Chapter 545
Chapter 545 - 525: Bounty
1,484 words
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8 min read
"Making money is not a shabby thing."
These days, Lu Ping’an has been idling down.
He doesn’t need to personally sell ship tickets or sign contracts. In this last fortress, business is booming.
Lu Ping’an’s team is doing the final clearing before evacuation.
These smuggling ship tickets can still be sold at a sky-high price... Lu Ping’an and his team know that this is the only chance they will ever have to gather initial resources in the Demonic Hour.
For instance, just buying various local Magic Plants and selling them to the Life Courtyard is a huge and stable source of income.
Perhaps the different worlds bring vastly different DNA modules for Magic Plants, and a single species can often fetch a price several times that of its counterparts on Earth.
"Over 3,000 points, this is the richest we’ve ever been..."
These points are not just from Magic Plants but also from a variety of local specialty animals that have become commodities due to the inclusion of the "animal zoo".
However, while Magic Plants can be seen as assets by refugees, especially since many of them were originally used for making Magic Potions and alchemical products, very few people would carry live Magic animals around with them.
"At the end of the world, some people sell despair, some peddle faith, and others sell ship tickets..."
Looking around, Lu Ping’an thinks that he’s not even the worst of them.
Some people are claiming to be Buddhas on the spot, crazily attracting believers and forming strange organizations.
Others form gangs, propagating various doctrines and theories of salvation, saying that if you believe in them and follow them, they can save you.
There are also those who preach on the spot, saying that "those who believe in me can be saved." Although they seem to behave similarly to the previous two, when you consider that there might be Quasi-Gods or True Gods backing them up, the nature of the two behaviors becomes completely different.
At the Doomsday, all living beings suffer, but some people suffer more... Ordinary mortals, after losing their families and homes, are then "deceived" of their reason and rationality.
What’s left?
"Don’t you still have your life?"
Blood sacrifice, self-cursing to create Taboo items, human meat shields... At the moment of the collapse of social order, Lu Ping’an sees the evil of men in this small town.
Devils from the Abyss? Unknown Evil Gods? Every day, every moment, there are inexplicable things appearing and disappearing in the city, along with some mortals.
At this point, no one cares about the dead bodies in the streets, unless you died in a particularly horrifying and bizarre way to attract attention.
Lu Ping’an puts away his rifle, a swift gain just acquired from the hands of the seventh group of robbers he encountered today.
As for the man lying on the ground with a hole in his forehead, he was the eighth... Perhaps, the sight of a young boy standing alone just looks tempting.
His team has finished the integration, most of them have already settled in the Life Courtyard, entering a relatively closed "self-sufficient" lifestyle.
Factories and fields are fully operational. Just transcribing and recording local Taboo knowledge leaves them with plenty of work.
Only a few people are still busy outside, gathering resources and selling the few remaining ship tickets... With the current situation, as gutsy as you are, that’s how big a money-grabbing business selling reliable ship tickets can be.
He could leave at any moment now.
He chooses to stay here just because of a rumor.
"It’s said that the monster, the Divine offspring, has all kinds of animal heads..."
The beastly monster from the rumors should also be an old acquaintance of Lu Ping’an.
If it were just the first half of the rumor, Lu Ping’an would probably have run as far away as possible.
"...It is covered in blood-colored thorns and vines, but they don’t seem to be part of its body, as those thorns are actually sucking blood from it and growing..."
At this moment, Lu Ping’an thought of the Bloodvine and the "dirty bomb" he threw into the forest.
"Did these Magic Plants grow on the God Corpse? Have they formed a symbiotic relationship with it? Or are they merely using it as fertilizer to grow themselves?"
If he didn’t have his own experience with the Sun Vine, Lu Ping’an would probably think his guess was impossible, but now it seemed that the Bloodvine he left in the forest had evolved once again.
𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
"I want it."
The moment he knew it existed, Lu Ping’an’s reason and inspiration went wild, leaping with excitement. That was the nutrition he craved, the perfect medium for his road to evolution.
But wait for it to come and then forcibly take it? Uh, that would be equivalent to a death sentence.
With Catherine wearing Zhi Xi, the power of Holy Fire fully unleashed, and blessed by good fortune, she was probably around the peak of Silver-tier, already scraping the standards of Rule-level combat power.
And that day facing the Sophist, Lu Ping’an, after performing the "Big Cat Possession," should have also reached the peak of combat power just below Rule-level.
What if Lu Ping’an, stronger than Catherine, also wore Zhi Xi, activated the Holy Fire, and performed Big Cat Possession at the same time? How high would his combat power soar?
"Don’t even think about it, still at the peak of Silver-tier, like those Gold-tier noobs."
Big Cat splashed a bucket of cold water on him: combat power isn’t as simple as one plus one equals two. At a certain level, without "Decrees," without "Rules," there’s no way to fight.
"Besides, even a righteous, old-fashioned Gold-tier could be instantly killed by that thing."
A Beast God is a deity, and the gap between a deity and a Quasi-God is probably like the difference between a voter and a president. Every voter, in theory, has the potential to become president – well, theoretically.
Even if the God Corpse’s combat power is severely discounted, its intelligence degraded to almost nothing, and its perception becomes so dull that it’s practically zero, it still has the potential to slap a Quasi-God to death, let alone an ordinary Gold-tier.
By this time, Lu Ping’an should have given up rationally, but suddenly, he realized he was being a bit stupid.
"...Why do I have to think of a way to seize it myself? I can buy it..."
So, Lu Ping’an naturally took out a bounty...
"I am an Exotic Realm plant researcher and am very interested in the red vines on the hundred-beast god corpse. If anyone can help me get it, I’ll pay a high price. A living sample is worth 10 ship tickets, while a dead one is worth 3, and I only need one sample. Note: If you’re not interested in ship tickets, you can exchange them for equivalent items, and reselling is allowed."
A standard game NPC’s "quest" was made just like that and quickly spread.
Just the reward of "10 ship tickets" was enough to drive people crazy at this stage...
Of course, the God Corpse is incredibly strong, but I don’t need to kill it; I just need to harvest a little weed from its body. As long as you have the guts, you can definitely take a gamble.
Moreover, since it’s now a "Corpse Monster," slow movement and dull perception are common traits for zombie creatures; it should have lost its sense of touch by now.
As a matter of fact, by the time Lu Ping’an arrived here, the market price of "ship tickets" had already reached one Truth-level item each.
Of course, just because the market price is that high doesn’t mean the actual trading price is as well. If you really needed a Truth-level item to purchase a ship ticket, most tickets would probably end up unsold... If I ask a price and you can’t afford it, there’s nothing to say; everything is negotiable.
However, other teams had very limited "ship tickets," and the ones they finally sold were at sky-high prices, which in turn inflated the value of the tickets in Lu Ping’an’s hands.
These 10 tickets were something other teams simply couldn’t offer... To the best of Lu Ping’an’s knowledge, the other teams currently had at most two or three ship tickets.
Lu Ping’an wandered around the city every day, using "ship tickets" for some purchasing while patiently waiting for someone to respond to his request and inquiring about the news of the mysterious monster.
He could also daydream about a brave warrior bringing him the treasure he sought.
— End of Chapter 545 —