Chapter 79: Thirty Million? You Must Be a Demon
The next morning, Su Xiao was woken by the sound of an alarm clock. He was a bit confused, unsure where the alarm had come from.
A furry cat paw reached out from beside the bed and slapped the alarm clock with a *pat*. Beini, in her cat form, yawned, groggily picked up her toiletries, and headed toward the bathroom.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang was also woken up. As a freeloader who usually slept until he naturally woke, being disturbed by the alarm clock left him a bit grumpy. Amu, on the other hand, was snoring steadily. Not even an artillery shell landing nearby would wake him.
Su Xiao glanced at the time, then at the dozens of unread emails. After washing up, he headed out, making straight for the Divine Emperor Adventure Group headquarters.
After weaving through the streets of Reincarnation Paradise a few times, Su Xiao entered a relatively quiet block. The Divine Emperor Adventure Group headquarters was nearby, and he eventually stopped in front of a three-story building.
As soon as he arrived, he noticed someone leaning against the wall by the door, covered in a blanket, looking like a homeless person. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Kuang Hu.
"Kuang Hu, wake up."
Su Xiao nudged Kuang Hu with his foot. Kuang Hu jolted awake and sat up. When he saw Su Xiao, his gaze was unusually intense. Su Xiao, who had stood his ground without retreating against the Unnamed Lord, actually took two steps back.
"You're finally here. That little princess of our adventure group started kicking down doors at three in the morning."
"..."
Su Xiao said nothing. Kuang Hu's acting wasn't great; he hadn't captured the essence of a tragic performance.
Seeing Su Xiao's expression, Kuang Hu's face twitched.
"I've been squatting here since five in the morning. Can you knock 30% off the Ascension Set?"
"No."
"Damn, I told Matcha her plan wouldn't work, but she wouldn't listen."
Kuang Hu stood up, his joints cracking audibly.
"Let's go. Our regimental commander and that little princess are waiting for you inside."
After Kuang Hu gave Su Xiao permission to enter the headquarters, the two walked into the three-story building. As soon as they entered, Su Xiao saw a young girl running toward them.
"Welcome back, Lord Kuang Hu."
Kuang Hu's mouth twitched, and he turned to look at Su Xiao.
"Just... pretend you didn't see that. It's a half-humanoid robot designed by some idiot."
Kuang Hu waved his hand, and the girl robot withdrew. Su Xiao felt she looked very similar to some plot character, but he couldn't quite place who.
After going up to the second floor, Kuang Hu led Su Xiao into a living room. Divine Emperor and Matcha were already waiting there, along with an old man with a goatee. Based on his aura, Su Xiao judged him to be a worker.
"Brother Bai Ye, long time no see."
Divine Emperor spoke and invited Su Xiao to sit. Both parties settled on the sofa, with Su Xiao and Divine Emperor facing each other. Divine Emperor had Kuang Hu and Matcha on his left and right, while the goateed old man stood by the central tea table, using hot water to scald the tea set.
"Please."
Divine Emperor's attitude differed from Kuang Hu's. A major transaction was about to take place, so the necessary courtesies had to be observed.
Judging by the exquisite tea set, Divine Emperor was likely a businessman in the real world, perhaps a shareholder in some large corporation.
Although Su Xiao wasn't in the habit of drinking tea, he still picked up the small tea bowl and took a sip.
"Given your friendship with Kuang Hu, I won't waste time with unnecessary pleasantries. Brother Bai Ye came with sincerity, and I won't let you down. Name your price."
As Divine Emperor said this, his heart was bleeding. From the current situation, his promotion to the fifth rank might be delayed by one or two derivative worlds.
"In terms of price, soul crystals would be good."
"This..."
Divine Emperor gave a bitter smile. Su Xiao had struck at his vital point. What did an adventure group lack most? The answer was soul crystals.
"We'll offer... this much."
Divine Emperor held up three fingers. Su Xiao raised an eyebrow.
"That's quite generous. Hard to refuse. Thirty million Paradise coins, huh..."
"Pfft—"
Matcha spat out her tea, coughing repeatedly. Her fair finger pointed at Su Xiao, as if to say, "Brother, how did you interpret that as thirty million? At that price, I'd rather pay with my body."
"Brother Bai Ye is joking. What do you think of this price?"
"Very sincere."
"Uh... I really didn't mean thirty million."
"I know."
Su Xiao set down the small tea bowl. Divine Emperor had initially offered three million Paradise coins, which was already slightly above market price. Unfortunately, the Ascension Set had no market price—Su Xiao had never heard of any adventure group owning a set.
"One million one hundred thousand Paradise coins, plus one million nine hundred thousand worth of equipment, all detection-type gear."
Hearing Su Xiao's offer, Divine Emperor fell silent. The first two conditions weren't too difficult, but the last one troubled him.
"Agreed."
As Divine Emperor spoke, he glanced at Matcha, signaling her not to speak.
"Give me an hour to prepare. Wait a moment."
Divine Emperor stood up and left, with the goateed old man following closely. Only Su Xiao, Kuang Hu, and Matcha remained in the room.
Divine Emperor had been calm throughout, but from the force with which he pushed the door, his inner peace seemed shaken. His wallet was already wailing—that was three million Paradise coins.
"Thanks for this."
Kuang Hu didn't care about the earlier negotiation. Su Xiao had only notified them after obtaining the Ascension Set, which was a significant favor, separate from the price discussion.
"You pay, I provide the Ascension Set. Is she the beneficiary?"
Su Xiao looked at Matcha. Kuang Hu chuckled.
"If I wore that thing and flew into the sky, our regimental commander would skin me alive."
Although Kuang Hu was also a healing type, he wasn't exactly serious. Back when Su Xiao was at the third rank, he had fought this guy for a long time. Kuang Hu was the most disgusting opponent Su Xiao had ever encountered at the third rank, bar none.
"Dead fox, watch your tone when you talk to me from now on. I'm the Ascension Healer now."
"Last time you fell into the Mad Spirit Tide, you were shouting 'Brother Kuang Hu~, come save me...'"
"If you keep talking, I'll spill about the time you forgot to bring money when you went to see a woman... Sigh~"
Matcha turned her head, slurping her tea noisily. Kuang Hu's expression darkened.
"Bai Ye, don't listen to that brat's nonsense."
As Matcha and Kuang Hu traded embarrassing secrets, Divine Emperor returned in less than an hour.
"Let's begin."
"Alright."
Su Xiao took out the eight pieces of the Ascension Set, while Divine Emperor started transferring Paradise coins to him.
[You have received 1,100,000 Paradise coins.]
[You have received Exploration Stone (Purple quality).]
[You have received Sea Spirit Heart (Light Gold quality).]
[You have received Blood-Spotted Colossus (Light Gold quality).]
...
[You have received M-377k Detection Glasses (Purple quality).]
...
Divine Emperor traded a total of 11 detection-type equipment pieces to Su Xiao, most of which were purple or dark purple quality, with two being light gold. Detection-type equipment was like this—prices remained high.
The transaction went smoothly. Su Xiao's purpose in acquiring so much detection-type gear was to improve the quality of the Apostle's Eye. According to Lide, if you synthesized equipment of the same type, the resulting gear would also be of that type, and upon upgrade, it would surpass items of the same rank.
The Scholar's Starry Sea