Feng’er finally stirred from behind the counter. She placed several black pouches on a tray, her joints cracking in a sharp, unnatural way. Then, moving stiffly to the door, she opened it just a crack.  0

From the darkness, a rotting, bloated hand wrapped in black smoke reached inside. It grabbed one of the black pouches and then pushed it back, grabbed another, and pushed it back again…repeating this several times until finally, it did not return the last pouch.  0

The white-robed clerk spun around and disappeared into the back room. Moments later, she came out dragging a terrified person. The fear in his eyes was unmistakable, but his body was frozen, unable to move.  0

The clerk opened the door, extended her arm, and handed the captive out. In exchange, that decaying hand in the darkness gave her a sheet of stark-white ghost money.  0

The trade done, she shut the door again. In that instant, the light outside flickered back to normal.  0

Li Yuan asked gravely, “What tier of ghost is...0