"No need." Xia Ling watched Lin Qi leave and shook her head slightly. "He's just a nobody. Meat from a Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros isn't something ordinary factions can obtain, much less sell. At most, he's running errands for people from one of those factions. There's no need to upset them. When the time comes, we might not even be able to buy any."
"Miss, what if these drifters found it?" the Half-Scale Race guard said unwillingly. "This is Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros meat. It would be of great help to you. If we could get a large quantity of this meat, becoming a Martial Artist might not be impossible."
"Found it?" Xia Ling's pitch-black tail slapped against the floor as she spoke with considerable delight. "Wouldn't that be even better?"
"Better?" The Half-Scale Race guard was greatly bewildered, completely unable to understand what was good about it.
The Half-Scale Race followed the law of the jungle. If the weak obtained a treasure, wouldn't it be better to simply snatch it from them? They were undocumented drifters, after all, and received no such protection in the City of Light Chasing.
"I told you, he's just a nobody." Xia Ling shook her head, utterly speechless at the guard before her. "Whether he found it or not, since he chose to sell it at Phosphor Fire, he'll likely come back for more transactions. As long as this transaction is safe, he'll continue trading here in the future for the sake of safety."
"On the other hand, my dear elder brothers absolutely cannot learn of this. There's only so much meat. Rather than dividing it among so many people, it would be better to give it all to me. That way, the chances of our Lineage producing a Martial Artist will be greater."
"Do you understand?"
As Xia Ling's words fell, her pair of golden vertical pupils fixed on the guard. The Half-Scale Race guard immediately broke out in a cold sweat. Just as he hurriedly tried to say something, Xia Ling raised a hand slightly.
"Don't worry. Your family will receive the compensation they deserve."
The Half-Scale Race guard suddenly collapsed to the ground, vomiting blood as his entire body convulsed. His battle armor disintegrated along with him.
Ding!
Cleanup procedure has ended!
Meanwhile, Lin Qi swiftly carried the Big Three-Wheeler's battery and three sets of repair tools on his back, weaving through the crowded streets under cover of night.
After turning through more than a dozen streets and repeatedly confirming that no one was following him, he finally returned to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
"Just as I thought, the gangs scraping by in the outskirts aren't that stupid. They don't intend to make this just a one-time deal." Lin Qi touched the ninety thousand Bits in his pocket, his heart brimming with excitement.
He could have brought more Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros meat this time, but considering the greed of these gang factions, over a hundred kilograms of Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros meat was not enough to make these gangs of the outskirts take action directly.
Moreover, these gangs doing business in the outskirts certainly knew that monster meat was in short supply.
Normally, no one would sell it, especially not an individual. Wouldn't it be better to keep it and secretly eat it themselves? Only major factions could get their hands on a considerable amount of monster meat, and their underlings would secretly steal some out to sell for money.
The amount taken out for sale could neither alert the major faction nor fail to make a decent profit. A little over a hundred kilograms was about right. Less than that wasn't worth the risk, while more would be noticed. After all, a single monster weighed at least several tons. A loss of one or two hundred kilograms would not be detected, yet it could still earn tens of thousands, even more than a hundred thousand Bits.
Taking this into account, as long as the other side was not foolish, they would not do something as absurd as picking up sesame seeds while losing a watermelon. Even if they knew he had found it, they would instinctively gamble that he had stolen it from a major faction, giving them a long-term and stable source of meat.
Even if they lost that gamble, they would merely have spent money to buy it. It was a business guaranteed to bring profit without loss.
With this successful transaction, the ones to come would be much easier.
He could even use this to establish a connection with the Phosphor Fire Gang, making the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall's future development much easier.
Outside the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, the sky gradually brightened. It was another new day.
"With these ninety thousand Bits, I can buy some building materials and hire some of the nearby drifters to repair the martial arts hall together."
Lin Qi gazed at the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, now less than a hundred meters away, already having a plan for rapidly repairing it.
The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was far too large, covering a full eighty thousand square meters, about the size of a stadium. If ten players were left to repair it, they would be working until the year of the ox, the month of the horse.
But it was different with money. Undocumented drifters were cheap to hire—so cheap that five hundred Bits a month was enough to order one around as he pleased.
Hiring a hundred people for a month would cost only fifty thousand Bits, yet the efficiency of repairing the martial arts hall could increase tenfold.
Of course, to prevent the secret beneath the martial arts hall from being exposed, the hired drifters only needed to repair the exterior and walls. The interior could be left entirely to the players.
That way, it probably would not even take a month to finish everything.
Yet just a few steps after Lin Qi entered the martial arts hall's training grounds, he spotted metal boxes piled in the center, nearly stacked into a small mountain.
"These are..." Lin Qi looked at the suitcase-sized metal boxes, finding them incredibly familiar.
"Dojo Master, you're back." Twilight of the Gods, standing beside the metal boxes, immediately perked up upon seeing Lin Qi. Without another word, he rushed toward him and greeted him. "You said last time that these treasure chests were useful to you, so this time we moved them all here. Count them and see whether any are missing."
"You moved them all here?" Lin Qi was utterly stunned upon hearing this.
Had they raided the Unicorn Gold-Eating Rats' home?
Those were Unicorn Gold-Eating Rats that even Quasi-Martial Artists found troublesome!
"Yeah. We gave it everything we had to move all these treasure chests here!" Twilight of the Gods nodded, wearing an expression that practically begged for praise.
"Are you sure those Unicorn Gold-Eating Rats didn't object?" Lin Qi asked with an extremely unpleasant expression.
Unicorn Gold-Eating Rats possessed an extraordinary sense of smell for metal. Now that these players had raided their home, those Unicorn Gold-Eating Rats would definitely search like mad.
Once they tracked the trail to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, there would be no need to wait for the White Feather Gang to discover them. Those Unicorn Gold-Eating Rats alone could level the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
"Don't worry, Dojo Master. We thought of that too. So after luring those Unicorn Gold-Eating Rats away and moving the treasure chests, we dug through an abandoned canal and poured all the wastewater into it. The roof also completely collapsed, and that rift is gone now." Twilight of the Gods explained with a smile. "Before I left, I even saw those Unicorn Gold-Eating Rats standing there without moving, as if the collapse had scared them stiff. They're all buried inside now, so they probably won't come looking for us."
"You... did well." After hearing this, Lin Qi did not know what to say for a moment.
It had to be said, players were still the most professional when it came to fighting monsters.
For Martial Hall Points, these players had truly gone all out.
The Unicorn Gold-Eating Rats that even Quasi-Martial Artists could do nothing about had been dealt with just like that.
Those Unicorn Gold-Eating Rats themselves probably never imagined that they had merely collected some metal.
Not only had their home been raided, but their entire race was about to be wiped out.
"Dojo Master, count these treasure chests and see if any are missing."
Twilight of the Gods pointed at the 2214 college entrance examination textbooks scattered across the ground, his words full of anticipation.
Before you continue