Chapter 43: Edge
“Three hundred thousand Bit?”
Lin Qi frowned slightly, his expression a little grim.
Three hundred thousand Bit, for him right now, was neither a lot nor a little.
He still had about one ton of Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros beef left. If he sold it all at once, he could easily get six hundred thousand. But selling a whole ton of Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros at once would make it far too easy for the Phosphor Fire Gang to lock onto him. Even if he only sold half, he would still be noticed.
After all, the quantity was too shocking. It was not something an individual could handle.
“I told you, just pretend she doesn’t exist.” The three-eyed youth said sympathetically. “Luo Qi really is a good person, but once she’s dragged into the conflicts of wilderness gangs, people like us simply can’t do anything.”
Three hundred thousand Bit was indeed an amount the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop could pay at will, but for residents of the City of Light Chasing, it was an astronomical figure.
“A gang, huh?” Lin Qi took a deep breath, and his gaze grew more resolute. “If ordinary people can’t do it, then I just won’t be an ordinary person.”
Even if it meant exposing the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, then let it be exposed.
He had to save her. Luo Qi was the first friend in the High Martial Arts World with whom he had shared life-and-death ties. As for the money, there was no way he would actually pay. Unless the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall did not want to survive this winter and was not afraid of the White Feather Gang tracing the ransom’s source and then coming straight to their door.
He had to admit, the White Feather Gang was fatefully at odds with him. Demanding three hundred thousand from him, the very bounty target, in one go, they were not afraid of choking on it.
Now, there was only one choice left to him.
War!
He really did not believe that with the Fourth Calamity on his side, he could not grind down a single wilderness gang.
“I need to ask you for a favor.”
“What favor?”
“Since you know about this, you should also be able to contact those people from the White Feather Gang. Tell them that three days from now, we trade cash for the person at the same time. If anything happens to her, then they can forget about the money.”
“You can really bring out three hundred thousand?”
The three-eyed youth looked at Lin Qi, whose clothes were patched in several places, utterly stunned. He could not understand how Lin Qi was going to scrape together three hundred thousand Bit.
“Just help me pass the word. If you’re not willing, then give me the contact information of those White Feather Gang people and I will talk to them myself.” Lin Qi did not bother explaining. His gaze slid toward Saiwai Qiangke and Yi Qiang Ba Jue, who were frozen beside the tricycle. “Why aren’t you moving the stuff yet!”
“Yes!”
Only then did the two snap back to their senses, their faces full of excitement and wild joy.
Big news!
Truly big news!
“Coming out this time was really the right choice.” Saiwai Qiangke said, his hands trembling slightly as he carried ore. “I didn’t expect to hear something like this. Is this the prelude to going to war with the White Feather Gang?”
“Just as we guessed. Next should be unlocking a battle dungeon through the hall master’s plot.” Yi Qiang Ba Jue said excitedly at his side. “I wonder if we’ll get a chance to join.”
“I don’t know if we’ll get a chance, but I remember last time when Brother Zhen and the others went to the new map, the task had clear physical fitness requirements. I figure the upcoming battle dungeon will be the same.” Saiwai Qiangke thought for a moment, then grew anxious. “Once we turn in this task, we have to hurry and improve our breathing technique, raise our physical fitness as fast as possible.”
“In that case, I won’t log off before the dungeon opens. I’ll just keep grinding the breathing technique.” Yi Qiang Ba Jue said through gritted teeth.
While Saiwai Qiangke and Yi Qiang Ba Jue were frantically hauling ore, the three-eyed youth also took out a slip of paper.
“My name is Kro. This is my contact information.” Kro looked at Lin Qi, who intended to save someone, with open admiration. “I will contact the White Feather Gang. I believe they won’t want to offend the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop too much. Since they know there is ransom money, they probably won’t do anything to Luo Qi.”
“I really didn’t expect Luo Qi to have a friend like you. She’s lucky.”
“Thank you.” Lin Qi accepted the slip of paper and gave Kro a somewhat surprised look.
At a time like this, most people would have stayed far away. The fact that Kro was willing to step up, and even contact the White Feather Gang, showed he was a decent person.
In less than an hour, Lin Qi handed over all the ore he transported to the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop and received 600 Bit.
At the same time, he purchased food and water for twenty people, as well as twenty alloy shovels, spending a full 2000 Bit. It could be said he used up almost all the money he had, leaving him with less than one thousand Bit.
“There are less than three days left. I have to frantically strengthen the martial arts hall during this time.”
As soon as he returned to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, Lin Qi immediately had the system start bringing in players, using up all twenty quota slots.
In an instant, the official review section of High Martial Arts Descend exploded.
“What’s going on? Why did so many slots suddenly appear?”
“Releasing twenty slots in one go? Is the developer planning a massive giveaway?”
“Nearly a hundred thousand people scrambling for twenty slots. Developer, can’t you make more money? For example, open a VIP channel where the top ten in recharge can directly enter the game?”
“Please, devs, I’m a professional miner with thirty years of digging experience. Let me in and I’ll definitely dig out an underground world for you. I don’t even want points.”
“Dear devs! I’m a martial arts genius. As long as you let me in, test me however you like, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied!”
“Brother upstairs, can you do the splits?”
“I’m ready. I’ve pre-ordered High Martial Arts Descend on the accounts of my parents and siblings, and even sold a house we barely live in. I’m just waiting to get into the game. Dear devs, seeing how sincere I am, please let me in!”
…
The official review section of High Martial Arts Descend, triggered by the system notification about the twenty quota slots, was more active than ever, even though it was already very late.
“What is up with this game?”
Li Ranxing opened the review section of High Martial Arts Descend and was stunned. This did not look like a game review section at all, it was basically a game forum. One player after another was using reviews as posts. This situation was something he had never seen in all his years of gaming.
And the players of this game were either selling houses or begging the developer to open recharge channels, making Li Ranxing suspect they were shills hired by the game developer to deliberately do hunger marketing.
“4999 for a game, and 198 for a single resurrection in the test assessment?” Looking at the game introduction, Li Ranxing suddenly wondered whether Fang Zhen was in on it and had tricked him into playing.
But after thinking it over, Li Ranxing decided to give it a try anyway. He was stuck at a bottleneck, while Fang Zhen had made rapid progress. Trying could not make things worse, and he was not short on money.
While the pre-order players were going crazy, far away in the High Martial Arts World, Lin Qi led Luo Wu Shang and six other players whose physical fitness had reached quasi-apprentice level, driving the tricycle to the Phosphor Fire Trading Market.
Xia Ling looked at the six players in uniform clothing carrying a large metal box and could not help glancing at Lin Qi beside them. A smile of unprecedented warmth and enthusiasm appeared on her face.
“Mr. Lin, I didn’t expect you to be back so soon.”
“My last business with Miss Xia went very smoothly, and now something good has come up, so of course I thought of Miss Xia right away.”
Facing Xia Ling, who had come up to greet him personally, Lin Qi responded with equal warmth, without servility or arrogance.
This time, to deal with the White Feather Gang, he had no choice but to take a risk and sell off all the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros beef in one go. So he brought along every player he could present.
Although none of these players were martial artist apprentices, they could still indirectly show that he was not alone, but backed by a faction.
As for how big that faction was, he would leave that for Xia Ling to guess.
If she guessed big, it would benefit him. If she guessed small, at worst it would make him look like just another wilderness gang, which cost him nothing. After all, any random wilderness gang had over two hundred members, usually with apprentices sitting in town. The Phosphor Fire Gang would not target a wilderness gang over a bit of Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros beef.
And Xia Ling would never imagine that he was just the head of a tiny martial arts hall without even a single apprentice, with only eleven people in total, and that all of their strongest members were already standing here.
“Is it the same deal as last time?” Xia Ling asked, unable to hide her delight, wanting to confirm it once more.
“Of course.” Lin Qi nodded.
“Great. Please come with me.” Xia Ling clapped her hands, then personally led Lin Qi into the trading room.
When she clapped, one of the two Half-Scale Race men in battle armor who had been following her drew away the other Half-Scale Race guards, while the other accompanied them into the trading room and stood guard at the door, not allowing anyone else to enter.
“How much does Mr. Lin plan to sell this time?” Xia Ling glanced at the large metal box but did not have anyone weigh it. She smiled and said, “If Mr. Lin sells a large amount, I can raise the price.”
“One thousand two hundred eighty-two point six kilograms.” Lin Qi reported the total weight without hesitation.
Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses were undeniably heavy. Even though most of the carcass had been eaten by other monsters, the remaining portion alone exceeded his expectations.
“That much?” Surprise flashed across Xia Ling’s charming face.
“Can Miss Xia handle it?” Lin Qi countered with a teasing smile. “If not, I can talk to someone else.”
“The quantity is large, but that’s not a problem for me.” Xia Ling flicked her tail and smiled lightly. “Since Mr. Lin is selling so much in one go, I will make sure you are satisfied. Six hundred seventy Bit per kilogram, for a total of 859,342 Bit. I said before that I’d raise the price for large volume, so let’s call it 860,000 Bit. How about that?”
“Deal. Miss Xia is straightforward as always.” Lin Qi nodded, then said, “Besides selling this meat, I also want to buy a signal shielding device. A second-hand one is fine.”
Last time, he was lucky that the six White Feather Gang members had turned off their smart watches. Now that he was going up against the White Feather Gang, he needed a signal shielding device. Otherwise, if they called for reinforcements, his small group was not even enough to fill the gaps between the White Feather Gang’s teeth.
“That’s easy. What range shielding device does Mr. Lin need?” Xia Ling was not surprised that he wanted such a device. Any gang in the City of Light Chasing needed shielding devices; otherwise many things would be hard to handle. “For a one-kilometer range shielding device, I want two hundred thousand. For three kilometers, five hundred thousand. For ten kilometers, four million. These devices are non-negotiable in price.”
