"Brother Xu, what do we do?"
Xu Xi had just regained consciousness when he heard the anxious question beside him.
There was no time to think, his hands moved faster than his mind.
He rolled down the window and the heavy rain crashed into his face, the sting and coolness snapping him fully awake.
He looked at the old woman who had stopped transforming because of his action, she was staring at him with eager, hopeful eyes.
"Young man, would you be willing to give an old woman a ride?" the old woman asked earnestly.
Xu Xi shook his head, and just as the old woman’s expression was about to change again, he quickly pulled a stack of paper money from his pocket.
He pushed the stack out through the window and smiled, "Grandma, we really have important business and it's not convenient to give you a ride. Why don't you take this money and wait for the next lucky car?"
For a moment everyone's vision blurred, and when they recovered they found the old woman already outside Xu Xi’s window.
She snatched the paper money from his hand with impatience, her eyes shining as she counted it once before stuffing it into the cloth bundle at her chest.
Clearing her throat, the shadow on her face not only faded but actually turned into a smile, the bark-like skin on her face appearing even more wrinkled in the rain.
However, her words made the others grit their teeth.
"How could an old woman like me shamelessly take your money? But since you gave it, I’ll accept it. Only… this amount might not even be enough for a taxi."
Xu Xi remained expressionless as he took three incense sticks from his bosom, "We’re in a hurry and don’t have much cash left, these are all the incense we have."
"That’s fine, that's fine!" The old woman took the incense with a smiling squint, pressed them to her nose and inhaled deeply, completely intoxicated, "Thank you all so much, then I’ll just wait for the next car."
At that, Xu Xi gave Tan Xingyun a look.
Tan Xingyun understood and stepped on the gas. Soon they left the old woman far behind.
Only after she was completely out of sight did everyone relax a little. Li Kang even slumped back onto the seat.
"Brother Xu, you’re amazing! You got rid of that old woman so easily. I thought at any second she’d transform and eat us."
"Yeah, it was smart of you, Brother Xu. We didn’t think to use paper money and stuff to get her to leave," Tan Xingyun said, sounding impressed.
Xu Xiuman pulled out the paper money and incense she had bought, examined them carefully, then continued, "So what that old man said about difficult things needing more expensive incense to be driven off actually applies here."
"If Brother Xu hadn’t insisted on buying incense, that old woman probably wouldn’t have been so easily driven away. We might have had to pay a steep price."
At best severed hands or feet, at worst… maybe one or two lives.
[Didn't expect this crisis to be resolved so easily]
[So easily? Try if those three players handled it]
[Also, I just realized how versatile those paper money are. If they’d followed their initial plan, paper money wouldn’t have been enough along the way]
[Thanks to Xu Xi's 'foresight', buying lots of paper money and extra incense paid off]
[Also, did anyone notice, Xu Xi usually doesn’t show his presence. Each time it’s that guy Li Kang asking him, then he starts taking charge.]
[Right, I was wondering too. Xu Xi must have thought of using paper money earlier, so why wait until the last moment when the supernatural was about to transform?]
[He probably thought his teammates could handle it. After all, Beer-Bellied Uncle is steady and Denim Skirt Woman is careful, these two would likely think of it.]
[But looks like they didn’t]
[So Xu Xi acted later. This newcomer’s whole performance shows he’s extremely intelligent and thorough. He prefers to observe the situation alone rather than lead. When his teammates failed, he had to step in to avoid being dragged down. If this were a solo instance, aside from travel time, it wouldn’t have slowed him much.]
[Is this the true strength behind 2 minutes 48 seconds? (includes “terrifying” sticker)]
[By the way, the tips the old man gave all came true, they should have asked more questions back then]
[Do you think that old man’s a philanthropist? He pointed out all the dangers so you could pass easily?]
[They figured those players had more money. They could’ve bought more paper money, incense, or other ritual supplies]
[Read earlier analyses properly; paper money does have use, but who knows if you’ll need cash later. If you run out, what then? The old man arranged his own escape route, you’re the gambler here]
[… ]
The live comments argued fiercely while the group inside the instance reviewed the recent events.
"It seems the owner of that funeral shop is a very important figure," Xu Xiuman sighed softly, "We underestimated what he said."
"That’s right. We were too suspicious of him, so subconsciously we doubted his words and didn’t fully trust them. That prevented us from using his hints to deal with that old woman's supernatural nature in time," Tan Xingyun agreed with a nod.
If not for the young man named Xu Xi in the back, they might have only remembered the hints after paying a price.
"We might lose someone."
At that, he involuntarily glanced at the rearview mirror.
The mirror clearly reflected the people sitting in the back.
Li Kang listened to their conversation with focus, and Xu Xi… met his gaze.
Tan Xingyun did not know why he felt startled; his heart skipped a beat for that moment.
Xu Xi looked at the beer-bellied uncle driving solemnly ahead with a puzzled expression at the sudden diverted gaze.
They just made eye contact for a moment, was this guy really that shy? Odd.
But he remembered the earlier mention of losing members and thought to himself, not just them—it's all four of them wiped out.
Yes, in fact he had reincarnated.
Twice.
The first time they hadn’t let the old woman into the car; she transformed into a supernatural being and destroyed both people and car.
The second time he overruled everyone and let her into the car, but not long after driving, she transformed again, her sharp green claws piercing several of their bodies.
The reason he suddenly thought to use paper money and incense to drive her off was not because he recalled the funeral shop owner’s hints, but because in the second run, just before his final consciousness faded, he saw the creature pierce them and then not immediately eat them—first it took the paper money and incense from their pockets. That observation made him want to try that method this time.
Listening to Tan Xingyun and the others analyze, Xu Xi had a sudden realization.
It turned out his accidental tactic coincidentally matched the hints.