22: Chapter 22 One Shot, One Kill, the School Beauty is Stunned

Beep!

Transaction successful.

The crisp electronic notification sounded in the silent forest clearing, appearing particularly abrupt.

This single sound completely shattered the lingering atmosphere of slaughter from moments ago.

Lin Fan nimbly put away the POS machine, and his face, which had been as cold as a Shura, was instantly covered in a warm, enthusiastic smile.

The bloody aura that had originally surrounded him seemed to dissipate at this moment, replaced by a thick, worldly scent of money.

"Boss Su is so generous. I wish you abundant wealth and flourishing martial fortune."

Lin Fan handed over a receipt printed with a QR code while smiling broadly.

Su Qingxue took the receipt, and looking at the eye-catching line of fifty thousand alliance coins on it, her eyelid twitched uncontrollably.

Just a moment ago, she really thought she had seen a God of War descending to the mortal realm. That youth with the towering silhouette, who had shattered the demonic wolf's head with a single punch, had caused a slight flutter in her long-dormant martial heart.

But now...

Looking at this person in front of her rubbing his hands together with a wretched, money-grubbing expression, that slight flutter instantly shattered into pieces.

Disillusionment.

Complete and utter disillusionment.

"Captain, you're really buying it?"

The boy with the severed arm nearby finally snapped out of it. Ignoring the pain of his wound, he stared wide-eyed at the blue cube.

"This... this is just a dead wolf stuffed into a bag with a question mark slapped on it. This counts as a blind box? And it costs fifty thousand? This is clearly a scam!"

"Exactly, Qing Xue. Even though this kid just saved us, business is business. This wolf is worth thirty thousand at most; he's hiking up the price on the spot!"

"What blind box? I think it's just a gimmick. What else could be inside besides rotten meat?"

The team members spoke all at once, their gazes toward Lin Fan filled with ill intent. In their eyes, Lin Fan was a petty man taking advantage of a favor to demand a reward.

Lin Fan ignored the noise completely.

A bunch of paupers—what do they know about investment?

His gaze remained fixed on Su Qingxue.

To be precise, it was fixed on the faint golden luck halo above Su Qingxue's head that only he could see.

[Target: Su Qingxue]

[Luck Level: A-rank (Favored by Fate)]

[Current Status: Desires to become stronger, full of curiosity about the unknown.]

[System Judgment: High-quality customer. Estimated return multiplier: Extremely high.]

This was the real prize.

The fifty thousand was just the entry ticket. The real profit would only be realized the moment this woman opened the box.

"I'm not just buying this wolf."

Su Qingxue spoke suddenly, her voice cool and clear, suppressing the surrounding noise.

She looked at the blind box emitting a faint blue light.

As an A-rank Ice Awakener, her perception far exceeded that of ordinary people.

Just as Lin Fan sealed the box earlier, she had vaguely felt a strange energy fluctuation envelop the wolf's corpse. That fluctuation was obscure and ancient, definitely not something an ordinary body bag could possess.

Furthermore...

Lin Fan's punch just now was too stunning.

How could a piece of trash with an F-Rank Talent insta-kill a D-rank Elite?

The only explanation lay within this blind box.

"I trust my intuition."

Su Qingxue no longer hesitated. She stepped forward and stood before the blind box.

"Hey, wait."

Lin Fan suddenly reached out to stop her.

"What is it?" Su Qingxue frowned.

"Boss Su, there's a specific way to open a blind box."

Lin Fan spoke with a serious expression, sounding as if he were talking about something significant. "This is a god and demon blind box, and sealed within are the spirits of alien races. If you want to pull something good, you must be sincere."

"Sincere?" Su Qingxue was stunned.

"Yes, a sense of ritual is very important."

Lin Fan began to talk nonsense with a straight face. "First, you need to adjust your breathing and let your heartbeat slow down. Then, you must think intensely about what you want most in your mind. For example, what do you lack most right now? Attack? Defense? Or perception?"

"This intense willpower will resonate with the energy inside the blind box, thereby increasing the drop rate of top-tier items."

In reality, there was no such thing.

Produced by the system, the drop rates were random.

But Lin Fan understood one principle: you have to get the customer involved. The more tedious the process, the stronger the sense of anticipation; the higher the emotional cost invested, the more explosive the thrill after getting something.

This is called user experience management.

Su Qingxue gave him a dubious look.

But seeing Lin Fan's certain gaze, she still subconsciously followed his instructions.

She closed her eyes.

Her chest rose and fell slightly as she adjusted her somewhat chaotic breathing.

What I want most...

Images of the battle just now surfaced in her mind. The demonic wolf's speed was too fast; her ice walls couldn't keep up at all. If her mental perception could be a bit stronger, if she could predict the opponent's trajectory in advance...

Get stronger.

I want to get stronger.

I want power sufficient to protect my family, power that no longer requires the charity of others' rescue.

An intense desire surged in her heart.

The surrounding team members looked at each other. Seeing the usually cold and wise school beauty actually believe this Shrewd Merchant's nonsense and perform some "ritual," they all found it incredibly absurd.

"Playing tricks..." the boy with the severed arm whispered.

"Alright."

Lin Fan's voice rang out at the right time, carrying a hint of captivating magnetism. "Now is the time. Open it!"

Su Qingxue snapped her eyes open.

Within those cold eyes, a burning light now blazed.

Her palm pressed against the giant question mark on the surface of the blind box.

She tore it open with force.

Riiip.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, nor were there phantoms of gods and Buddhas filling the sky.

But the moment the seal was torn, a piercing blue light suddenly burst forth from the cracks of the box, instantly illuminating the dim forest.

"Holy crap! There's actually light?!"

The fat guy, Zhang Hao, cried out and subconsciously covered his eyes.

The surrounding team members, who were originally waiting to see a joke, saw the mockery on their faces freeze as that pure, cold light carried a chill that pierced straight to the soul.

Immediately after.

The originally giant cubic blind box rapidly collapsed and decomposed within the light. The wolf corpse weighing hundreds of catties vanished, replaced by a fist-sized crystal floating in the air.

The crystal was deep blue throughout and translucent.

Most eerily, right in the center of the crystal was a sealed, closed vertical eye. Even through the crystal, everyone could feel the terrifying mental fluctuations contained within that eye.

Cold air radiated outward.

The wild grass on the ground instantly formed a layer of white frost.

"This... this is..."

Su Qingxue reached out and caught the crystal with trembling hands.

The moment it touched her hand, a cool current of air rushed from her palm straight to the top of her head. Her brain, which had been aching from overexertion, instantly became incredibly clear. The sound of the wind, the swaying of the leaves, and even the sound of insects crawling in the distance were all clearly presented in her mind at this moment.

Perception skyrocketed!

"D-rank exotic treasure, delusion-breaking ice crystal."

Lin Fan's voice rang out leisurely, carrying a hint of expected calmness. "That Three-Eyed Demonic Wolf had mutated. Its third eye was already a mental-type treasure, and plus it was killed by ice-type energy (it was actually beaten to death, but Lin Fan forced the explanation), the two fused and likely mutated into this thing."

"Not only can it significantly increase your Mental Energy, but it can also give your ice-type abilities a mental shock effect."

"Boss Su, for this fifty thousand, is it a loss?"

A loss?

This is a freaking massive profit!

If an exotic treasure of this level were placed in an auction house, the starting price would be at least three hundred thousand! And it would be a rare item with no supply!

Su Qingxue's fingers turned red from the force of gripping the ice crystal.

She abruptly looked up at Lin Fan. Within her originally cold gaze, there was now shock, complexity, and a hint of fanaticism that even she hadn't noticed.

You really can pull something out.

This wasn't a scam.

This seemingly money-grubbing youth actually possessed the ability to turn the mundane into the miraculous!

"My god..."

"The Captain's aura... has become stronger?"

The surrounding team members were dumbfounded. Although they didn't know the value of the goods, they could clearly feel Su Qingxue's aura rising steadily, her previously weak state completely swept away.