Chapter 3: Solar Flame · Detonation Mark
Stock Quantity: 2.
Exchange Prerequisite: Cannot be purchased.
Exchange Price: Cannot be purchased.
Internal Procurement Price: 450,000 Reputation Points.
...
Su Xiao chose to purchase the two [Solar Flame · Detonation Marks], and several prompts appeared.
[Prompt: Your faction privilege · Cost Price Procurement has been activated. For this exchange item, Reputation Point consumption is reduced by 25%.]
[You need to pay 900,000 Reputation Points. Actual payment: 675,000 Reputation Points.]
[You have obtained Solar Flame · Detonation Mark × 2.]
[Warning: This item should not have appeared in the Reputation Shop. If the Sun Church discovers this item is missing, an investigation into Kaiser will be launched.]
...
A wooden box appeared in Su Xiao's hand. Without opening it, he placed the box on the counter in front of him.
"Return."
Su Xiao spoke calmly. Kaiser, behind the counter, took the wooden box, which suddenly vanished, returning to its original location.
[Prompt: Your faction privilege · Return has been activated. This return will refund Reputation Points based on the item's listed price.]
[Solar Flame · Detonation Mark × 2 has been successfully returned.]
[You have received 900,000 Reputation Points.]
...
The double strike of "Cost Price Procurement" + "Return" was complete. Without anyone noticing, Su Xiao had earned 225,000 Reputation Points. This Reputation seemed to come quickly, but it carried immense risk.
Every single Reputation Point Su Xiao had was earned through equivalent effort, such as completing commissions in Eternal Hope Town or selling potions.
He could freely spend Reputation obtained through these methods, but the Reputation blackmailed through "Cost Price Procurement" + "Return" was considered "excess profit." In layman's terms, it was dirty money.
Suppose, in the Sun Church's financial records, Su Xiao had 500 gold coins. If he spent 800 gold coins, the Sun Church would immediately come knocking, asking where the extra 300 gold coins came from. Claiming it was through transactions with other believers would be fine, as the Sun Church had dedicated personnel to check such matters.
Whether Sun Gold Coins or Reputation Points, they were essentially the Sun Church's internal currency. Their circulation could not be hidden from the Finance Department.
Spending dirty money would cause problems. Putting himself in their shoes, if Su Xiao never exceeded his legitimate earnings, would that be fine? The answer was yes.
As long as Su Xiao's spending did not exceed his legitimate income, there would be no issues. The Reputation blackmailed through "Cost Price Procurement" + "Return" could simply be saved.
Su Xiao exchanged a green-quality item worth 5 Reputation Points from the Reputation Shop—a dried bone fragment. He began to wait.
If blackmailing Reputation through "Cost Price Procurement" + "Return" meant he could no longer purchase items from the Reputation Shop, it would be very troublesome. So, he tried buying a low-price item.
After waiting a moment, no prompts appeared. Su Xiao tossed the bone fragment in his hand to Kaiser. Kaiser accepted it without hesitation, grinning slyly as he tucked it into his chest.
Checking his current Reputation, Su Xiao saw it had reached 1,338,000 points. Nearly 1.34 million Reputation in hand brought him one step closer to his goal.
The first blackmail of Reputation went smoothly. Just as Su Xiao was about to leave the room, a knock came at the door.
Knock, knock, knock.
Hearing the knock, Kaiser, behind the counter, somehow pulled out a large cloth bundle, slung it over his back, and looked as if he was clearly about to make a run for it.
Su Xiao looked at Kaiser. Kaiser's expression twisted, and after hesitating for a few seconds, he put down the large cloth bundle and went to open the door.
Outside the door was a man wearing a bucket helmet and carrying a saw-hammer on his back. He didn't enter the room but whispered something to Kaiser. Kaiser looked enlightened.
After the bucket-helmet man left, Kaiser cleared his throat and said, "My dear friend, you don't think Kaiser was about to run just now, do you? Is Kaiser the kind of person who would flee alone? Hmm?"
Kaiser spoke with righteous indignation, striking first to seize the advantage, the villain filing the complaint first.
"It's good news. The Moon-Eating Rabbit you wanted to catch has been caught."
"Moon-Eating Rabbit? How about Cold-Eating Rabbit? It's Moon Apostle."
As Baha spoke, he closed the entrance to the alternate space. In reality, Kaiser didn't need to strike first just now. If things went south, Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Baha would guarantee they vanished from Kaiser's sight within 0.5 seconds.
"Right, right, Cold-Eating Rabbit. Bah, Moon-Eating Rabbit. Moon, Moon... What a lousy name."
Ignoring Kaiser's verbal confusion, Su Xiao left the room, exited through the back door of the hall, and followed the path in the backyard to a ring-shaped valley that had been artificially excavated.
At the center of the valley was a stone altar. On the open ground to the right of the altar, a dozen iron cages were placed. A figure lay sideways inside one of the cages—it was Moon Apostle. Seeing someone approach, she quickly closed her right eye, which she had secretly opened.
Su Xiao crouched in front of the iron cage where Moon Apostle was, looking down at her lying inside. He was well-versed in this matter. He said, "I am Bai Ye. Give me 50,000 Soul Coins, and I'll get you out."
"Huh?"
Moon Apostle was stunned. She looked around and whispered mysteriously, "Bai Ye, you joined the Sun Church?"
"Yeah."
"As long as you can get me out, 50,000 Soul Coins is no problem. But, you know the situation when entering a world. No one brings too many Soul Coins into a world, right?"
Moon Apostle's words actually made sense. Contractors from Reincarnation Paradise never brought too many Soul Coins into a world. Su Xiao had thought the same before. His understanding was that contractors from all Paradises wouldn't bring large amounts of Soul Coins into a mission world—until Molei twice traded him 17,000 Soul Coins, shattering that belief.
Contractors don't bring large amounts of Soul Coins into mission worlds, except for those from Apocalypse Paradise.
"Moon Apostle, do you have any sustained recovery potions?"
"I... I do."
"Drink it now. Let's not waste time."
Su Xiao stood up and took a bone staff from his storage space. This weapon was called [Crime Fallen from Heaven], specifically used for beating people.