498: Chapter 498 of the diary angrily denounces: The owner of Lingbao Trading Company is a heartless, burly man!

"Customer, you have a good eye."

Fatty Zhou slowly extended a finger, his eyes squinted into slits that shimmered with the distinct light of a merchant.

He deliberately slowed his speech, making every word feel like a hook intended to dangle before one's heart.

"As soon as you open your mouth, you ask for our branch's crown jewel."

"A Rank One immortal body marrow core. The base price is~~"

He dragged out the last word, seemingly enjoying the sense of power that came with controlling the room and deciding fates with a single sentence.

"One million high-grade immortal stones. Each."

"Firm price."

The air in the entire hall felt as if it had been suddenly seized by an invisible giant hand, instantly vacuumed dry.

Qian Duoduo's face underwent a thrilling theatrical transformation.

First, the color drained completely, turning from ruddy to deathly pale, then from white to green, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head. Finally, his chubby face froze in a nearly transparent shade of ashen gray.

One million?

And... high-grade immortal stones?!

His brain let out a loud buzz and completely crashed.

Immediately after, his bone-deep professional instincts began to whirl frantically.

The ratio of low-grade immortal stones to high-grade immortal stones was a hundred to one.

One million High Grade stones was... one hundred million Low Grade stones!

That sky-high priced lunch they just had at Yingxian Restaurant was only three hundred thousand Low Grade stones.

A single immortal body marrow core was enough for them to eat there from morning till night for three hundred and thirty-three consecutive days!

"How... how... much?!"

Qian Duoduo's voice cracked, sounding like a fat duck being strangled by the neck, letting out a sharp and distorted wail of sorrow.

"One million high-grade immortal stones."

Fatty Zhou repeated with a smile. His kind, fat face clearly displayed the words: "Take it or leave it."

"And, that's just the base price."

He leisurely wagged a finger, slowly rubbing salt into the wound.

"Treasures like the immortal body marrow core are always sold at our branch's annual grand finale auction. The highest bidder wins."

"Based on previous years' market trends, the final price is usually 1.5 to 2 times the base price."

"In other words, if you really want to secure one, you should prepare at least 1.5 million high-grade immortal stones."

"Furthermore—"

He held up three fleshy fingers.

"Our Peng City branch only supplies a maximum of three per auction."

Having finished, he crossed his arms and watched the group with composed interest.

His gaze was like someone enjoying a brilliant mime performance.

Qian Duoduo was beyond a mime; he looked like he was about to attend his own funeral service.

His two-hundred-plus-pound frame seemed to have its bones removed; he stood there swaying, held up only by the willpower of 'not embarrassing the boss.'

1.5 million high-grade immortal stones for one.

They needed eight. A full eight!

Twelve million high-grade immortal stones!

Twelve million!

This number was like a Primordial Divine Mountain, crashing down upon his Divine Soul, crushing all his logic and hope into dust.

Even if he were sliced into meat on the spot and sold by the pound, he couldn't even scrape together a fraction of that astronomical figure!

He uncontrollably turned his head to look at Su Chen.

Su Chen's face held no expression whatsoever.

It was as calm as a ten-thousand-year-old well, without even a hint of a ripple.

But his inner world was already being carpet-bombed by nuclear warheads, exploding into a brilliant display of fireworks.

[Holy crap! I'm calling holy crap right now!]

[This isn't called business; this is called highway robbery! Is this how business is done in the Immortal Realm?!]

[One million high-grade immortal stones for one? And the final price might double? Eight would be twelve million High Grade stones!]

[My ten million low-grade immortal stones only convert to one hundred thousand High Grade stones! One hundred thousand!]

[That's not even enough to pay the change for a single one!]

[Did some Yao Beast snatch away the conscience of the Lingbao Trading Firm's boss as a snack?!]

[This isn't selling things; this is clearly trying to strip me bare from the inside out, not even leaving me my underwear!]

[No, at this price, I'd have to hand over my underwear and still owe money!]

Su Chen forcibly suppressed the roaring turmoil in his heart.

His face remained completely devoid of any waves.

His dozen-plus years as a salted fish had taught him one truth: the more desperate the situation, the more one must act as if everything is breezy.

Otherwise, others will righteously take charge of even your last pair of underwear.

He spoke to Fatty Zhou in a flat voice.

"The auction is on the first of next month?"

"Exactly," Fatty Zhou nodded, smiling pleasantly.

"Fine, I see."

Su Chen finished speaking and turned to leave.

His movements were clean and decisive, without a single extra word or a hint of lingering.

Qian Duoduo, Jian Buping, and the others were stunned for a moment before scurrying after him like awakened marionettes.

The group walked silently out of the magnificent pagoda.

No one spoke.

Even the usually lively Wang Baobao sensed the oppressive atmosphere. She followed quietly, her large, dark eyes darting between Su Chen and Qian Duoduo, her small face full of confusion.

The boss seems very unhappy.

...

Back in the guest room at Yingxian Restaurant.

Su Chen closed the door.

*Click.*

He plopped down into a chair, leaning back heavily against the backrest, staring at the ceiling with hollow eyes for a long while.

The more he thought, the angrier he got; the more he calculated, the more frustrated he felt.

He really couldn't hold it in anymore.

*Swish!*

He suddenly whipped the beast-hide diary out of his Storage Ring and slammed it onto the table!

Grabbing a pen, he began to vent his fury frantically on a blank page.

The pen tip scraped across the paper with a cringe-inducing rasp. The handwriting was wild and forceful, as if he weren't writing, but carving a monument!

[Went to check out the Lingbao Trading Firm today.]

[The manager who received me was a guy called Fatty Zhou. One look and you can tell he's an old fox who's attained enlightenment. He smiles like a Maitreya Buddha descended to earth, but every pore of his body is oozing black water of calculation!]

[immortal body marrow core, base price one million high-grade immortal stones. The auction price will likely double.]

[Is this fucking selling miraculous medicine or selling my life?!]

[Eight of them... I need to prepare at least twelve million high-grade immortal stones, and that's not even counting the suckers who might pop up at the auction to outbid me!]

[Jian Buping even found out that the Peng City Lord's Manor has a shady relationship with the Lingbao Trading Firm. The two of them often collude at auctions to drive up prices, specifically scamming the 'leeks' who need immortal bodies!]

[Great! Official-merchant collusion, huh? Bullying us because we don't know the market price, right?]

The more he wrote, the more worked up he became. The pen tip danced wildly on the paper like a loaded machine gun, frantically spraying ink everywhere.

[The boss behind this Lingbao Trading Firm is probably a black-hearted, ruthless, and insatiably greedy money-grabbing oaf!]

When Su Chen reached this point, the pen tip came to a heavy halt.

He felt it wasn't satisfying enough.

He took a deep breath and added another sentence.

[No! 'Money-grabbing oaf' isn't enough to describe his black heart!]

Still not enough!

That ball of frustration was stuck in his chest, unable to go up or down.

He grit his teeth, his wrist suddenly exerting force. At the very end of the diary, in a font twice the size of the main text, he carved out stroke by stroke, as if using every ounce of his strength—

[This is clearly a stingy, black-hearted, foot-picking oaf!]

As he finished the last character, the beast-hide paper under the pen tip could no longer bear the burden, letting out a *rip* as a tiny tear appeared.

Su Chen let out a long, long exhale.

He tossed the pen onto the table and collapsed back into the chair again.

The evil fire in his heart had finally smoothed out a bit.

Cursing people...

Although it doesn't solve the problem, it certainly solves the mood.

He closed the diary, rubbed the space between his eyebrows, and began to recalculate how exactly he was going to make money next.

Over ten million high-grade immortal stones.

Even if the System gave him several waves of critical hits, he'd have to write until his hand cramped up.

"I have to find another way..." he murmured to himself.

However, he did not know.

A storm ignited by his own hand, one sufficient to make him lose his entire fortune, had quietly begun its prelude.