"Hello!"
Hearing someone call her, Hu Tao snapped out of her daze. She put down the Soul Staff and looked at the man with a bright smile. "It's great to meet you! Could I ask you to help me with a little experiment?"
Felix: "..."
Watching this scene unfold, Felix's mouth twitched. He didn't know what to say about Hu Tao.
"No, no thanks."
Hearing Hu Tao's request, the man's smile froze. A chill ran down his spine, and a bad feeling crept into his chest.
Especially when Hu Tao smiled sweetly while sizing him up, his eyelid twitched uncontrollably. He shook his head instinctively.
Hu Tao was the Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor and dealt with spirits year-round. Helping Director Hu with an "experiment"...
Just thinking about it sent a chill down his spine. Better not.
He knew Hu Tao wouldn't hurt him, but still... he didn't want to be her test subject.
"Fine. If you're not willing, then forget it."
Seeing the man refuse, Hu Tao looked a little disappointed.
If he doesn't want to, there's no helping it. I'll just go back and experiment on the Wangsheng staff instead.
Meanwhile, back at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor...
Old Meng, who was moving supplies, suddenly sneezed.
"What the hell? Why do I have such a bad feeling?"
He looked at the moon while carrying boxes, shaking his head. "The Director isn't even here. Why do I feel this ominous chill?"
"Sigh. I wonder when the Director will come back."
Beside him, another worker sighed. "It's so late at night and she's still not back. We still have so much work to do."
"No choice. If the Director isn't here, we have to handle all the trivial tasks."
Old Meng sighed as well, continuing to carry supplies.
Back at the Jar Shop, the Liyue resident who had refused Hu Tao glanced at the four unopened jars on the counter and the one broken jar. He immediately realized that Director Hu was in the middle of opening her jars.
And in her hands, she held a strange staff.
He guessed the staff had come from the jar.
"If Director Hu is opening jars, I'll come back later."
The man stepped back several paces as he spoke.
He felt it was better to keep his distance from Director Hu.
"Hu Tao opening jars doesn't stop you from opening yours."
Hearing the man's words, Felix chuckled. "You can open jars alongside her. It won't interfere."
His shop didn't require people to take turns. Multiple customers could open jars at the same time.
"Nah, nah, I'll wait for Director Hu to finish first."
Hearing Felix, the man quickly shook his head. "I'm in no rush. Let Director Hu go ahead. I'll come back later."
"I've only opened one jar. I still have four more. Who knows what I'll get next?"
At that moment, Hu Tao smiled brightly and smashed open the second jar.
"Bang!"
The jar shattered, and a fiery red flower fell out.
"Eh? It's a Flaming Flower."
Seeing the crimson flower, Hu Tao tilted her head.
She recognized it—a Flaming Flower Stamen.
Flaming Flowers were extremely rare in the wild and highly sought after.
Harvesting them required extinguishing the flames first.
Otherwise, you couldn't even dig them up.
And the area around Flaming Flowers was also engulfed in flames. If you weren't careful, you'd get burned.
You had to extinguish the surrounding flames, then douse the flower with water before you could harvest the stamen.
If you only put out the surrounding flames and tried to pick the flower directly, it would spew fire again and could burn you. Water was essential.
[Flaming Flower Stamen]: A fiery flower stamen. The blazing flower burns fiercely. Even after being extinguished with water, it still faintly radiates heat.
"Just today, I saw an adventurer post a 200,000 Mora bounty for one of these at the Adventurers' Guild."
Beside her, the Liyue resident stared enviously at the Flaming Flower in front of Hu Tao.
Director Hu's luck is really good. She actually pulled this.
"200,000 Mora? Good luck finding one at that price."
Hu Tao shook her head. "This kind of rare treasure has a market price but no supply, even in Liyue. Few people sell them. Whether for alchemy or fusion with other materials, they're incredibly useful. But for me, it's not that valuable. I'll just toss it in the Wangsheng storeroom."
The Flaming Flower didn't help her much.
Besides, she preferred red plum blossoms over Flaming Flowers.
With that, Hu Tao opened the third jar.
Nothing came out.
Clearly an empty jar!
"Bang!"
She opened the fourth jar. This time, a packet of tea leaves fell out.
"Tea leaves?!"
Seeing the item, Hu Tao looked puzzled. Has my luck run out? I didn't pull any more weird and wonderful items.
"It's not ordinary tea. This is Adventure Tea."
Hearing Hu Tao's confusion, Felix smiled faintly. "Drink this Adventure Tea, and for five minutes, you'll experience risk. One sip lasts five minutes. Risk and opportunity often go hand in hand—where there's danger, there's reward. For adventurers, this tea is excellent."
As he spoke, Felix glanced at the tea.
[Adventure Tea]: Drink this, and as soon as you step outside, you'll experience risk. But one sip only lasts five minutes.
This thing is actually pretty interesting.
"That's so fun!"
Hearing Felix's explanation, Hu Tao's eyes lit up. She immediately looked at the packet of tea.
There was quite a lot of tea in the packet.
One sip gave the effect, meaning she could keep using it over and over.
The items in this Jar Shop really were magical. All sorts of strange and unusual things that she could never have imagined.
Without hesitation, Hu Tao tucked the tea into her wide sleeve.
Then she smashed open the fifth jar.
"Bang!"
This time, a needle fell out.
It was a ten-centimeter-long, entirely purple needle.
"Shopkeeper, what's this?"
Seeing the needle, Hu Tao asked curiously.
This time, she didn't pick it up first.
[Thinning Needle]: This tool is very convenient when moving large luggage. Prick something with the Thinning Needle, and it will deflate like a balloon, becoming thin, light, and flat. Can also be used on other things, including living beings.
Note: Anything made thin and flat will return to its original form when it touches water. If left outside and rained on, it will revert unexpectedly, causing trouble.
Seeing this item, Felix sighed internally.
Hu Tao's luck is really too good.
She was catching up to Ningguang.
When Ningguang first came to open jars, she pulled a Devil Fruit, a banking management book, an Eternal Youth Pill, Senzu Beans, and Explosive Tags.
Apart from Ningguang, no one else who came to open jars had better luck.
Now, Hu Tao had finally appeared. Out of five jars, only one was empty. The other four items were all highly valuable.
Among them, the Soul Staff, Adventure Tea, and Thinning Needle were priceless—their value could not be measured in Mora.
"This is the Thinning Needle. It can remove the weight of anything. Anyone or anything pricked by this needle will lose weight and become thin and flat."
Felix explained calmly. "The downside is that anything affected by the needle will revert to its original form as soon as it touches water."
"Awesome!"
Hearing this, Hu Tao's face lit up with delight.
Another item that's incredibly useful to me!
She felt that everything she pulled was tremendously helpful.
Whether she went adventuring or handled business in Liyue, these items would make things so much easier.
She could even start a new service—like helping people move things, or summoning souls, or...
Oh man, this is great!
Hu Tao's smile was radiant. Today was truly a lucky day.
Thank goodness she came back and visited Xiangling, who told her about the Jar Shop.
If she hadn't come here to open jars, she never would have gotten such fun items.
Now I have so much to play with.
Beside her, the waiting Liyue resident watched the scene unfold, listening to Felix explain the items. His eyes filled with envy.
Everything Director Hu pulled sounds so amazing.
If I could just get one of those items, I could change my fate again and earn even more Mora.
"Five more jars!"
Without hesitation, Hu Tao excitedly pulled another bag of Mora from her sleeve and asked to buy five more jars.
She had opened five jars and got four great items.
Three of them were especially fun. She felt she could open five more!
Today had been such a bountiful harvest.
"As you wish."
Felix took the money. "Which jars do you want this time?"
"Hmm, this time I'll take the ones around the exquisite jar."
Hu Tao pointed to the ordinary jars surrounding the exquisite jar.
She figured the exquisite jar was the best one, so the ones around it should also be pretty good.
Hearing her choice, Felix clapped his hands, and five ordinary jars near the exquisite jar floated gently out.
Seeing the five jars in front of her, Hu Tao's beautiful lashes curved into crescents.
"Um, Shopkeeper, I'll take two jars as well."
At that moment, the Liyue resident suddenly spoke up.
He pulled out the Mora he had prepared.
"Weren't you going to wait for Director Hu to finish first?"
Seeing the man ready to buy, Felix chuckled. "Why the change of heart?"
The guy had just said he'd wait for Hu Tao to finish before opening his jars.
Now he couldn't wait anymore.
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