The three blades Zhang Ping had just examined each cost more than the last.
The Nine-Ring Ghost Axe Blade cost 500,000 Pearl City Coins!
The Ghost Sickle cost 600,000.
The final "Cold Maiden" cost 2,000,000.
Mingzhu City had an enormous gap between rich and poor. Zhang Ping did not know how much Awakened earned.
But based on what he had investigated over the past few days, ordinary farmers in Mingzhu City earned around 3,000 Pearl City Coins a year. In other words, to buy "Cold Maiden," one would have to go without food or drink for over 666 years.
So expensive.
Zhang Ping sighed inwardly. He had known supernatural equipment would not be cheap, but he had not expected it to be this expensive.
"Grandpa, do you have any cheaper weapons here?" Zhang Ping took another lap around the store and found that even the cheapest weapons cost tens of thousands of Pearl City Coins. He then walked over to the old man and asked softly.
The old man took a puff of his pipe. About a minute and a half later, he finally looked at Zhang Ping and slowly asked, "What did you say?"
"Grandpa, I was asking whether you have any cheaper weapons here?" Zhang Ping had no choice but to ask again.
The old man looked at Zhang Ping, seeming half a beat slow to react. After quite a while, he answered irrelevantly, "My son is waiting for me to eat."
"..."
Zhang Ping was speechless.
No wonder the previous customers had all left empty-handed.
Just then, a burly middle-aged man hurried into the store from outside.
He looked to be over thirty. He wore tattered camouflage clothes, had an inverted-triangle build, and arms thicker than Zhang Ping's thighs. A rugged, jet-black greatsword was strapped to his back. One look was enough to tell he was an experienced veteran adventurer.
"Sorry, this shop isn't selling anything for the time being." He set the weapon on his back in a corner, then stepped forward and spoke to Zhang Ping.
When the old man saw the middle-aged man, he shouted displeasedly, "Stinky Qiang, where have you taken Dashan to fool around this time? Where's Dashan?"
"Uncle Liu, why did you open the shop again? Didn't I tell you to wait at home? I'll find Dashan soon." The man nicknamed Stinky Qiang smiled bitterly.
The old man raised his long-stemmed pipe and knocked Stinky Qiang on the head. "All you know how to do is fool around every day. Hurry up and tell Dashan to come home for dinner."
"Okay, Uncle Liu. I'll tell Dashan to come home for dinner later. Let's close the shop and go upstairs first," Stinky Qiang agreed repeatedly.
The old man knocked Stinky Qiang on the head again with his pipe and said unhappily, "I'm staying here. What if an old customer comes by and can't find me?"
"Fine, fine, fine. We'll stay here. We won't go anywhere," Stinky Qiang said with a bitter smile.
He was a seasoned adventurer with a four-man team under him. Over the past decade, he had saved up quite a bit, and even if he did not take missions for several months, it would not affect his livelihood.
But his teammates all lived paycheck to paycheck. Once they stopped taking missions and lost their source of income, even getting by would become a problem.
Yet Uncle Liu was his closest relative. The two were like father and son!
Ever since his good brother Dashan had gone missing, Uncle Liu's mental state had worsened by the day. He was often dazed and muddled. Stinky Qiang truly could not rest easy leaving Uncle Liu here alone.
At that moment, he noticed Zhang Ping preparing to leave. His eyes suddenly lit up as an idea came to him.
Students and working adults had vastly different temperaments.
Anyone who could enter one of the three major organizations would definitely not come here to buy weapons. Those who had decided to become farmers would not come either. So was this student planning to become an adventurer?
"Little brother, wait." After thinking it over, he called out to Zhang Ping.
Zhang Ping turned around and saw Stinky Qiang approaching. "What is it?"
"Let's talk." Stinky Qiang smiled ingratiatingly.
Zhang Ping hesitated for a moment. Seeing that Stinky Qiang did not seem to have any ill intentions, he nodded in agreement.
The two walked outside the store. Stinky Qiang instinctively took out a cigarette and offered one to Zhang Ping, but Zhang Ping waved his hand to indicate that he did not smoke.
"Little brother, you should be graduating soon, right?" Stinky Qiang came to his senses, tucked the cigarette behind his ear, and continued.
Zhang Ping nodded. "Soon."
"I wonder what you think about being a blacksmith?" Stinky Qiang asked carefully.
Zhang Ping thought of the somewhat senile old man and immediately understood Stinky Qiang's intentions. He went along with it and replied, "Better than being a farmer."
"Yes, yes, yes, better than being a farmer." Stinky Qiang nodded at once.
It was not that they looked down on farmers.
Rather, farmers in Mingzhu City were completely different from the farmers of Zhang Ping's previous life.
Although Zhang Ping had often jokingly talked about farming with Su Jingyao, farmers did not merely farm. During the off-season, they had many additional jobs to complete.
For example, Mingzhu City had no Sewers, nor did it dare to have them.
Therefore, people's daily waste, household garbage, and so on all had to be handled by specialized farmers.
Road repairs, patching city walls, raising livestock and poultry, and countless other tasks all required farmers to assist the Awakened.
In Zhang Ping's view, farmers in Mingzhu City were more like workers in real-time strategy games. Aside from fighting, they had to do everything.
"Big brother, you mean..." Zhang Ping looked toward Iron Soul, then gave Stinky Qiang an inquisitive look.
Seeing that Zhang Ping understood what he meant, Stinky Qiang said frankly, "I won't hide it from you. That's my uncle, closer to me than my own father. His son, my brother Dashan, went missing some time ago. Uncle Liu is a little muddled now, so I want to find someone to look after him and help watch the store.
"Of course, I'll come by when I have time and teach you a thing or two about blacksmithing. I can't promise much else, but I can at least guarantee you'll finish your apprenticeship. What do you say? Think it over."
"Food and lodging included?" Zhang Ping asked thoughtfully.
Stinky Qiang replied, "Not only are food and lodging included, you'll also get a monthly salary of one hundred!"
"I'll think about it some more and give you an answer tomorrow. Is that okay?" Zhang Ping was tempted, but he also had concerns.
Could the missing Dashan have been eaten by a Heavenly Fox?
At school, because "Luo Shiyu" only ate girls, while the other Heavenly Fox disguised as a teacher was rarely encountered, boys were actually safer on campus than outside it.
The main reason he was tempted was Luo Shiyu's morning room inspections.
They had made him feel extremely unsafe in the dormitory.
"Fine, think it over carefully. Oh, you came to the store because you wanted a handy weapon, right? Consider this a gift between friends. The atmosphere in the city has been a little off lately, so watch yourself." As Stinky Qiang spoke, he stuffed a dagger into Zhang Ping's hand before turning and leaving.
After parting with Stinky Qiang, Zhang Ping left Iron Soul.
As he walked, he considered whether to accept the offer. His gaze naturally fell on the dagger.
Its blade was sheathed in a fishskin scabbard. He could not resist drawing it, only to discover that it was made of the same material as Cold Maiden. The blade was snow-white and translucent, faintly radiating coldness.
Good heavens.
This was a truly valuable gift.
Maybe... he should accept.
Although the school was relatively safe, that was hard to say now.
Zhang Ping did not want to entrust his life to the chaotic mind of a beast. What if Luo Shiyu suddenly got a craving to change her tastes?
At that moment, Zhang Ping decided that he would accept Stinky Qiang's offer tomorrow.
Along the way, Zhang Ping could not put the dagger down. Since it was made from the same material as the Cold Maiden Slim Blade and looked like a piece split off from it, Zhang Ping simply named it "Beauty's Tear."
Unfortunately, Pearl Ability Academy did not teach students how to use daggers. Weapon classes only taught sabers, swords, and bows. Other weapons were not included in the curriculum.
Fortunately, some saber techniques could also be used with a dagger.
As he walked back, he imagined fighting with Beauty's Tear. When he passed a park, he suddenly spotted a one-meter-tall Heavenly Fox cub sitting on a swing!
[Appraisal successful] [Mutated Beast: Heavenly Fox] [Race: Mutated Fox] [Potential: ????] [Lifespan: 53] [Rank: Basic Mutated Beast] [Level: 3] [Talent] [Cognitive Distortion: You possess a field that distorts the cognition of living beings and can alter a target's cognition.] [Conventionality Reversal: When performing actions that defy common sense, you can overturn a target's common sense and forcibly prevent the target from noticing abnormalities.]
This was a rather weak cub.
Zhang Ping slowly walked forward, his heart stirring.
Evidence!
This Heavenly Fox was the best evidence.
If he killed this Heavenly Fox and sent its Corpse to the Investigation Team, perhaps things would take a turn.
The Investigation Team was different from the Patrol Team. The Patrol Team had thirteen squads, but all of their captains directly answered to the Patrol Team's chief captain.
The Investigation Team, on the other hand, centered around its captains. Many Investigation Teams were not even stationed in Mingzhu City year-round, so there had to be some teams that had not been infiltrated by the Heavenly Foxes.
Once the Investigation Team obtained a Heavenly Fox corpse, they would surely immediately deduce Mingzhu City's current situation. Mingzhu City might yet be saved.
"Let's do it!"
The more Zhang Ping thought about it, the more tempted he became.
He could no longer endure seeing girls murdered in the cafeteria every few days, nor could he endure seeing Heavenly Foxes eating people while walking down the street.
Especially when he had to pretend he could not see it.
He turned and walked back, one hand resting on the dagger's hilt.
In truth, there was another reason he had decided to act: he had just obtained Beauty's Tear. Without it in hand, he might not have found the courage to make a move.
This was what they meant by carrying a sharp weapon and giving rise to murderous thoughts.
However, just as he reached one corner of the park, a hand pressed down on his shoulder. Before he could retaliate, a woman's voice sounded beside his ear. "Don't move."
He felt a wave of coldness coming from behind him.
Ice spikes!
His opponent was an Awakened who controlled the ice element.
Zhang Ping's agitated heart swiftly calmed down. First, she was not a Heavenly Fox. Second, he did not sense Killing Intent Power from her. If she were the Heavenly Fox cub's bodyguard, then her emotions did not seem right.
"Don't turn around. Don't speak. Take this and leave." After speaking calmly, the woman slipped a note into Zhang Ping's hand.
Suddenly, the coldness behind Zhang Ping vanished.
He did not turn around to look. Instead, he pretended to have dropped something, searched for a while, then decisively left.
"That woman's Level is probably far higher than mine. Otherwise, she couldn't have noticed me," he guessed as he walked.
It was nighttime. With the Nightwalker talent combined with the Assassination Ring's ability, there were definitely not many people who could spot him. For that woman to pinpoint him so precisely, she had to be much stronger than him.
Of course, it was also possible that she had a teammate with some kind of "see through" ability feeding her information.
No matter which possibility it was, she was highly likely to have noticed the Heavenly Foxes' infiltration.
Could she, or they, be the ones hiring killers to hunt beasts?
Zhang Ping muttered inwardly. He did not rush to read the note she had left him. Once he returned to the dormitory, he simply went to rest.
The next day.
Four in the morning.
Zhang Ping opened his eyes, got out of bed, quietly entered the bathroom, and sat on the closed toilet lid.
He took the note from his pocket and slowly unfolded it.
The note read: "23, Martial Training, South Moon."
Zhang Ping frowned. A moment later, he got the idea. Today was the nineteenth, so the twenty-third was four days away.
In other words, did she mean to meet at a place called Martial Training five days from now?
But that raised a problem. What was Martial Training?
Zhang Ping racked his brains until his head gradually began to hurt.
He understood that the code was likely meant to guard against the Heavenly Foxes.
If he fell into a Heavenly Fox's hands, the information on the note would not implicate the other party.
Thinking about it from that angle, Martial Training was definitely somewhere the Heavenly Foxes could not understand.
Heavenly Foxes were intelligent. They knew how to think and could even put on an act, but a Mutated Beast was still a Mutated Beast. Their way of thinking was bound to differ.
The problem was that Zhang Ping had not been in this world for very long. Even with the original owner's memories, he could not figure out what "Martial Training" and "South Moon" meant.