Chapter 24

Xiya rolled her eyes without a shred of grace, pulled Ye Chuqi behind her, and glared at Coke. "We girls are going shopping. Why are you tagging along?"

Coke rubbed his nose and said with perfect confidence, "I can carry things! I can help you choose stuff, too!" One way or another, he was going with them.

Xiya considered this seriously for a moment, then smiled. "Will you pay for things?"

"..." Coke swallowed with difficulty. "I... I could, I guess?"

A tagalong who could offer advice, carry things, and even pay for them was welcome. Xiya happily agreed, then led Ye Chuqi through every shop along the way.

Yes, every single one.

Whether they needed anything or not, Xiya dragged Ye Chuqi inside for a look. Picking things out came second. Mostly, she pointed at all the strange and wonderful items to build Ye Chuqi's vocabulary. Even if Ye Chuqi wanted something, she would have a hard time saying so.

Ye Chuqi: I'm so touched.

But San San kept chattering in Ye Chuqi's ear. After more than half a day of shopping, Coke had gone pale and glassy-eyed, as though questioning his entire existence. Ye Chuqi tugged at Xiya and asked, "Bookstore. Can we go to a bookstore?"

Following Xiya around was helping her learn quickly, but it was still too slow for San San. Books held houses of gold. They could offer far more knowledge, especially about this world's history and the many things everyone else took for granted that Ye Chuqi knew nothing about.

There was, of course, a bookstore. The little shop in Kru Town stood on a backstreet in a poor location. Customers were few and far between, and the owner was dozing behind a counter in the corner.

Xiya went in first. The bell by the door rang clear and bright, and the owner looked up lazily. "Pick whatever you like. When you're done, put the money in the box by the door."

Every book had a price marked on it. He could not be bothered to get up and serve them.

Xiya was used to this. She looked down at Ye Chuqi and said, "The shop may be small, but its selection is pretty complete. If there's something you want that he doesn't have, you can order it from him..."

Ye Chuqi: The owner's this lazy, and he can still drag himself out to buy new books?

But that was beside the point. There was nothing dangerous in the bookstore. Xiya had gone to the shelves she wanted, while Coke had found a little stool and sat down by the door. Ye Chuqi picked a shelf at random and began flipping through books without caring what they were about. She turned the pages so fast that it hardly seemed kind to the books. Anyone watching would have thought she was playing with them, not reading.

Ye Chuqi could not read at that speed, but San San could. Its way of memorizing things was almost like scanning, something no human could do. Ye Chuqi was just there to turn pages so San San could commit them to memory. As for her own reading, she would have to take it slowly. She knew perfectly well she was an ordinary human.

The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon in the bookstore. If not for the conspicuous sound of pages flipping on Ye Chuqi's side, it would have been a perfectly peaceful scene.

So peaceful that Coke fell asleep by the door.

Going shopping with girls was terrifying. When it came to buying things, their stamina was frightening.

The Red Wind Mercenary Group also had a base in Kru Town, not far from the main street: a little courtyard with its own three-story house, beautifully furnished inside and out. Two veteran members who had retired from the group looked after it. One had lost an arm; the other, a leg.

The courtyard was registered under Jun Ruofeng's name. Whenever members came to Kru Town on a mission, they could rest there.

There were a lot of them this time. Their leader's disappearance was a serious matter, and every elite member who could come had rushed over, packing the three-story house full. Ye Chuqi shared a room with Xiya.

With Red Beard's strength as a guarantee and Jun Ruofeng's knack for business, they easily secured the job of delivering the Red Sun Fruit back to the Imperial Capital.

As for the danger Red Beard had encountered in the Ashen Wasteland, that had been aimed at him. It had little to do with the Red Sun Fruit—he had not even obtained it at the time!

Of course, the mission involving the Red Sun Fruit might have been a trap from the start, set for Red Beard, with an insider coaxing him into taking it. But that insider had died in the Ashen Wasteland, leaving no one to question. Investigating would not be easy. Red Beard had someone in mind; he simply had no proof.

Holding her quilt, Ye Chuqi asked Xiya, "Red Sun Fruit. Very expensive?" She had long since learned that it was valuable, but she had no real sense of how valuable. It was only the size of a bean.

Xiya answered earnestly, "You can hardly put a price on the Red Sun Fruit. You saw the leader and Xiao Nuo eat it after they were gravely wounded. That was how they survived."

Ye Chuqi nodded, but she was thinking something else. Red Beard didn't survive because of the Red Sun Fruit. It was because of the last Spirit Origin Pill I had—

"One tiny fruit can bring someone back as long as they're still breathing. Add a few other ingredients, and it can be made into a divine-grade healing potion capable of bringing the dead back to life." Xiya laughed at her own words. "All right, bringing the dead back is an exaggeration, but it works wonders on severe injuries. Even before the Ashen Wasteland became the Ashen Wasteland, the Red Sun Fruit was precious. After the Forbidden Spell, only the Ashen Wasteland remained. The Red Sun Fruit vanished from the world, and divine-grade healing potions became a thing of the past. People tried replacing it with other ingredients, but nothing worked as well. Now that the Red Sun Fruit has appeared again, I don't know whether that's good or bad."

It was not exactly good, but it was not exactly bad, either.

First the Red Sun Fruit had resurfaced in the Ashen Wasteland, and then came rumors of a mineral vein. It almost seemed as though someone wanted to draw everyone's attention there. Was it just a coincidence?

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