Chapter 3: The Vanishing Lighter

“Damn humans, even if I die, I will never submit.”

The delivery spirit glared fiercely at Summer Sky, letting the power of the rules tear its body apart, but stubbornly refusing to yield.

“Hmph, quite stubborn. Then go ahead and die—it just so happens to help me complete an experiment.”

Summer Sky took out another paper ingot from his pocket.

He had burned one earlier but kept one in reserve.

Now he unfolded it, bit his finger, and used his fresh blood to draw a complex, strange sigil on the back before refolding it into the shape of an ingot.

Holding the silver ingot, he slowly approached the delivery spirit.

The netherworld energy torn from the spirit seemed drawn to it, surging into the ingot.

The originally paper ingot began to gleam with a metallic luster and gradually gained weight.

As the netherworld energy continued to pour in, the silver ingot grew heavier and larger.

The delivery spirit watched this unfold, mouth agape, eyes nearly popping out.

“This… is this the forbidden art from the spirit realm legend?”

“What do I care? Since you refuse to contract, die then. When you die, you can be transformed into nether coins for me.”

Summer Sky’s heart leapt with joy.

This was his first attempt, and unexpectedly, it truly worked.

In his previous life, he had heard a clue about this homemade nether coin technique from a strange spirit and pursued it.

He had sneaked into a strange scene and witnessed this method of making nether coins.

Unfortunately, he did not escape and was killed by a powerful spirit there.

In fact, Summer Sky had lost his life just for this method.

Unlike burning paper money or ingots, which drains one’s vital energy, this technique’s cost was negligible.

No ritual was needed, nor was there any burning of paper ingots. All it required was a single drop of blood to draw a complex sigil, which would then automatically absorb the nether energy dispersing from the defeated spirits, transforming it into nether coins.

The only difficulty was that the spirit had to be severely injured or killed, somewhat like leveling up by defeating monsters.

The silver ingot in Summer Sky’s hand gradually grew from the size of a thumb to the size of a fist.

The delivery spirit felt a twinge of regret.

Its eyes darted around nervously before suddenly pleading, “Brother, I was wrong. I’m willing to sign an equal contract with you.”

As the words fell, Summer Sky sensed a strange aura surrounding him.

He knew it was the power of the contract.

He only needed to verbally accept to complete the contract smoothly.

Yet he shook his head.

Shifting his gaze from the ingot to the delivery spirit, he said, “Had you agreed earlier, I would have signed an equal contract. But now, I only accept a master-servant contract.”

“You…”

The delivery spirit was furious, wanting to curse but dared not.

There are three types of contracts possible between spirits and humans: master-servant contract, spirit-master contract, and equal contract.

The names themselves make their meanings clear.

The master-servant contract places humans as masters and spirits as servants.

Humans can use the spirit’s abilities at will without any cost.

They can even decide the spirit’s life or death with a thought, and if the human dies, the spirit dies as well.

The spirit-master contract is the opposite, with the spirit as master and the human as servant.

The spirit can freely drain the human’s lifespan or soul without any rules restraining it. If the spirit dies, the human dies too.

The equal contract is more like a labor agreement.

Humans and spirits coexist equally; using the spirit’s abilities requires paying a price, such as lifespan, soul, or nether coins.

When either party dies, the other suffers a backlash that causes severe injury but does not result in death.

“Your time is running out. Decide quickly!”

Summer Sky held the increasingly large silver ingot, not forgetting to remind the spirit.

---

As the power of the rules tore at it, the delivery spirit’s body grew fainter and smaller.

Perhaps in the next moment, it would collapse entirely.

Yet, it still hesitated and struggled within.

Recognizing this human as its master meant losing freedom and the right over its own life and death.

For a spirit, this was a tremendous humiliation.

The delivery spirit was unwilling; it had only arrived in this world for a day, never having tasted the ways of humans, only to become their prey—how unlucky was that?

Staring at the growing silver ingot in Summer Sky’s hand, a thought suddenly struck it.

This human possessed the forbidden art of forging nether coins. Following him would surely ensure a steady supply of nether coins in the future—perhaps not a bad choice.

After some self-comfort, it made its decision.

“I submit. I agree to sign the master-servant contract with you.”

Summer Sky laughed heartily, his goal finally achieved. “We shall sign the master-servant contract—you as master, I as servant.”

He was truly reluctant to see the delivery spirit die.

Though weak and at the lowest level of spirits, it possessed two very useful spirit arts.

One was called “Nether Delivery,” which used the delivery spirit’s own nether energy to condense various foods.

Long-term consumption could delay aging, slowly extend lifespan, and keep one mentally vigorous, allowing resistance against some spirit-induced confusions.

However, consuming too much in a short time risked transformation into a spirit by the nether energy.

The other spirit art was “Door Opening,” the ability used earlier to open the door remotely.

Its advantage was opening any door from a distance, locked or not; its disadvantage was that it only worked on door-like objects.

Neither had much offensive power, but both were highly practical in the apocalypse.

After signing the contract, the power of the rules dissipated.

The delivery spirit’s body, now noticeably smaller, transformed into a ball of nether light and drifted into Summer Sky’s body.

“Master.”

“Hm, stick with me from now on. I promise you won’t be mistreated.”

From this moment, their communication no longer required speech; a simple thought sufficed for telepathic exchange.

“Why did you come to me?”

Summer Sky asked eagerly, puzzled.

In his previous life, he had never encountered the delivery spirit, yet after rebirth, without doing anything, history had changed.

The delivery spirit replied, “I was just passing through, sensed a sharp fluctuation in someone’s lifespan, and followed the trail to you.”

Spirits could steal human lifespan and naturally sensed lifespan fluctuations.

Summer Sky’s rebirth probably caused this fluctuation.

He nodded and asked, “When did the spirits start arriving?”

“Yesterday. There were too many spirits and too few entry points. I only managed to squeeze in today.”

Summer Sky frowned. It seemed the authorities had concealed the truth for two days.

He suddenly recalled a super powerful spirit would arrive the night after tomorrow, killing sixty to seventy thousand people in one strike.

The incident shocked the world and triggered nationwide panic.

Perhaps because of this, the authorities could no longer hide the truth and had to announce the spirit invasion.

As he pondered this, another thought came to him.

A terrifying spirit had slaughtered countless people early in the apocalypse, evolving through stages from fierce spirit to spirit general, turning a city of a million into a spirit city.

Later, it was forcibly contracted by a human spirit hunter who relied on the delivery spirit’s arts.

With this in mind, Summer Sky felt he might also have a chance to contract with this powerful spirit.

Excitement stirred within him.

He sat on the sofa, holding the silver ingot larger than a fist, ready to exchange information with the delivery spirit and ask useful questions.

Suddenly, “crackling” noises broke the silence.

---

Summer Sky recognized the sound immediately.

It was the sound of a lighter wheel scraping flint.

His whole body tensed, hairs standing on end—there were others in the room.

No, other spirits.

He realized that the lighter’s disappearance earlier might have been because a spirit had taken it.

“Can you sense other spirits?” Summer Sky asked the delivery spirit in his mind.

“No, I can only sense spirits weaker than me.”

“Are there spirits weaker than you?”

Spirits were ranked by strength: wild spirit, fierce spirit, evil spirit, vicious spirit, formidable spirit, spirit general, spirit king—seven levels in total.

The delivery spirit was a wild spirit, the lowest level.

“Master, you humans have a saying: ‘See through but don’t reveal.’”

The delivery spirit was clearly concerned about its pride. “There are some low-level spirits without formed rules, weaker than me, but they cannot enter the human world.”

Summer Sky paid little attention and rose slowly to find the source of the sound.

The crackling suddenly stopped, but his eyes snapped toward the bedroom wardrobe.

The old wooden door was so worn it no longer closed tightly.

A flicker of firelight shone through the gap.

“There must be a spirit inside!”

Summer Sky approached cautiously, every muscle taut.

Since spirits had already arrived, confrontation was inevitable; fleeing might trigger deadly rules.

He slowly extended his right hand and used the Door Opening art to open the wardrobe remotely.

“Creak!”

The old wooden wardrobe emitted a soft, eerie sound that seemed unusually loud in the silence.

The door swung open, revealing several white shirts and black trousers hanging inside.

Beneath the clothes sat a chubby little baby.

Wearing a red bellyband, plump all over, about two or three years old.

It was playing with the lighter, and when the door opened, it turned its head toward Summer Sky.

Big, watery eyes, lively and bright. Its round, rosy cheeks were soft and delicate, irresistibly adorable.

It looked exactly like a normal human infant.

Summer Sky, however, broke into a cold sweat, his face grave.

“This is a spirit baby!”

Spirit babies were among the most troublesome types of spirits, with the lowest level being fierce spirit, possibly even evil or vicious spirit.

They wielded bizarre death rules that were nearly impossible to break.

In his previous life, any appearance of a spirit baby had always caused massive human casualties.

Far stronger than the delivery spirit.

Summer Sky noticed some grease stains on the baby’s small hands, resembling the soup spilled from the delivery packaging.

Suddenly, he realized it was this little one who had knocked over the delivery packaging, not himself.

The baby suddenly grinned and giggled at Summer Sky.

The next moment, it vanished instantly, as if it had never appeared.

At the same time, the sound of a baby crying echoed around.

Ethereal and indistinct, it was impossible to tell where the sound came from.

Not only Summer Sky heard it; every room from the first to the seventh floor in his entire unit, every person, heard the infant’s crying.