An Inch of Gold Cannot Buy an Inch of Time

The lock on this miniaturized shipping container was facial recognition. Lin Li approached the container and leaned his face toward the electronic screen above it.

The electronic screen began human identification. After confirming the ordering customer's identity, the electronic lock on the container opened on its own.

Then, Lin Li started moving the Rabbit Exotic Beast and the Boar Beast into the container.

The Rabbit Exotic Beast, nearly a meter tall, weighed only a few dozen jin. It was very easy to load into the container.

But the Boar Beast, weighing around three hundred jin, was much harder to handle. Lin Li struggled with all his might before finally dragging it inside the container.

"Whew..." Looking at the Boar Beast corpse that had taken so much effort to load, Lin Li took a few light breaths, then wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand.

Now he understood why other Beast Hunters formed teams to operate together. Besides increasing safety, it also meant having companions to help carry large prey when you hunted one down.

The interior of this miniaturized shipping container was actually quite spacious. With a three-hundred-jin Boar Beast and the Rabbit Exotic Beast loaded inside, it didn't feel cramped at all. Lin Li estimated he could fit another Boar Beast in there.

After loading the prey into the container, Lin Li closed the door.

As the door shut, the electronic lock on the container let out a crisp click, and then an option to confirm the return trip appeared on the electronic screen.

Lin Li reached out and tapped that option. The Unmanned Transport Aircraft hovering in midair immediately began to increase its altitude.

"Whoosh..."

The propellers on the eight wings of the Unmanned Transport Aircraft emitted a loud hum. The miniaturized container, loaded with over three hundred jin of Exotic Beast Meat, was effortlessly lifted by the aircraft.

When the Unmanned Transport Aircraft reached an altitude of three hundred meters, it started flying toward the city.

"Done. Now I just wait for the money to hit my account." Standing by the mud pond, Lin Li watched the departing Unmanned Transport Aircraft, his heart full of anticipation... He had no choice—he was just too broke right now.

"That fight with the Boar Beast drained most of my Spiritual Energy, and my body is exhausted. Let's call it a day! Go home and rest, then fight again tomorrow."

"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."

Suddenly, a sound came from the grass not far behind Lin Li. A Rabbit Exotic Beast leaped out from the bushes.

Lin Li, who had been planning to go home and rest, locked eyes with this sudden Rabbit Exotic Beast. His eyes lit up, and he immediately abandoned the idea of going home. "Killing this Rabbit Exotic Beast first, then heading home to rest won't be too late."

"Pfft."

"Pant... pant... pant..." Gasping for breath, Lin Li swung his weapon—the Spirit Artifact Longsword glowing with Pale Gold Spiritual Light—and thrust it swiftly into the Rabbit Exotic Beast's neck.

From morning until now, he had only rested briefly during lunch. After working so hard for so long, his physical strength was severely depleted, and his aim had dropped significantly.

He had intended to strike the Rabbit Exotic Beast's head, but ended up stabbing it in the neck instead.

Moreover, his Spirit Artifact Longsword pierced the Rabbit Exotic Beast's neck but didn't go all the way through.

Badly wounded, the Rabbit Exotic Beast became ferocious. It twisted its neck, broke free from the longsword, and lunged fiercely at Lin Li.

Unfortunately, the gap in strength between them was too large. This Rabbit Exotic Beast, only at the First-Order Initial Stage and already severely injured, was kicked flying by Lin Li the moment it pounced.

"Thud."

Flying backward, the Rabbit Exotic Beast tumbled several times on the grass. Just as it tried to get up, Lin Li rushed over, gripped the Spirit Artifact Longsword's hilt with both hands, pointed the blade downward, and stabbed it forcefully into the beast.

"Pfft."

The longsword pierced its brain. This strike went straight through the Rabbit Exotic Beast's head, pinning it firmly to the grass.

"Pant..."

Breathing heavily, Lin Li looked at the dead Rabbit Exotic Beast and muttered to himself, "Now I really have no strength left to fight any more Exotic Beasts. I need to get home and rest quickly."

He pulled the Spirit Artifact Longsword out of the Rabbit Exotic Beast's head, crouched down, touched the corpse, and stored it into the Mysterious Small Island. Then he immediately started running toward the city.

The Rabbit Exotic Beast's blood pooled on the ground, staining a small patch of grass red. The scent of blood drifted with the wind into the depths of the wilderness.

"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."

A nimble figure moved through the dense grass, occasionally sniffing the bloody scent in the air to determine its direction.

About ten minutes after Lin Li left, a Gray Wolf Exotic Beast, covered in gray fur, one and a half meters long and eighty centimeters tall, arrived at the spot where Lin Li had killed the Rabbit Exotic Beast.

The Gray Wolf Exotic Beast lowered its head and sniffed the soil stained with the Rabbit Exotic Beast's blood. It looked around but found no corpse.

"Owooo..." Having come all this way for nothing, the Gray Wolf Exotic Beast let out a disappointed howl.

Then, its stomach growling with hunger, the Gray Wolf Exotic Beast slipped into the thick grass and headed toward its usual hunting grounds to find prey.

Fortunately, Lin Li had returned to the city immediately after killing the Rabbit Exotic Beast. Otherwise, he would have been attacked by this Gray Wolf Exotic Beast, which had tracked the scent of blood here.

The sun slanted in the sky. A figure holding a Spirit Artifact Longsword moved quickly through the grass. When he spotted the straight road appearing in the distance, a bright smile broke out on his face, and he quickened his pace toward it.

"Finally made it out."

Lin Li, who had been cautious the entire way back, felt his body and mind relax completely the moment he stepped onto the flat road.

He was now in the safe zone, but he still had nearly half an hour of walking before he could return to the city.

Because his current location was still a long way from Chenghua Avenue, where taxis were willing to go.

"I can't keep walking this stretch every time I go into the wilderness. It takes an hour round trip! One hour per trip, ten hours for ten trips, a hundred hours for a hundred trips. Time is money!"

Once in the safe zone, Lin Li stored the Spirit Artifact Longsword in the Mysterious Small Island and walked toward Chenghua Avenue while thinking to himself.

For now, he didn't have enough money to buy a car, so he had to settle for the next best thing—renting a used car for transportation.

"I remember on the way to the Exotic Beast Meat market, there was a newly opened used car rental company. I'll check it out tomorrow morning... If the rental price is cheap, I'll rent one there."