Zhuang Xin stood to the side, watching in stunned silence, her mind reeling.
Nami… just died like that?
She knew exactly how capable Nami was.
Among head-lowering sorcerers, he could be considered one of the stronger ones.
If he hadn't later gone astray—fallen into madness, been tainted by his inner demon, and walked the path of the heretical head-lowering arts—he might very well have become a grandmaster of his generation.
Even the current Nami—
If she hadn't been able to use Harmonized Head-Lowering, she wouldn't have stood a chance against him.
Yet Ma Jun had killed him casually—
Like killing a chicken.
No.
Even easier than killing a chicken!
Dead-Spirit Head-Lowering was interrupted mid-cast.
Even the corpse-oil poison Nami had refined had no effect whatsoever on Ma Jun.
It was simply erased by brute flesh alone!
What kind of terrifying physical strength was this?!
Since when did the Special Cases Division produce someone like this?
Weren't they always supposed to rely on help from the Aberrant Association?
Judging by Ma Jun's current power—
Forget borrowing strength from the Aberrant Association.
Even if the entire Aberrant Association showed up, there probably wouldn't be more than a handful who could fight him head-on!
One word—
Strong.
Zhuang Xin stared at Ma Jun's suddenly explosive muscles, empowered by Praise, and couldn't help letting her thoughts wander.
With a body like that…
He'd probably complete the final step of Harmonized Head-Lowering effortlessly, fully awakening all his latent potential.
"Are you really from the Special Cases Division?" she asked suspiciously.
Ma Jun tilted his head.
"What? Don't believe me?"
As he spoke, a white glow flashed across his shoulder—560—and his body returned to normal.
That gaze—the one that had instantly killed Nami—made Zhuang Xin shudder involuntarily.
"No, no, that's not it!"
She waved her hands repeatedly.
"I'm just curious. I've interacted with people from the Special Cases Division before… very few of them have strength like yours."
"You… what rank are you there?"
"Uh, if you don't want to say it, that's fine too."
While Zhuang Xin was speaking, Ma Jun had already started collecting the loot.
He didn't even turn his head, replying casually:
"Director-General."
"…Oh."
"…WHAT?!"
Zhuang Xin jolted violently.
"You're a Director-General of the Special Cases Division?! How is that even possible?!"
The Special Cases Division's hierarchy was roughly equivalent to the Hong Kong Police Force.
Aside from the few division heads, the highest-ranking official was the Director-General.
How old was Ma Jun?
He looked—at most—nineteen or twenty.
A Director-General under twenty?!
Zhuang Xin felt like she had stumbled upon a massive secret.
Ma Jun didn't bother paying attention to her spiraling thoughts.
He was busy rummaging through Nami's belongings.
The boss was dead—how could he not take the rewards?
After all, Nami the head-lowering sorcerer was far stronger than that serial-killer chef.
There was no way the loot would be bad.
And sure enough—
After just a short while, Ma Jun found quite a few items.
[Corpse Oil (White)]
South Seas head-lowering ritual material. Formed through the decay of ordinary corpses.
[Premium Corpse Oil (Blue)]
Rare South Seas head-lowering ritual material. Made by slow-burning the flesh beneath the jaw of a special corpse using white wax.
[Bone Spike (White)]
One of the materials for skull-based head-lowering rituals. A sharp spike carved from human bone.
…
All of them were fairly good-quality items—reasonably valuable.
You could tell just from Zhuang Xin's reaction.
Whenever Ma Jun found something, she would gasp repeatedly:
"Wow, even this is here!"
"Nami actually made infant-bone artifacts!"
"This one… is insanely dangerous!"
Meanwhile, Ma Jun frowned slightly.
Looking at the piles of jars and containers and reading their descriptions made his stomach churn.
Head-lowering arts really weren't something just anyone could practice.
If your mental fortitude wasn't strong enough, just looking at these materials would make you throw up.
And frankly—
These things were useless to him.
He didn't know head-lowering arts.
And even if he could learn them, he wouldn't.
Way too heretical.
Nami's private stash was undeniably rich.
After walking the path of evil, killing more and more people, he had accumulated an enormous amount of resources.
Ma Jun sifted through the chaotic pile of tools.
Out of everything, only two items barely caught his interest.
[Corpse Oil Poison (Blue)]
A Corrosive Toxin refined from corpse oil using special techniques. Once contaminated, it pierces the heart and corrodes the bones, causing unimaginable agony.
Can be applied to weapons.
May produce extraordinary effects in specific situations.
And—
[Nami's Cash Box (White)]
A cash box containing 50,000 Hong Kong dollars. Can be exchanged for 500 gold coins.
Five hundred gold coins.
Hard currency.
For a newbie player, this was an extremely valuable resource.
After all, clearing an advanced dungeon once and receiving a C-rank evaluation only awarded 500 gold.
But to Ma Jun—
It was just okay.
He could casually sell a grilled fish and earn two thousand gold.
What really caught his attention was the exchange rate.
Hong Kong dollars could be exchanged for gold coins?
If that was the case—
Wouldn't he be invincible?
Grab any corrupt tycoon, perform a little "rob the rich to help the poor," and he could easily get tens of millions in Hong Kong dollars.
50,000 HKD = 500 gold.
So if he got tens of millions…
Wouldn't that be tens of thousands of gold coins?!
Ma Jun quickly dismissed the idea.
Previously, when he received case-handling funds from the police, everyone got tens of thousands of dollars too.
There had been no option to exchange them into gold.
That meant—
Only Hong Kong dollars obtained through special channels could be exchanged.
Still, it was worth investigating further.
Money was something you could never have too much of in a horror game.
Over ten years of accumulation, players had hoarded countless valuable items.
Some weren't for sale—but many were.
As long as you had enough money…
You could buy almost anything.
Here is a faithful, polished English translation of the continuation of Chapter 071, keeping the webnovel rhythm, game-system explanations, and character subtext intact while sounding natural in English.
…they could be bought.
"Hey—Ma sir, look over here!"
"I knew it! Nami definitely hid the secret manual right here!"
Zhuang Xin walked to the side of the altar and reached into the hollow abdomen of the six-armed evil god statue, pulling out a thread-bound book.
"This should be Nami's most important possession—The Compendium of South Seas Head-Lowering Arts!"
"Ma sir, here."
She tossed the yellowed thread-bound book to Ma Jun.
When Ma Jun took it, the cover felt strangely slick to the touch, as if it had once been soaked in some kind of fluid.
That clammy, distorted texture made him uncomfortable.
[Compendium of South Seas Head-Lowering Arts (Blue)]
Cultivation-type Inner Method
Requirements: Spirit 8, Charisma 8
(or combined attributes totaling 20 or above)
The supreme treasure of the South Seas Head-Lowering lineage. Records 108 head-lowering techniques. After Nami succumbed to inner demons, 30 of them were corrupted.
When Ma Jun read the item description, his expression turned serious.
An inner method!
And not just any—
A cultivation-type inner method.
This kind of item was almost never seen in the horror game.
At the very least, it was extremely rare to find one in the trading market—rarer than phoenix feathers or qilin horns.
Even a common white-grade cultivation manual from a street stall would immediately be snapped up by major factions, either to nurture their own disciples or to use as political capital.
Inner methods were divided into two types:
Cultivation-type Technique-type
Techniques were equivalent to skills.
Cultivation-type inner methods, however, automatically came with skills.
For example—
The 108 head-lowering techniques contained within this manual.
In terms of value, cultivation-type inner methods almost always far exceeded technique-type ones.
Before level 30, players could only choose one inner method.
If they switched midway, all previously learned techniques tied to the former method would be lost.
Only after level 30 could players unlock a second inner method—
And that required completing an extremely difficult quest.
Ma Jun never expected that killing a single Nami would actually drop a cultivation-type inner method.
That alone made the trip worthwhile.
The only regret was—
This manual clearly didn't match Ma Jun's personal aesthetic.
Head-lowering arts were simply too heretical.
Just look at what Nami had become.
Once someone's heart wavered and they stepped onto the wrong path, they'd eventually turn into something neither human nor ghost.
Ma Jun wasn't worried about himself being corrupted.
But head-lowering techniques consumed materials.
He really didn't want to carry around bags full of human scalps, infant bone spikes, and similar things every day.
Even imagining it made his scalp crawl.
After handing over the manual, Zhuang Xin looked at the piles of jars and containers, her expression conflicted.
Ma Jun suddenly remembered—
The woman standing before him, with that explosive figure, was also a head-lowering sorcerer.
"You're really just giving me the manual like this?" he asked curiously.
"If you hadn't found it, I wouldn't even have known it was hidden there."
"You could've waited until I left and come back to take it yourself."
Zhuang Xin shook her head.
"Ma sir, I'm no saint. The head-lowering arts have very clear faction boundaries."
"Those South Seas techniques—I can't cultivate them."
"The materials you found, though—I can make use of those."
"And if you don't need them, you can sell them to the Aberrant Association. I can handle the acquisition."
"Oh?"
Ma Jun's interest was piqued.
"How much are you planning to pay?"
If the Aberrant Association bought them, would the money be exchangeable into gold coins?
If so—
He was ready to do a full clearance sale.
Keeping this stuff around only took up inventory space anyway.
Might as well turn it all into cash.
Fast and convenient.
Zhuang Xin crossed her arms and chuckled softly.
Her beautiful eyes sparkled.
"Ma sir, are you really that short on money?"
"If so, you could join the Aberrant Association. We lack everything—except money."
"If you were willing to join us…"
She suddenly leaned closer, intentionally brushing against him, her body soft and pliant.
"I could give you a special reward."
Ma Jun didn't react at all.
He'd received plenty of "special rewards" growing up.
Zhuang Xin's figure was easily a 1.0-tier bombshell, but in Ma Jun's eyes, it didn't count as much of an incentive.
"Does the Aberrant Association have secret manuals like this?"
He pointed at the thread-bound book.
"Of course!" Zhuang Xin answered without hesitation.
"Many people who join the Aberrant Association choose to submit manuals from their own sects in exchange for merit points."
"Others can spend merit points to review them."
"It's extremely convenient."
The moment Ma Jun heard this, his spirits lifted.
That meant—
The Aberrant Association had a sizable collection of inner methods.
If he handed over the Compendium of South Seas Head-Lowering Arts, he could freely choose another inner method more suited to him.
At the very least, a manual of equal quality should be obtainable.
And if he sold off these ritual items as well…
He might even be able to buy better equipment.
Ma Jun couldn't help feeling excited.
This dungeon run was absolutely worth it.
"I didn't come here for nothing."
"So—if I submit this manual, how many merit points would I get?" he asked.
"Heh heh."
Zhuang Xin let out another soft laugh.
"Ma sir, merit points aren't something just anyone can exchange."
She slowly pressed closer, her voice dripping with implication.
"You'd have to become one of us first…"
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