Being debt-free really was a weight off your shoulders.
Over the next few days, Lan Qingyou kept making potions.
Mana Potions, Healing Potions, Attribute Potions, and Luminous Potions.
In short, Lan Qingyou just wanted to pay off all her debts as soon as possible.
By the fifth day, Li Huai's injuries had healed, and Lan Qingyou finally cleared all her debts.
Brewing potions was basic work for an alchemist, but doing it day in and day out was still exhausting.
Lan Qingyou wanted to take a good, long rest, too.
But she still had her Medicine Bag and Dagger to feed, so brewing potions every day was a necessity.
Still, sneaking in a little time to pet Steel Wool was a lovely break.
There was one thing, though, that had been weighing on Lan Qingyou and all the Survivors.
First, they had gone through a seven-day Novice Protection Period, followed by another seven days of Mana Turbulence.
Then came the appearance of large numbers of monsters and bloody battles.
Everyone had been incredibly busy, but no one had forgotten the pattern of a seven-day cycle.
They weren't sure whether the pattern was real, but everyone was actively preparing for whatever might happen next.
Food, water, firewood, and the like.
Lan Qingyou's Luminous Potions could provide a week of light.
But Lan Qingyou was too lazy to make many, and most of what she did make was in Shang Chuan's hands, where he sold it at sky-high prices.
And even if Lan Qingyou weren't lazy, she couldn't supply the needs of several thousand people on her own.
So firewood—or, more accurately, Wood—became a necessity for many people.
Lan Qingyou had even seen a miner selling coal at the Trading Post.
Yet when a week had passed, all that remained was the occasional monster's roar at night, and the chance that one might come scratch at the Magic Protective Shield in front of your shelter.
"Damn, it's back again."
"What kind is it this time?"
"Copper Bell Cat."
"Aaah! Those things! They scared the hell out of me the first time I saw one."
"You're telling me. Its eyes are as big as copper bells, glowing in the dark. Gives you the creeps."
"Hahaha, go on, get it! It's a perfect chance. It's an E-Rank monster, so you could at least get a Devilish Creature Crystal Core out of it."
"I think there are two or three of them prowling around out there. How about you go?"
"Forget it. I don't want to pick a fight with those vindictive things."
"23333"
Lan Qingyou couldn't tell whether it was because most people in District 666 were criminals or because they had simply gotten used to things, but the chat in the Regional Channel and the World Channel felt like it came from two different worlds.
Even after more than half a month, plenty of people in the World Channel still couldn't adjust to life in this magic-filled otherworld.
But the people in District 666 had turned monsters attacking their Magic Protective Shields in the middle of the night into casual conversation.
Then again, that made sense.
They were a bunch of hardened criminals. Of course they adapted quickly.
After more than half a month, anyone who couldn't adapt was pretty much dead.
As for the ones who had adapted, they had gathered together in a way Lan Qingyou could never have imagined.
Giant Mickey, for example.
"So you still haven't found Lan Qingyou?"
Mickey sat behind a leather office desk, looking at the man standing across from him.
After two upgrades, his shelter had reached Level 3, and its area had expanded to around 180 square meters.
Thanks to the efforts of his underlings, the Agency was now taking shape, and they had even added quite a bit of furniture.
The desk and chair in front of him were among the new additions.
"Godfather, we've done everything we can. According to our informant with Shang Chuan, Lan Qingyou rarely goes out now. She even buys the water she uses to brew potions from Shang Chuan. And Machine Gun Jacksey's men have been targeting ours the whole time. We've already lost four people."
"That's enough! Maner! I didn't bring you here to listen to excuses. I need a plan—a practical one!"
A fierce glint appeared in Giant Mickey's eyes, and he looked ready to explode with rage.
But the next moment, after letting out a long breath, the anger vanished from his face.
"Put Lan Qingyou aside for now. There's no Mana Turbulence this week, so take out that bastard Jacksey first. Once our biggest threat is gone, we can deal with the rest."
"I understand, Godfather."
Mickey's words lifted a weight from Maner's shoulders.
He turned and went to rally the others against Jacksey.
After all, compared with Lan Qingyou, who stayed tucked away somewhere brewing potions, Jacksey and his West Coast monkeys were far easier to find.
They'd get the job with Jacksey done right first. That was all.
Truthfully, if he had a choice, Maner wouldn't have wanted to work for Mickey at all.
Everyone had been forcibly transported to this otherworld. Everything had essentially been reset, so why should Mickey still get to order them around?
But although Maner resented it, he—and the others under Mickey—couldn't defy him.
The reason was simple: Mickey's talent had brought them here.
They had originally been struggling to survive in different districts.
Then, just a couple of days later, they woke up to find that their shelters had been pulled from other districts into District 666.
Mickey's talent had also forcibly taken their shelters from them.
They could refuse to work for Mickey, but that would mean losing their shelters.
In this dangerous otherworld, one night outside was enough to get them killed three times over. If they didn't want to die, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and climb aboard Mickey's ship.
No one knew how Mickey had done it. After all, a person's talent was their greatest trump card.
But one thing was certain: Mickey could decide whether they lived or died.
Still, with so many people and all their resources pooled together, Mickey's shelter could be upgraded quickly and provide them protection.
The other shelters that hadn't been upgraded had already been overturned when Mana Turbulence hit last week.
Watching Maner walk away, Mickey let out a cold snort.
That bastard Machine Gun Jacksey, that cotton-picking ghost. If he hadn't been messing with Mickey behind his back, Mickey might have found Shang Chuan through that informant by now, and then found Lan Qingyou.
There was no helping it. She had blocked him, along with many others he'd paid to squeeze Lan Qingyou.
That girl acted fast, and she was ruthless. She didn't even say a word—she just went straight for the block button.
It had left even an old hand like him at a loss.
And because Lan Qingyou had blocked him, a lot of people were afraid to take his jobs.
Apart from that old York, when had Mickey ever been subjected to such an insult?
Damn it!
Didn't they say people from Dragon Country respected the elderly and cared for the young?
Why was it different when it came to him?
Or was that little girl some kind of underworld figure herself?
Never mind. No matter what, once he caught the girl, Mickey would make sure she learned what it meant to respect the elderly and care for the young.
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