By the time sunlight slipped through a gap in the curtains, Qing Linyun was already awake.
He was in no hurry to get up. Although he was nominally a teaching assistant, he didn't actually teach, and Wu Changkong had nothing to say about whether he showed up or not.
The school leadership only wanted Qing Linyun's name, and didn't care in the slightest whether he actually came to teach.
Qing Linyun leaned against the headboard and casually pulled up the system interface.
[System Daily Shop] [Item one: one honey-glazed roast suckling pig] (Roasted golden brown and glossy, reportedly brushed with three layers of honey. Comes with a special dipping sauce) (Price: 888 Federation Coins)
Qing Linyun stared at the words, stunned for a long moment.
System, are you kidding me? This is what you rolled?
Are you raising me like a pig, or do you think I should open a barbecue stall?
For all his grumbling, he wasn't about to turn his nose up at it.
When the Douluo Brand Cola had appeared last time, he had wondered whether the food and drink the system rolled might taste different from what was sold outside.
Honey-glazed roast suckling pig-just listen to that name. He really couldn't find another one like it on the Douluo Continent.
At 888 Federation Coins, it wasn't expensive. He could buy it for a taste and have Ye Lingling find someone to study the recipe later. It might even become another selling point.
Qing Linyun thought a little more and suddenly grinned.
That kid Tang Wulin was a foodie. If he gave him the roast suckling pig, Tang Wulin might actually be able to put on a show of eating a whole pig in one bite.
[Item two: potted hundred-year Blue Silver Grass] (Ornamental spirit plant, one hundred years old. Purifies the air and is pleasing to the eye indoors) (Price: 50,000 Federation Coins)
The corner of Qing Linyun's mouth twitched.
Blue Silver Grass.
Blue Silver Grass again.
He thought there seemed to be something wrong with this system. Why did it keep taking digs at his Great Buddha Tang all day? Wasn't he just a Blue Silver Grass Soul Master? Was that really necessary?
It might as well have rolled a spicy rabbit head.
"Forget it. Since it rolled, I'll buy it. Who knows, maybe it'll bring me good luck?"
Fifty thousand Federation Coins—before, he wouldn't have batted an eye. Now, having just spent 13.7 billion, he looked at the 50,000 and found it almost ridiculously cheap.
Does this system know I'm poor now, so it rolled some cheap stuff to comfort me?
He muttered to himself and continued reading.
[Item three: Thousand-Year Blue Silver King Torso Bone] (From a thousand-year Blue Silver King. A main Soul Bone and a supreme treasure of the Blue Silver Grass line, containing pure wood-attribute life force) (Grade: black) (Price: 8.5 million Federation Coins)
Qing Linyun's expression slowly grew serious.
A Thousand-Year Blue Silver King Torso Bone.
It wasn't that this torso bone was particularly good. Ordinarily, in Qing Linyun's eyes, it was trash; at most, he could use it to bait outside factions.
After all, at this point in time, Soul Beasts had been hunted nearly to extinction, so naturally there weren't many Soul Bones left. Even a thousand-year Blue Silver King Torso Bone could make experts at the Titled Douluo level fight tooth and nail over it.
But to Qing Linyun, who had a system, it was utter trash.
He wouldn't even give such a trashy Soul Bone to one of his subordinates.
The worst Soul Bones possessed by the Twelve Knights were sixty or seventy thousand years old.
As for Qing Linyun's own, he wouldn't even consider anything less than five hundred thousand years old.
A torso bone ranked among the top two of the six main Soul Bones. As the hub that carried the circulation of Soul Power, it was worth far more than an arm or leg bone of the same level.
It was useless to him.
Besides, Qing Linyun really couldn't look up to a lousy thousand-year Soul Bone.
But to a certain kid with the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, this thing was a treasure dropped from the heavens.
A Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul paired with a Blue Silver King Torso Bone, and a thousand-year Soul Bone at that-it was an absolutely perfect fit.
More importantly, in the original story, Tang Wulin obtained a million-year True Dragon King Torso Bone.
If this slot were filled in advance, Tang Wulin wouldn't be able to obtain that Soul Bone as he grew in the future.
Qing Linyun narrowed his eyes.
What a coincidence.
Isn't this ready-made bait?
Eight and a half million Federation Coins—the top price in the black tier. Qing Linyun couldn't help frowning. Could this system really read minds? Why the hell did it charge more for the things he needed most?
Forget it. Buying it was easy enough.
Bought. I'll hold on to it for now and deal with it when I need it.
[Item four: Emotion Card] (Pseudo-divine artifact of unknown origin. Said to be a little trinket casually created by an unknown God of Emotion after he became a god. Only works on beings below god level) (Effect: can be used on one target below god level. The user can exchange the positive emotions accumulated by the selected target for items from that target. The target's positive Emotion Points can be increased over the course of one year, up to a maximum of 1,000; any excess has no effect. The exchange may be made early, or occur automatically when the year is up. This pseudo-divine artifact disappears after the exchange) (Price: 1 billion Federation Coins)
Qing Linyun's gaze fixed on the text and never moved away.
A pseudo-divine artifact.
An Emotion Card.
It could exchange positive emotions for items from a target below god level.
Even his breathing grew a fraction quieter.
Only last night, he had been wondering whether being too good to Tang Wulin might cause problems.
The kid seemed honest now, grateful for kindness and willing to repay it, but who knew what would happen in the future?
What if, after Qing Linyun had won him over, Tang San said, "Your big daddy is here"?
Then, if Tang Wulin turned on him one day and refused to acknowledge him, wouldn't all Qing Linyun's efforts have been wasted-and he'd have helped the enemy, too?
He had been considering how to strike the right balance with Tang Wulin: he couldn't give him too much, but he couldn't give him nothing either. It was best to keep him hanging.
And what happened?
The system had slapped the answer right in his face.
He could treat Tang Wulin well and exchange things from him for good stuff. Wasn't that the best of both worlds?
The more Qing Linyun thought about it, the cleverer he felt.
What good stuff did Tang Wulin have? Far too much.
The Golden Dragon Spear, the Golden Dragon King Bloodline, and the Sea God Trident that old bastard Tang San would give him later on-all of them were first-rate goods.
Exchanging for any one of them would earn back the billion, and then some.
He just didn't know what he would draw when the time came.
Qing Linyun wasn't worried about the Emotion Points being hard to farm, either.
He did, however, give the exchange some thought.
Positive Emotion Points were capped at 1,000 within a year, and any excess was useless. In other words, simply piling on favorability wouldn't do; his goodwill had to be genuine gold and silver, without a drop of water mixed in.
But Tang Wulin was still an honest kid right now. Treat him one part well, and he might remember it as ten.
The Emotion Points of someone like that were the easiest to raise.
If Qing Linyun wanted to, he had plenty of ways to raise favorability to the maximum. It was only a year, one way or another, and he had been planning to befriend Tang Wulin anyway. Now he could get good things from Tang Wulin as well. It was wonderful.
Right now, the only things Tang Wulin had that could be exchanged for with a full bar of Emotion Points were probably the Golden Dragon King Bloodline or that Golden Dragon Spear.
But either way, it would be an enormous profit for Qing Linyun.
Tang Wulin was just a poor kid now, terribly insecure. If Qing Linyun casually gave him something, the kid would be ready to thank him a thousand times over.
At least for the time being, Tang Wulin still knew how to be grateful.
Emotion Points, easy to farm.
The Thousand-Year Blue Silver King Torso Bone will make the perfect first big gift. Once I give it to him, won't the kid be moved to tears?
Feelings are feelings, business is business. I treat him well, he remembers my kindness, and I take every good thing he has as it comes. Neither of us loses.
This deal is guaranteed profit, no loss.
One billion Federation Coins.
A month ago, he wouldn't have batted an eye.
But he had just spent 13.7 billion yesterday, squeezing his cash flow dry. Shelling out another billion now really hurt.
Fortunately, another payment had recently come in from the Soul Spirit business at the Heaven-Supporting Pillar. According to the accounts Ye Lingling had reported, it was enough to cover this purchase.
No need to panic about the money.
He gritted his teeth.
Buy!
[Ding: purchase successful. Total spent: 1.0085 billion Federation Coins.] [Ding: warning, insufficient balance. Please replenish your funds promptly.]
Qing Linyun stared at the warning in silence.
Well, then.
He had only just caught his breath, and his funds had hit bottom again.
Qing Linyun leaned back glumly and sprawled helplessly on the bed, arms and legs spread.
"Ah, I really need to make some money."
"Lady Silver Dragon King, please be my sugar mommy."
Still.
He looked down at the card in his hand, its surface shimmering faintly with multicolored light, and the corners of his mouth slowly curled upward.
Very good.
The Golden Dragon Spear, the Golden Dragon King Bloodline.
Any one of the good things on Tang Wulin could earn him that money back with interest.
Little Wulin, oh, Little Wulin.
He chuckled inwardly.
Your big daddy is here to bring you a cheat. You'd better make an effort and fill up those Emotion Points for me.
He rolled over, put the Emotion Card into his Storage Soul Tool, and took another look at the Thousand-Year Blue Silver King Torso Bone, pondering when he could find a pretext to give away this "big gift."
"Tsk, class is in session right now, but getting him away from Wu Changkong won't be a problem. Let's go, little baby. Your big daddy is coming to bring you a cheat."