculate Furnace, sat behind the cashier counter, took out the mask from his inventory, and weighed it in his hand.

The mask felt heavy, its touch cold, somewhat like a rudely crafted wrought iron artwork,

Upon feeling its surface, faint, fragmented whispers composed of different voices sounded by his ear, tempting him to put on the mask.

"Put it on, put it on, and you'll possess unmatched power..."

"Heh heh, hehehe, kill, bodies, blood, kill kill kill kill..."

"Wooo, it's so dark here, can you come and keep me company?"

Simply holding it was enough for his Sanity Value to drop?

Li Ang watched the slightly lowered sanity value in his personal panel, raised an eyebrow, and, instead of quickly putting the mask away, crossed his legs and started chatting with the chaotic voices emanating from the mask.

"Hello, I'm a professional psychiatrist. How long have you been experiencing this symptom of babbling?"

"You're right, I also think the kangaroo in Uruguay has profound impacts on global warming, but I disagree with your opinion that the carp jumping over the dragon gate is racially discriminatory. That view is a bit too extreme."

"Tree Hole, Tree Hole, are you there? Today I saw a girl at school with light blue hair, glowing golden eyes, three heads and six arms, eight-pack abs, a gaping bloody mouth, and a bushy beard. I find her quite charming, can you help me find her, Tree Hole?"

...

When Mule received the message and arrived at the Immaculate Furnace Shop, pushing open the door,

he only saw Li Ang sitting with his legs crossed on a chair, boredly spinning a strange metal mask on his fingertip.

"You're here."

Li Ang, wearing only socks, stood up and placed the mask into the heel of his shoe, using it as a shoehorn to put on his shoes.

The mule's gaze lingered on the Laughing Mask, which seemed to have lost some of its humor, "What's this about..."

"Just chatting with someone, but it seems to have gone mute."

Li Ang casually replied. Earlier, he had been casually talking to the chaotic, disordered noise within the mask.

As they chatted, the other side gradually fell silent, no longer seducing him into killing, killing, killing,

All the sounds fell silent, becoming extra dull.

"Long time no see,"

Li Ang put away the Laughing Mask, which carried the scent of shoes, washed his hands at the sink next to the cashier, poured a cup of tea for the mule, and casually asked, "How have you been lately?"

"Not bad."

The mule took the cup but didn't drink, pulled out a chair and sat down opposite Li Ang, letting out a long sigh of foul air.

Actually, her recent days hadn't been easy. During the Portal War, she thought most of the powerful players had entered the Lost World for the competition.

The real world was short on power, making it a good opportunity to pursue her enemies.

As she had imagined, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supernatural Accident Place was short on personnel, and personal protection for some aristocrats became much weaker than before.

Finally, failing to stop the mule's carefully planned raid, she killed several high-profile individuals scattered across the United States within one day, including high-level intelligence officers working at the Pentagon.

But that was all,

The Federal Bureau of Investigation quickly responded, strengthened defense forces, and after the Portal War ended, David and others became a formidable barrier in front of the mule, forcing a halt to her plans.

On the list of enemies who had harmed the mule's family, several key culprits were eliminated, undoubtedly causing a stir in the real world,

But the mule had no time to worry about the consequences; she faced a frantic pursuit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, fleeing desperately worldwide with her sister Laura, trying every means to hide her traces without contacting anyone.

Just these past few days, the mule escaped to a safe house she set up in the Japan Islands and finally settled down temporarily, daring to reconnect with the outside world.

Was it really worth it?

She spent most of her life on hopeless revenge, putting herself and Laura in danger and death. She killed several key culprits, but in the murder of her family, there were more than a dozen pivotal instigators and accomplices, none of whom were punished.

After the chain of murders, these people would receive even higher levels of protection, making pursuit increasingly difficult.

Moreover, if she acted again, the other side would likely find connections in the victim's list, identify the common enemy, and possibly directly discover the mule's true identity.

Once her identity is exposed, hiding would require full cosmetic surgery.

Moreover, it was rumored that the Special Affairs Bureau launched a brand-new system for criminal investigations, capable of restoring the deceased's memories from biological samples,

greatly increasing the probability of solving cases,

even cold cases can be clarified.

Despite the Special Affairs Bureau and Federal Bureau of Investigation's frosty relations, the chaos created by the mule was too significant, and under pressure from above, there's a slight chance the Federal Bureau of Investigation might lower its head and borrow this criminal investigation system from the Special Affairs Bureau.

Should she run for the rest of her life...

The mule's Horse Head Mask gazed hollowly at the floating green tea leaves in the paper cup, until Li Ang's voice sounded in her ears, "...what do you think?"

"Huh? What?"

The mule snapped back to reality, set down the cup, and apologized, "Sorry, I got distracted. Could you repeat that?"

"I said, can you get Perfect Level items as cheaply as possible, no fewer than two, regardless of special effect or usage conditions, just as soon as possible."

"Two Perfect Level items? Just cheap and quick delivery?"

The mule furrowed her brow, thoughts racing.

Li Rising's request was very peculiar—the Perfect Level items on the market weren't too many or too few, but ordinary players were usually strapped for cash, needing to carefully select the best equipment with their limited Game Coin,

There's never been a saying of settling for less.

The most likely possibility is for a sacrifice or unlocking something...

Did he have a high-quality skill book?

The mule's mind instantly jumped, her heart a sense of frenzy, yet her expression remained calm as she nodded and said, "I do have these channels. When do you need them?"

"As soon as possible."

Li Ang estimated the cycle time of recent script tasks in his mind and added, "The sooner the better, preferably today or tomorrow, I can add up to 3000 Game Currency."

3000 huh...

The mule's heart moved, further solidifying that he had items urgently needing to be unlocked.

During the last Portal War, Li Rising's ranking and performance were neither too high nor too low; he personally ended the life of a demon general but didn't last until the script task's end and quit early.

However, after the Portal War, he still showed no signs of joining a large organization,

On the contrary, he had an item that needed unlocking—of high quality—the item's level was likely epic.

Only the top three in the Portal War could get epic-level equipment, could it be he's...

The mule's heart trembled, looking at Li Ang who was stuffing ice cola into his Dragon Head Mask with a mix of shock and seriousness

--He didn't hide, directly approached her,

combined with Li Rising's typically cautious character, he might now disdain concealing his true strength...

"If you need them today, I have two Perfect Level items on hand to sell."

The mule steadied herself, slowly saying, "I can sell them below market price to you as a favor.

But, I have a condition too."