Got Rich, But Not Really

This was Liao Zixuan's first time visiting Vivian's home.

The moment his front foot stepped into the house, his back foot caught the strong, musty smell of dampness and mold.

He had only taken a few steps before reaching the end of the short hallway. Vivian's home wasn't large, just a two-bedroom apartment. It was clear the young girl didn't have her own bedroom; she shared a room with her younger brother.

Ever since her brother fell ill, judging by the bedding laid out on the floor, the sister slept on the floor while the brother slept on the bed.

"Sister... sister..." a weak groan came from the small boy lying on the bed, unconscious.

The little wolf cub jumped onto the bed and listened closely. It turned out he was calling for Vivian.

Hmm?

[Apprentice Mage], [Fire God Follower Lv1]?

Liao Zixuan glanced at the status panel of Vivian's gravely ill brother, Andy, and was immediately a little surprised.

Good heavens.

How could everyone in your family be so exceptionally talented?

The sister had a hidden cheat-like personality, and the brother, without a mentor to guide him, directly obtained a spellcaster class through faith?

No wonder he was sick.

And so seriously ill.

Liao Zixuan finally understood how their remote little village had contracted the "Abyssal Fire Poison."

The fact that the [Abyss] dared to act so brazenly now indicated that even during the internal testing phase, the situation for the Fire God Alice was likely worse than he had imagined.

Therefore, the deeper one's faith in the Fire God, the higher the chance of infection, because Alice herself was currently a massive source of infection.

Liao Zixuan was quite certain that when he was in the internal testing phase, no player had ever triggered any SS-Class Emergency Mission, nor had the "Seed of Corruption" appeared.

Yes, in the Claw Nest, even the Witch Bella, who was said to have clones spread across nine kingdoms, couldn't recognize what those Black Hands emerging from the Magic Tyrannosaurus were.

But Liao Zixuan knew very well that this was the Abyss's classic tactic: planting a Seed of Corruption in a person or a monster. This secret technique would cause the host's power to surge, but at the cost of consuming their potential and sanity.

Then, when the host's mind gradually weakened to a certain extent, the Seed of Corruption would sprout, devouring the soul and taking over the body. Those Black Hands were essentially its sprouts.

As soon as he saw the letter from the Fire God Cultist Roer, Liao Zixuan should have realized what could so rapidly accelerate the growth of a monster to achieve the goal of planting the Purple Crystal Grass.

Liao Zixuan could now almost guess that Bella must have contacted the Abyss forces and obtained their so-called secret technique to plant the Purple Crystal Grass. As a result, the original host for the Seed of Corruption was the Magic Tyrannosaurus, but because of his and Vivian's interference, Bella's soul power was significantly weakened. This allowed the Seed of Corruption within the Magic Tyrannosaurus to seize the opportunity and immediately transfer to a more suitable parasitic target.

It seemed they had even set Bella up?

But it probably wasn't a big deal. That was just a soul fragment of Bella's. Losing one would at most make Bella spit up blood for a few days. An epic-level Witch wouldn't go down that easily.

On the contrary, the now-matured "Seed of Corruption" was a big problem.

Although judging by the scale, only the corrupted effect had appeared, and no further "Chimera Beast" monsters had emerged, so it should only be the lowest-level Seed of Corruption.

Actually, if Liao Zixuan had gone all out to stop it in the Claw Nest at that time, he should have been able to kill the Seed of Corruption in its nascent stage, preventing it from reaching its mature stage like now, after completing the devouring of Bella's soul.

But Liao Zixuan hadn't done that; in a sense, he had even chosen to stand by and watch.

Because sometimes, disaster isn't necessarily a bad thing.

It's like a sick person.

Only when you feel the pain will you go to the doctor. The sooner you go, the better you can be treated.

Shaking his head, he decided not to think about it anymore. He needed to save the little girl's foolish brother first.

Liao Zixuan took out a stalk of Purple Crystal Grass from his game's inventory space.

On a side note.

Don't think that they didn't gain anything after doing so much this time. While some silly girl might not have, how could the black-hearted little wolf cub not profit?

Didn't you see the "99+" displayed in his inventory slots for Purple Crystal Grass?

This was all money!

According to Liao Zixuan's memory, one stalk of Purple Crystal Grass could sell for at least 2-3 gold coins. So, over a hundred stalks meant more than two hundred gold coins!

10 copper coins = 1 silver coin, 100 silver coins = 1 gold coin.

Not to mention the expenses of country folk, in a small village like Nuoqi Village, they probably wouldn't spend several gold coins in a year.

Even in Huodian City, four or five gold coins would be enough for one person and one wolf to eat and drink without worry, allowing them to live comfortably for a month, with even enough left over to buy Vivian a few pretty dresses.

Liao Zixuan had actually been quite unhappy with the tattered clothes Vivian was wearing for a long time.

Even though it pained him a little, as one stalk was worth several gold coins, he was still Vivian's brother, and judging by his potential, it seemed considerable.

Liao Zixuan's little wolf paw extended, prying open the mouth of the unconscious Andy, and he directly and roughly shoved the Purple Crystal Grass in. He even hardened his heart, fearing the medicinal effect wouldn't be enough, and took out three or four more stalks, stuffing them all in at once.

The Purple Crystal Grass melted in his mouth, transforming into pure magic power that instantly flowed throughout Andy's body.

Normally, no one would eat Purple Crystal Grass directly like this. Firstly, it was too wasteful, and secondly, the magic power contained within the Purple Crystal Grass was too immense and could harm the body.

But now, as soon as the Purple Crystal Grass went down, Andy's pained expression on his face significantly eased.

The reason was that the Abyssal Fire Poison corroded magic power. When a large amount of external magic power entered, the body's own magic power would no longer be corroded.

Done.

Mission complete.

After resolving Vivian's most important commission, Liao Zixuan began preparing to implement the plan he himself had named "Vivian's Debut."

You see, as an NPC with a player system, the young lady could not only accept SS-Class Emergency Missions and defend Huodian City, but also create her own NPC factions for players to join.

To attract more "leeks" (players), a promotional video was naturally indispensable. This brings us to Liao Zixuan's second major gain in the Claw Forest.

That is – precious combat footage of Miss Vivian leaked!

As long as this was slightly edited and posted on the player forums, especially to a bunch of country bumpkin players who hadn't seen anything yet during the closed beta, they would absolutely cry their eyes out and rush to become the young lady's lapdogs!

Of course, he couldn't do this kind of work himself; he needed to find a professional. Who was it again? It should be "Luo Chen." He had used Intermediate Detection to spy on him. He seemed to be a high-level player. Liao Zixuan just needed to pretend to accidentally leak this footage to him. He believed anyone with a business sense wouldn't miss such valuable, firsthand video resources.

Hiss.

No, no, no!

Liao Zixuan suddenly felt like he had narrowed his path.

Why should such precious footage be given away for free? He should definitely sell it!

Moreover, he was going to several villages later and would encounter quite a few players. If he sold it to each one he met...

The little wolf cub's eyes immediately lit up.

At this moment, Liao Zixuan felt like a business genius.

Until...

When he eagerly went to collect wealth—no, to evacuate villagers from other villages—he overheard a conversation before leaving.

"Lord Robert, what... what's wrong?"

"Did you see the herb that little wolf took out just now?" The noble butler's voice trembled, perhaps more than when he was surrounded by mutated villagers.

"I saw it. What is it?"

"It's Purple Crystal Grass. This one stalk sells for thirty to forty gold in the black market of Huodian City!"

Liao Zixuan, who was about to jump off Andy's bed, instantly froze.

Then.

Spit it out, you damn fool!

Spit it out for me!!

The little wolf cub frantically shook Andy's poor little head.