If You're Unhappy, Stir Something Up

Ling Chu checked with Little Luban before approving the friend request.

Mickey Meow Witch seemed a little socially anxious. After half a minute, she timidly sent, "Hello, boss~"

"Hello." Ling Chu got straight to the point. "I have twenty Giant Lizard Scale Armors like this. Can you make a set of leather armor from them?"

Mickey Meow Witch replied, "With twenty, I should be able to make exactly one set."

"This lizard hide is a little thick. Is there any way to polish it thinner?" Ling Chu asked.

"Yes... Do you have any other requirements for the appearance? Such as color or style? If you choose a color, I can dye it, but the labor fee will be a little more expensive."

Ling Chu said, "No requirements. As long as it's comfortable to wear. How long will it take?"

"If it isn't dyed, I can finish it in one day."

"Alright. What do you want for the labor fee, Iron Ore or food?"

Mickey Meow Witch hesitated before asking, "Boss, do you have any spare weapons you don't need? Ordinary quality is fine..."

Ling Chu thought about it. She seemed to have seized exactly two weapons from Brave the World this time.

[Hand Crossbow]

[Quality: Fine]

[A hand crossbow that can be reloaded quickly. Its range is short, but its rate of fire is fast. Agility +1]

[Beast Taming Whip]

[Quality: Fine]

[A Beast Tamer's exclusive Beast Taming Whip. Of course, it can also be used to hit people. Strength +1]

Ling Chu sent her the stats. "Will these two weapons work?"

Mickey Meow Witch replied at once, "Yes, absolutely!"

Mickey Meow Witch had originally thought she could only trade for an ordinary-quality weapon. Who would have thought that the boss would offer Fine-quality weapons right away?

As a tailor with no strength to speak of, what she lacked most was a weapon. The last time she had been fishing, she accidentally hooked a Naked Chest Eel. It had lunged at her with its mouth wide open and nearly bitten off her fingers.

In the end, she used the dagger Little Luban had traded her to kill the eel.

But the dagger's attack range was too short. She was timid and simply did not dare to engage enemies in close combat. She wanted a ranged weapon more, but she did not want to keep troubling Little Luban. She had heard that his orders had been piled up lately.

Mickey Meow Witch carefully examined the item stats. Both weapons were good, and both counted as ranged weapons. The whip added Strength, which could make up for her weak stats, while the hand crossbow would let her keep her distance and fire Cold Arrows at enemies. It suited her too.

Just as Mickey Meow Witch was agonizing over her choice, Ling Chu had already sent over a system trading contract and traded both weapons to her.

Mickey Meow Witch stared blankly at the two Fine-quality weapons she had received.

She hurriedly sent Ling Chu another message. "Boss, boss, did you send the wrong thing? Why did you give me both weapons?"

"I can't use either of them, so they're both yours. Oh, can you make portable bags? The kind with ten slots is fine. Make two for me, and that can count as payment for the other weapon."

Ling Chu had seen tailors selling small backpacks in the Public Chat Channel. They sold for ten cans each, so two small backpacks were worth about the same as one Fine-quality weapon.

"I can make small backpacks! That's great, thank you, boss. I was still struggling over which weapon to choose, but now I don't have to..."

Mickey Meow Witch felt touched and conflicted, unsure what to say.

At first, when National Server Little Luban introduced her to this job, she had been rather uneasy.

Ling Chu was Rank One on three rankings and a celebrity in the Public Chat Channel, but the rumors about her were not good. People said she was a cold-blooded Pirate who killed indiscriminately. Mickey Meow Witch had worried that if she did not do a good job, Ling Chu might hunt her down.

Only after National Server Little Luban repeatedly vouched for her did she reluctantly agree.

But now, Mickey Meow Witch looked at the two Fine-quality weapons in her hands, tears shimmering in her eyes.

Wuwuwu, who said Rank One was a murderous villain? She was clearly a generous, easygoing, wonderful person!!

Ling Chu could not help laughing when she saw the string of thanks Mickey Meow Witch sent her.

It seemed her standards had been raised a little. The junk weapons she could not be bothered with were rare treasures in other people's eyes. Once those two small backpacks were made, they would be perfect for the Skeleton Henchmen. The next time they encountered an Island, it would be easier for them to help her gather supplies.

Ling Chu took the opportunity to browse the Trading Post some more.

The batch of Wood she had listed earlier had all sold. It had basically gone for 500g of food per 10 pieces of Wood, mostly fruit and canned goods that could be stored for a long time. In total, she had traded it for more than three hundred and fifty jin.

Compared to Iron Ore, this batch of Wood was the real windfall.

Players had painstakingly gathered resources for three days and upgraded their Rafts before the Sea Storm. But after the storm, most players' boats had been battered into wrecks and urgently needed repairs. Repairs required huge amounts of Wood, causing its price to soar to outrageous levels for a while.

But after two days, the price of Wood gradually returned to normal. Now, 10 pieces of Wood could only be exchanged for 100g of food, and it was the kind of terrible Wheat Bread.

The price of Iron Ore remained high. Some people were even offering 10 Sea Shell Coins for 50 pieces of Iron Ore.

In Ling Chu's eyes, Sea Shells were harder to come by than Iron Ore. Sea Shells could only be obtained by opening Treasure Chests, killing people to collect bounties, and completing Public Challenges. Only Sea Shells could be used to exchange for items in the system store.

After giving Little Luban 60 pieces of Iron Ore, Ling Chu still had 420 left. She set aside 200 Iron Ore to Upgrade her boat, then listed the rest on the Trading Post at a rate of 4 Iron Ore for 1 Sea Shell.

Upgrading to the next level of boat required 800 Wood, 800 Cloth, 200 Iron Ore, 50 Bones, and 10 Copper Ore.

She had Wood, Cloth, and Iron Ore. Bones could be of any kind—human bones or Beast Bones would both work. She had obtained 30 Beast Bones from dismantling the giant lizard, so she still needed 20 more. She also had no idea where to get Copper Ore for now. It would most likely come from Islands, just like Iron Ore.

Ling Chu also had a large amount of Sulfur and Volcanic Charcoal harvested from Volcano Island. She had no plans to sell either of them.

Sulfur could be used to produce gunpowder, and it was indispensable for making firearms and ammunition. Bullets were consumables, so Ling Chu needed to stockpile more of it.

Charcoal went without saying. Searching for charcoal on the Trading Post, she found that no one was selling any at all.

Ever since A Silly Bird posted the stats of a Level 3 Ship in the public chat, anyone with sense knew to stockpile charcoal. Wind power alone would not be enough to handle the next disaster, Meteor Shower. They would need steam power, which consumed huge amounts of charcoal, to push their speed to the limit.

She currently had over 1,200 pieces of ordinary charcoal and 800 pieces of Volcanic Charcoal. She had just tested the ship at maximum speed. While sailing at full speed, it consumed five pieces of ordinary charcoal per hour. Volcanic Charcoal was five times as efficient as ordinary charcoal; one piece could burn for an hour.

The charcoal she had stockpiled was enough to keep her sailing at full speed for over a month.

Besides, she could harvest her Volcanic Charcoal once every three days.

The last Sea Storm had lasted twelve hours. She had a feeling that each disaster would last longer than the last, though the longest probably would not exceed three days.

During the Meteor Shower disaster, charcoal prices would reach their peak. Players who had burned through all their charcoal would spare no effort in trading supplies for more. Depending on the situation, she could sell off part of her stock then.

Having planned it all out, Ling Chu realized she was quite suited to being a profiteer. She knew exactly how to maximize her gains by fleecing other players.

After closing the Trading Post, Ling Chu casually glanced at the Public Chat Channel, only to find her own name there again.

[Public Chat Channel]

Driving a Ferrari with One Hand: "Did none of you notice? Brave the World, who was tenth on the Justice Points leaderboard, suddenly disappeared! I scrolled all the way down to rank one hundred and still couldn't find him."

Lulu Loves Eating Melons: "It's true. The only possible explanation is... he met with an accident."

Moyudawang: "I happened to be watching the leaderboard just now. Rank One's Sin Value instantly went up by twenty points, and their Wealth Points also surged. You can guess what happened even with your toes, can't you? I won't say more. I can only advise everyone not to deal with pirates."

A Silly Bird: "Brave the World was a Pirate Hunter, wasn't he? Maybe he went after Rank One first and got killed instead?"

Moyudawang: "How would I know? Why don't you go ask Brave the World? You're only picking on him because dead men can't talk."

A Silly Bird was quite clever this time. He had actually guessed right.

Ling Chu was not surprised that someone had figured out she was the one who killed Brave the World. This world had no internet or mobile phones, and many players would stare at the Public Channel or leaderboards whenever they got bored while fishing.

The moment Brave the World disappeared from the rankings, her Sin Value rose, and her Wealth Points also increased within a short period. It was only natural that people could piece it together.

When Ling Chu first appeared on the leaderboard, her Wealth Points had only been 103. After obtaining the Tier 2 Island Core and the Grim Reaper Gashapon Machine, her Wealth Points had quickly risen to 205—nearly double.

Invincible and Handsome, who ranked second in Wealth Points, only had a little over eighty. The gap was practically insurmountable.

Watching everyone discuss her in the public chat, Ling Chu felt rather annoyed with Moyudawang. Ever since she had defeated him in the last Public Challenge, he had been deliberately or casually stirring up trouble against her in the Public Chat Channel.

Ling Chu could not tolerate even the slightest grievance. If something annoyed her, she had to do something about it.

Ultimately, Brave the World had come to assassinate her because Invincible and Handsome, Wasabi, and Wang Duoyu had placed a bounty on her.

So she directly sent a message in the Public Chat Channel.

"Twenty pieces of Volcanic Charcoal and twenty cans of food in exchange for the Coordinates of Invincible and Handsome, Wasabi, Wang Duoyu, or Moyudawang. Any one of them will do."