Inflation in the Living World Scares Off the Red-Clad Ghost

A-Jie started his night shift at a convenience store in the mountains. The senior colleague handing over warned him with a grave expression: "If you see a woman in red enter at 3 AM without making a sound, don't look at her face, don't talk much, and do as she says!" At 3 AM, the store's entrance sensor chimed eerily: "Ding dong~ Welcome~". Biting cold air flooded the store. A-Jie looked up. A ghost in a red dress floated to the counter, her pale face obscured by messy hair. The ghost's voice trembled with cold: "I want a tea egg. The one that's been in the pot the longest, the one that's black and shiny." A-Jie's hands and feet went numb with fear. He closed his eyes and fumbled for a long time, finally picking out a jet-black tea egg. With trembling hands, he bagged it and placed it on the counter. "How much?" the ghost asked, extending a withered hand. "The tea egg... is 13 kuai." The ghost pulled out a 50 million yuan banknote of hell money, slapped it on the counter with a 'pa', and turned to float away. A-Jie glanced at the hell money, and his fear of the ghost evaporated on the spot. His mind was filled only with the pressure of inventory. He shouted urgently: "Miss, wait! How am I supposed to give you change for this 50 million yuan? The store manager said employees have to cover any discrepancies in the accounts. I don't want to lose my salary over one egg!" The ghost abruptly turned her head. Her face was almost transparently white, filled with disbelief. "What? It's 13 kuai now? It was only 10 kuai last time I was here! Inflation in the living world is even fiercer than in the underworld!" She snatched back the hell money, threw the tea egg back into the pot, and muttered as she floated out: "Too much of a rip-off, I'm not buying! You get discounts with hell money when you buy eggs in the underworld, but there are no deals in the living world!" A-Jie breathed a sigh of relief as he watched her leave, thinking to himself: Luckily, I didn't accept the hell money. Otherwise, during inventory tomorrow, I'd be in a worse state than encountering a ghost.