No. 111 Undead Street, Night Post Office General Store, back kitchen.
Outside the window, a solitary blood moon hung in the pitch-black night sky like a massive eyeball constantly monitoring the world.
Water splashed loudly in the kitchen sink as Claire washed the iron pot she needed. The icy stream flowed over her hands and into the drain, carrying away the expired ingredients left over from potion-making.
A headless, half-bodied creature that continued to twist and secrete transparent gelatinous mucus—an unknown type of eel. Rat eyeballs that would bounce high like rubber balls when stimulated from the outside…
And many more. A chaotic stew made from mixing organs of various bizarre creatures from the Hell World. Just one look at it would send anyone’s sanity plummeting.
It was a good thing Bai Tang did not know about this. If she found out that the ointment she had smeared all over her body—and even absorbed through her wounds—was made from these ingredients, she probably would not be able to sleep tonight.
After washing the pots and bowls and hanging them on hooks to dry, Claire left the kitchen.
“The materials for making potions are running low.”
Claire glanced sideways at the old wall clock. The shortest hand had just stopped at the 3 mark.
Excluding the margin of error, it was 2:55 AM.
“Bai Tang, we’re not opening tonight. I’m going out for a bit. Don’t open the door for anyone, including me.”
“Understood, Teacher.”
The girl’s reply came from the room.
Claire picked up the large purple witch hat drying on the clothes rack and put it on. Taking a spare key with her, she flipped the wooden sign on the door before leaving.
[Closed for Rest]
She took down the human-skin lantern from the iron hook, and following the direction in her memory, the girl’s figure was gradually swallowed by the pitch-black night.
Walking along the empty streets of Undead Street with the blood moon hanging high overhead, the faint scarlet light twisted the surrounding withered vegetation into grotesque shapes. The shadows of dry branches cast on fallen leaves writhed like claws in the breeze.
The quieter the surroundings, the more danger lurked in the darkness.
Crack—!
The sound of a dry branch snapping under a heavy weight rang out especially clearly in Long Night. It was as if a switch had been flipped. Countless humanoid creatures crawling on all fours like canines approached, following the scent.
Claire stopped in her tracks.
Under the dim, yellowish light of the human-skin lantern in her hand, she could faintly make out the creatures closing in—ghouls crawling on all fours.
There were also some translucent, incorporeal wandering souls that fed on the fear and emotions of living beings.
Clearly, the blood moon that rose during Long Night not only strengthened creatures of the [Chaotic] alignment but also drove them even more insane, to the point they had set their sights on Claire.
Among them, several ghouls had particularly blood-red pupils. Dried blood clots that had not fully solidified still clung to their cheeks and under their fingernails. Their eyes held only bloodthirsty madness and an insatiable hunger for food.
Had some of these attacked Bai Tang?
“It seems I’ve been underestimated,” Claire said, her expression turning serious.
With a wave of her wide witch robe sleeve, two potion bottles bearing skull stickers were thrown toward the charging ghouls.
Sizzle—!
The glass bottles shattered upon impact with the ghouls’ sharp claws. The medicinal liquid inside, containing hundreds of plague viruses, spilled out. It was highly corrosive, rapidly eating away at the flesh of the ghouls it touched.
“Arghhh!! Urgh…!”
Miserable shrieks rose and fell, echoing through the street.
But that was not all. The scent of the potion was just as attractive to ghouls as fresh meat. To the surviving ghouls, the corpses of their corroded kin instantly became tempting food.
They fought each other to devour the bodies.
In mere moments, what had started as a hunt with overwhelming numerical advantage turned into a cannibalistic slaughter among their own kind.
Claire watched indifferently as the ghouls tore their companions apart until only white skeletons remained. Then, the ones who had eaten the plague-infested flesh collapsed one after another, becoming deadly rations for those that came after.
Until every ghoul in the entire area was completely wiped out.
Claire’s expression remained cold and detached. Only her pair of red eyes emitted a faint glow in the darkness.
Mysterious, dangerous, and indifferent to life—these were the defining traits of a witch in the Hell World.
With no emotion resembling fear shown, the remaining wandering souls posed no real threat. They were little more than ambient lighting.
Claire adjusted her tall, pointed purple hat and continued on her way.
Undead Street had roughly 350 households. After leaving the relatively desolate area around No. 111 General Store, Claire stepped into the most densely populated residential zone for bizarre creatures on Undead Street.
The area near the Goat Tavern at No. 17, which Bai Tang had visited during White Day.
The street was quiet, but not completely deserted. Occasionally, undead-level bizarre creatures would pass by Claire.
Long Night was extremely dangerous. Many bizarre creatures that still showed some restraint during White Day would reveal their truest, most savage selves only after Long Night fell. Therefore, even if familiar bizarre creatures happened to encounter each other during Long Night, they would almost never speak.
At that moment, Claire felt a gaze land on her. She looked up.
It was the owner of the Goat Tavern—the Barrel Butcher, whom Bai Tang had interacted with during White Day.
Technically, the Barrel Butcher had only received the letter less than twelve hours ago and still counted as a customer of the Night Post Office General Store.
However, the atmosphere between the two upon meeting was rather tense.
In a gathering place like Undead Street, those who had reached Blood Robe Level or above usually claimed their own territory by default. The area around the general store belonged to Claire.
Now, during Long Night, Claire had left her territory and stepped into the area near the Goat Tavern. This was undoubtedly a provocation toward the Barrel Butcher.
A human-skin lantern hung from an iron hook outside the Goat Tavern. The Barrel Butcher stood behind the tavern door, staring fixedly in Claire’s direction. In his left hand he held a large iron hook used in slaughterhouses to hang pork, while his right hand gripped a sharp boning knife that glinted coldly.
Large patches of fresh red stained the apron tied around his waist, as if blood had just been splashed across it.
“What… are you here for?”
Half of the Barrel Butcher’s face was hidden in shadow. His hoarse voice, as if something was stuck in his throat, rang out slowly.
“Here to avenge that little girl of yours?”
Even though she had won against the werewolf in the game during White Day, the Barrel Butcher did not believe that the human called Bai Tang could have survived the journey back once Long Night approached.
She had most likely died on the road without any suspense.
Therefore, the arrival of Claire, the general store owner, at this time seemed to him like she had come to demand an explanation.
Claire composed herself.
If it had been before, she would not have taken a mere Blood Robe Level existence like the Barrel Butcher seriously.
But now, at least until she abandoned her current identity, the strength she could display was only on the same level as the Barrel Butcher.
So, to avoid unnecessary trouble:
“No. That child got a bit injured. I happened to be passing by to buy medicine.” She paused, then added, “Also, I want to know what Bai Tang did inside the tavern during White Day.”