Chapter 86: Are You... Familiar with Christmas?
Su Xiao looked at the dozens of pieces of equipment stored in the adventure group's savings space. The quantity was indeed large, but unfortunately, the quality was not high—a sea of blue sky and green grass (blue and green quality).
There were three pieces of purple equipment, two pieces of dark purple, and as for light gold or gold equipment, not a single one was seen.
This situation was entirely normal. The Starfire Adventure Group had dozens of members, and their demand for high-quality equipment was substantial. As for why there were so many green and blue pieces, first, they were replaced by veteran members, and second, they were prepared for new recruits.
Once they entered an open world, various adventure groups would recruit promising newcomers, training them as peripheral members. To retain these promising newcomers, they needed equipment that wasn't high in quality but had practical attributes.
Su Xiao had long anticipated this situation. He wasn't interested in the equipment but rather the valuable materials.
After sorting through everything, Su Xiao categorized the equipment together. These blue and green pieces were useless to him. As for the materials, that was a considerable income.
Gold quality materials/rare metals x2.
Light gold quality materials/semi-finished items x8.
Dark purple materials/semi-finished items/rare metals/minerals x10.
Various purple materials.
Undoubtedly, the value of these materials far exceeded the equipment in the adventure group's storage space, with prices at least several times higher.
Apart from equipment, materials, and some odd items, the Starfire Adventure Group left nothing else. They couldn't possibly have any surplus soul crystals, skill scrolls were out of the question, and consumables had long been exhausted in the Hunter World.
The seemingly prosperous medium-sized adventure group was nearly an empty shell. Of course, it was also possible that the bald leader had stored high-value items in his personal storage space—this possibility wasn't low.
How to handle these items was a headache. Selling them to worker merchants would result in extremely low prices. As for selling them to the Divine Emperor Adventure Group, forget it—they likely had plenty of low-grade equipment stockpiled.
After much thought, Su Xiao recalled an adventure group he had good relations with, so he contacted its leader.
The other party quickly replied, with the following content:
"Brother Bai Ye, it's a bit rude to say this, but I really don't take junk. Which adventure group did you wipe out? Our group has enough low-grade equipment in stock. This stuff isn't suitable for hoarding in large quantities..."
Su Xiao had contacted a certain "sister complex" guy. That lunatic led a crazy adventure group and was now thriving in the third rank. Yes, it was those lunatics from Ming Sect.
Ming Sect wasn't interested in these pieces of equipment, so Su Xiao had no choice but to sell them to merchants.
In truth, Ming Sect's leader, Yan Chen, was very interested in these materials, but Su Xiao was doing "bundled sales"—if they didn't buy the low-grade equipment, the high-grade materials were off the table.
Of course, he couldn't sell these items one by one at the trade market. Who knew how long that would take? Plus, the prices were too unstable, and Su Xiao couldn't spare the time to haggle with newcomers.
It was easy to imagine that first-rank early-stage contractors would haggle over green equipment because that was their core gear. One or two people haggling was fine, but if a dozen or even dozens came to Su Xiao to bargain... just thinking about it was a headache.
After pondering for a long time, Su Xiao contacted a black merchant.
In a café within Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao sat with a cup of coffee in front of him, untouched. Who knew why black merchants always liked doing business in cafés?
As Su Xiao was trying to pass a puzzle game that was absurdly difficult, a man in black clothes and a black face scarf walked into the café.
This was the standard attire of a black merchant—all black. The newcomer scanned the café and quickly focused on Su Xiao.
The black merchant stepped forward slowly, sat in the seat opposite Su Xiao, and cleared his throat.
Su Xiao paused the game and looked up at the black merchant across from him.
"24k?"
This time, it was an acquaintance, which made things easier.
"So Mr. Bai Ye still remembers me. That really makes me..."
Just as Black Merchant 24k was about to exchange pleasantries, Su Xiao waved his hand. Seeing this, Black Merchant 24k raised an eyebrow. The wave wasn't to tell him to stop talking nonsense but to indicate that since they were old acquaintances, there was no need for formalities.
"Have things been going smoothly in the derivative worlds lately?"
Black Merchant 24k was a shrewd man. He knew when to say what.
"Decent enough. At least I didn't die in there."
"It's the same for everyone. Surviving in Reincarnation Paradise is hard enough; rising to prominence is even tougher."
Black Merchant 24k sighed deeply and called over a waiter, ordering two glasses of orange juice. This guy had observed from their previous two transactions that Su Xiao didn't like coffee.
"Brother Bai Ye, recently, Gulu from the Travel Group has been making bold claims, waiting for you to advance to the fourth rank."
"Has Gulu advanced to the fourth rank?"
When Su Xiao encountered Gulu in the Naruto World before, she was still at the third rank, but she was an absurdly strong third-rank. Huang Fen and Kuang Hu were no match for her. Two large adventure groups had besieged her in the Naruto World, but she still escaped. Moreover, Shen Huang and Gulu were mortal enemies—Gulu had killed Shen Huang's sister, Xila.
"It seems she advanced to the fourth rank three worlds ago. She was completing a chain mission in the third rank, so she kept suppressing her rank. But let's not talk about that. Brother Bai Ye, you didn't call me here to catch up, did you?"
Black Merchant 24k changed the subject, getting straight to the point.
"Exactly."
Su Xiao displayed all the information about the equipment and materials to Black Merchant 24k. The latter's eyes twitched, not because of the sheer number of items, but because of their origin.
Black Merchant 24k knew Su Xiao was a lone wolf. How could a third-rank lone wolf obtain so many low-level pieces of equipment? There were only two possibilities: either Su Xiao had used some item to enter a low-rank derivative world and slaughtered all the contractors there, or he had wiped out a sizable adventure group.
"Selling as a bundle?"
"Yes."
"This... let me think about it."
Black Merchant 24k seemed to be contacting someone. After a moment, he received a reply.
"Mr. Bai Ye, our guild is short on Paradise Coins lately. Some lucky newcomer got a large batch of soul crystals from a special treasure chest, and we bought them all at market price."
Saying this, Black Merchant 24k's laugh carried a hint of smugness. They had made a huge windfall.
"How about a barter trade? Mr. Bai Ye is a lone wolf, so improving your strength is the most important thing. I'll consolidate these items into something more valuable. That should suit your needs best."
Black Merchant 24k was sincere, almost to the point of being ingratiating.
"What's the matter? Spit it out."
"Well... this..."
Black Merchant 24k rubbed his hands together and continued, "Are you... familiar with Christmas?"
Hearing Black Merchant 24k mention Christmas, Su Xiao immediately thought of a certain guy who jumped out of a plane without a parachute. That guy was none other than No-Parachute Brother.