37: Chapter 37 The Alien Merchant's Guide to "Zero-Yuan Purchase"

Lin Qi stared at the picture on his phone screen, his fingers tapping lightly on the desktop.

It was a small, translucent herb with cloud-like white patterns on its leaves, and there was still some soil on its roots, clearly having been dug up not long ago.

cloud-pattern herb.

In this era of universal digitalization, most people only recognized red-quality potions and purple-quality equipment, and were somewhat unfamiliar with these types of Materials.

But in martial arts era, this was the main material for refining the "Flesh-Growing and Blood-Generating Pill."

After Skin Refining reached Perfection, the next step was Flesh Refining; one had to train the muscles throughout the body to be as tough as steel wire, and in the process, it was inevitable to suffer strains and tears.

Ordinary healing potions could only restore HP, but could not repair deep muscle fibers.

Only this thing could allow muscles to reorganize into a more perfect form after being damaged.

"Where?" Lin Qi replied with two words.

Zhang Wei replied quickly:

"The abandoned chemical plant in the west of the city. It is now a temporary transit station where a group of alien wandering merchants are staying."

Immediately after, there was a voice message, and Zhang Wei's voice sounded a bit shaky:

"Brother Qi, this task is a bit hot to handle. That merchant is a money-grubber who only trades and does not sell. Plus, there is a rumor in the black market that anyone who dares to make a move there will suffer the consequences."

Lin Qi turned off his phone, rummaged through his closet, and pulled out a black hoodie to wear over his school uniform.

"Only trades and does not sell?"

He zipped it up and straightened his collar in the mirror.

"Then I'll just rob them."

...

Late the next night, the abandoned chemical plant in the west of the city.

The air here was even worse than in the gray zone of the black market, permeated with a pungent smell of sulfur.

Huge gas storage tanks lay across the wasteland like the carcasses of dead giant beasts, and the rusted iron frames made creaking, eerie noises in the night wind.

Zhang Wei crouched behind an abandoned container, clutching the alloy dagger he used for self-defense, his legs shaking as if he were sifting grain.

"Brother... Brother Qi, how about we forget it?"

Zhang Wei pointed at the tall figures walking back and forth at the factory gate, his voice lowered to the extreme: "Look at those things, is that something a human can fight?"

Lin Qi narrowed his eyes and looked over.

There were four humanoid creatures over two meters tall, their skin dark red, their muscles knotted on their bodies like tree roots, their veins bulging, and they carried double-edged battle axes half a person tall in their hands.

[Bloodthirsty Berserker]

These were low-level units from the Abyss plane; they were not very intelligent, but they had thick skin and flesh, and came with the talents [Pain Immunity] and [Skin Hardening].

Simply put, they were a group of killing machines that didn't know pain.

At the current stage, apart from those fully armed elite guild teams, no one was willing to provoke such monsters.

"Four in total." Lin Qi counted, "Is this all the guards?"

"There must be more inside." Zhang Wei swallowed his saliva, "These kinds of alien merchants are the most afraid of death, and the guards around them are counted by establishment. Brother Qi, although we are fierce, there is no need to butt heads with these iron lumps, right? Should we consider taking it by wit?"

"Taking it by wit?" Lin Qi turned his head to look at him, "Can you use stealth?"

"No."

"Can you use hypnosis?"

"Also no."

"Then that settles it." Lin Qi pointed to the pile of old tires that looked like a small mountain behind the factory, "Go there."

Zhang Wei was stunned: "Why?"

"Set a fire." Lin Qi said lightly, "Since you can't use stealth, then lure them away. The bigger the fire, the better, preferably with some explosion sounds."

Zhang Wei opened his mouth wide, his face turning green:

"Brother, dear brother! I'll go set the fire? Wouldn't I become a living target? These monsters run faster than motorcycles, I can't outrun them with my physique!"

"Don't worry, they have no brains." Lin Qi patted Zhang Wei's fat-filled shoulder.

"They will only excitedly rush over when they see fire, they won't think about who set it. As long as you run a little bit faster, you won't die."

"A little... bit faster?"

"Go quickly." Lin Qi urged impatiently, "That merchant seems to have good stuff, if we go late, it will be gone."

Zhang Wei gritted his teeth, revealing a tragic expression as if he were a warrior breaking his wrist, and crept towards the back.

Lin Qi leaned against the container, silently calculating the distance and time.

One minute later.

Boom!

A plume of black smoke suddenly rose from the back of the factory, followed by flames shooting into the sky.

That was the thick black smoke unique to burning old tires.

I don't know what kind of ignition material this fat guy used, but the fire rose extremely fast, illuminating half the sky in the blink of an eye.

"Roar—!"

The Bloodthirsty Berserkers guarding the gate reacted immediately.

They turned their huge heads, sprayed two streams of white Qi from their nostrils, and then let out excited roars, carrying their battle axes and rushing towards the flames.

These low-intelligence creatures were naturally interested in chaos and destruction.

Watching the behemoths run away with a rumble, Lin Qi flashed out from behind the container.

No hesitation, no pause.

He was like a black spirit cat, darting to the factory wall in two or three steps.

Using the momentum of his run-up, Lin Qi tapped his toes on the wall twice, supported himself with both hands, and flipped over lightly.

He landed without a sound.

This was the body control brought by Skin Refining at Minor Achievement; even without a thief's stealth skill, he could achieve this level purely by muscle contraction.

The interior of the factory was even more spacious than the outside.

The center of the hall was piled with various wooden boxes and animal skin bundles, and a moldy spice smell floated in the air.

Sitting in the very center was a short, green-skinned creature with a pair of pointed ears.

Alien wandering merchant.

This guy was sitting on a gold-rimmed box, his two withered fingers nimbly counting a stack of colorful banknotes, humming an unknown tune.

In the shadows behind him, another figure stood.

That figure was a head taller than the Berserkers outside, and the muscles on his body were not dark red, but presented a strange blue-black color.

He was also not holding a normal double-edged axe, but a heavy battle axe as wide as a door panel, and blood grooves were flowing with dark red blood on the axe face.

Berserker Chieftain.

"Good stuff." Lin Qi crouched on the beam overhead, his gaze passing over the huge monster and falling on a transparent box the merchant was playing with in his hands.

Inside the box lay a translucent small herb, the cloud patterns clearly visible.

It really was cloud-pattern herb.

"This is the last deal of the day."

The merchant below stuffed the banknotes into his bosom, picked up the transparent box and held it up to the light, a greedy smile appearing on his face.

"This thing is a rare item. Those human fools don't understand its value at all, they actually wanted to trade it with a few bottles of crappy potions? Dreaming!"

Now is the time.

Lin Qi bent his legs slightly, and his whole body ejected from the beam.

His posture in the air was as relaxed as a hunting goshawk, without making any piercing sound.

But the Berserker Chieftain, who had been standing in the shadows without moving, suddenly raised his head at this moment.

There were no pupils in those turbid yellow eyeballs, only two clusters of burning blood flames.

This was the intuition of a high-level monster.

Even if he couldn't hear the sound, he could perceive the malice directed at him.

"Roar!"

The Berserker Chieftain let out a deafening roar, shaking the dust on the ceiling to fall down.

He didn't care about the merchant beside him at all, but directly swung the heavy axe as wide as a door panel and slashed fiercely at the black shadow falling in mid-air.