Chapter 74: Receipt
After Hao Mei finished eating and fell asleep on the sofa covered with a blanket, the blood drawing began. 400 milliliters per session, three times total, amounting to 1,200 milliliters.
Baha's claim about drawing another 2,000 milliliters was just messing with Hao Mei. Su Xiao needed Hao Mei's blood to purify those energy particles that could fuse lightning and blood, and then try to replicate them later.
Su Xiao had long discovered the hidden power within contractors' professions and bloodline abilities. These were products optimized by the Paradise. They might seem less powerful than the originals, but that was because the side effects had been removed.
The previous "Sister Juice · Sweet Orange" had already yielded Su Xiao a substantial harvest. The first version of the Devourer was developed from Sweet Orange's cells combined with Ancient God source blood. Later came the Eye Ritual, which could create "Dark Eyes," leading to the emergence of the first-generation Devourer, Black A.
Crimson and Dark Sun were actually the second and third generations cultivated from fragments of Black A.
The original purpose of creating the Devourer was to produce a living tracking organism that could continuously pursue a target after absorbing their blood and hair.
But after it was created, they discovered this thing was exceptionally ferocious. Its tracking ability wasn't strong, but its ability to devour living beings was astonishingly powerful.
At that time, the Devourer was still different from its current form. It was considered a one-time weapon. After using it once, Su Xiao discovered the Devourer's strongest trait: not only could it coexist with a host, but it could also grow stronger together with the host.
Only after that came the first-generation Devourer, Black A version. No one would have imagined that this thing's initial inspiration was a tracking-type organism, and its symbiotic nature was only meant to invade the target's body after catching up, making it impossible for the target to shake off the pursuit.
After a preliminary analysis of Hao Mei's blood, no other findings emerged yet, but the ethanol content was quite high. Looking at Hao Mei, who treated alcohol like water, it was pretty normal for her blood to have high ethanol levels.
Hao Mei leaned back on the sofa, a blood collection needle in the crook of her arm, holding a jujube in her other hand, with her own brewed brown sugar water on the table.
"You've lost."
Su Xiao spoke. Hearing his words, Hao Mei, chewing on the jujube, responded vaguely.
"I originally planned to eliminate you—"
"Big brother, no need to say more. I can tell you don't want to waste words with me. I'll pay."
"..."
Su Xiao's train of thought was abruptly interrupted. He really hadn't expected the other party to be so willing to pay.
"We're both technique-type, so you can imagine how poor I am. I still have 5,000 Soul Coins. I'll use that money to buy my life."
Hao Mei glanced at the blood collection bag as she spoke, implying that it was already 400cc, and they shouldn't push it too far.
"20,000 Soul Coins."
Su Xiao named his price. Upon hearing this, Hao Mei said:
"20... thousand? Do I look like I'm worth 20,000? The miners in Apocalypse Paradise are wealthy, or contractors involved in mining are rich. I don't have 20,000 Soul Coins, but I know two people who do. One is called Molei, the other Yueshitu. Molei has a mine in some world and just sits back collecting Soul Coins. Yueshitu has a bunch of summons that mine, so she's also particularly rich. So, catching a poor wretch like me is probably less worthwhile than catching them..."
Hao Mei vigorously advocated for Su Xiao to capture Molei and Yueshitu and squeeze them dry. Baha, standing nearby, smiled without saying a word. If Molei and Yueshitu still had Soul Coins to squeeze out, they wouldn't have caught Hao Mei.
"You have 20,000 Soul Coins."
Su Xiao suddenly interrupted Hao Mei's words. The opposite Hao Mei replied, "I don't! Who said I do?!"
"Molei."
"Damn it!!"
Hao Mei was furious. She and Molei had been at odds for a long time, all stemming from a dungeon boss kill.
As a technique-type, Hao Mei had a habit of soloing bosses. Once, after clearing out a dungeon, she was about to fight the dungeon boss. Over 70% of the dungeon's rewards were concentrated on that boss.
Then the predictable happened. Molei suddenly appeared, delivered a kidney-busting kick, and snatched the dungeon boss's kill rights.
It wasn't entirely Molei's fault. She had discovered the dungeon first, but ran into Hao Mei at the entrance. Caught off guard, Hao Mei beat her to the point of questioning life.
After their feud, in Molei's eyes, Hao Mei was a simple-minded wavy-haired white-haired girl. In Hao Mei's eyes, Molei was a stupid little pink-haired fool.
"I have a grudge with Molei. She's slandering me. As Molei's daddy, you should know that."
Hao Mei said this, clearly having figured out the whole situation.
"According to Molei, you used a substantial sum of initial capital to establish a trade association trading ore. You don't have much business sense yourself, but under Apocalypse Paradise's notarization, you became the net profit sharer of that trade association."
As soon as Su Xiao said this, Hao Mei wished she could strangle Molei. Did she have a net profit share from an ore trade association? The answer was yes, and that was also why she was wealthy, and why she was called Hao Mei. "This girl is actually a local tycoon," and over time, those familiar with her all called her Hao Mei.
"I have one last question. Tell me. After you caught that stupid pink-haired fool Molei, how many Soul Coins did you squeeze out of her?"
"20,000."
As soon as Su Xiao finished speaking.
[Prompt: You have received a trade request.]
[You have obtained 20,000 Soul Coins.]
...
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao was in a very good mood. Even as an eighth-rank hunter, a total income of 30,000 Soul Coins in one world progress was already quite good.
This world invasion, not to mention anything else, just the Soul Coins obtained from Molei, Yueshitu, and Hao Mei alone amounted to over 70,000. That was equivalent to his earnings from two world progresses, with an extra 10,000 Soul Coins to spare.
It might seem that mining was more profitable, but that wasn't the case. Mining wasn't simple. You had to invest energy and resources in this area to exploit high-grade mineral veins. Otherwise, even if you found one, improper handling during excavation could render the ore worthless, and you might even lose money on the mining operation.
Investing too much energy in mining naturally left no time to improve combat power, leading to the dilemma of digging up ore but being unable to keep it.
Since Hao Mei paid up so readily, Su Xiao naturally didn't impose any restrictions on her. With hundreds of contracts signed, even if Hao Mei wanted to pull any tricks, she didn't have the conditions.
The most ruthless aspect of these contracts wasn't the combined severe penalty for violations, but the fact that all these contracts expired at the end of this world. That is, with the conclusion of this world progress, all these contracts would be completely dissolved.
This was the most terrifying point. If Su Xiao had made Hao Mei sign permanent contracts, Hao Mei's thought would have been, 'Do whatever you want, I'm not cooperating anyway. There's no hope left, I might as well have some backbone.'
On the other hand, now, after seeing the expiration and destruction dates of these hundreds of contracts, Hao Mei's first thought was: 'I have to survive this world. Once I'm out of this world, none of this Reincarnation Paradise hunter, beheading night stuff has anything to do with me anymore.'
Once this thought appeared, Hao Mei would raise her tolerance limit, thinking, 'Just bear with it a little longer, it'll pass soon. It's just one world progress.'
Hao Mei didn't know that there was something called habit. Once she got used to 'bearing with it, maybe I'll never run into this guy named Bai Ye again,' she would be completely hooked, and might even end up going along with it, like Molei and Yueshitu, who each earned several thousand battle merits this time.
Su Xiao checked the fortress data. A long list appeared. Including the combat suits sold to the human side and the fortress's mining income, the total was 12,330 units of Living Ore income.
These resources could supplement the fortress with 308,250 pig-headed people, plus the subsequent transformation costs in the evolution nest. That meant, after this batch of trade, their side's wild boar warrior count would increase by at least 240,000. Adding their existing 230,000 wild boar warriors, a total of 470,000 wild boar warriors would gather into a massive army.
With such formidable military strength in hand, although attacking the vassal territory was impossible, they could definitely establish a defense line in the border region and launch an all-out war with the vassal side.
After the war started, although their side would suffer casualties, they could obtain resources through war spoils. If the human side had enough pig-headed people, subsequent troop sources would be continuous.
Moreover, as the war continued, Su Xiao's authority in the title shop would get higher and higher. He would exchange for titles in the title shop to upgrade War Lord to an eight-star title. Only then would the true fangs be revealed.
This was Su Xiao's development plan. Whether it would go smoothly depended on whether the situation developed as expected.
Besides this, Su Xiao had another major discovery. Every day, tens of thousands of dwarf pig people mined underground. Besides Living Ore, they occasionally unearthed gems with life characteristics, etc. Unfortunately, these items were all in an un-notarized state. Only one resource was an exception, and that was [Living Crystal].
[Living Crystal] was found within Living Ore. It wasn't a byproduct. At the center of a Living Ore vein, there would definitely be one [Living Crystal]. Or rather, the surrounding Living Ore existed because of it.
The Aurora Council, Vassal Alliance, and Watchtower all had clear regulations that any [Living Crystal] mined must be handed over. When experienced ore survey teams hand over with mobile fortress mine owners, they could estimate the probable quantity of [Living Crystal] in that vein. Therefore, during mining, the mine owners dared not fail to hand over [Living Crystal].
The walnut-sized [Living Crystal] in Su Xiao's hand was dug up by the dwarf pig people.
[Living Crystal]
Origin: Ser Star
Quality: Immortal Rank
Type: Living Mineral/Life Force Condensate
Effect: This crystal contains a large amount of living energy. This living energy also possesses biological and life characteristics, meaning this crystal contains a massive amount of bio-energy.
Rating: 1300 points
Introduction: Vast life force is contained within.
Selling Price: 530 Soul Coins.
...
Judging from the selling price, taking this back to Reincarnation Paradise to set up a stall and sell it, or simply selling it to Reincarnation Paradise, were both good options.
Su Xiao wasn't planning to sell a single one. On the contrary, he wanted to get as many [Living Crystals] as possible and stockpile them. This thing had great uses.
Putting away the [Living Crystal], Su Xiao estimated that the time for an all-out war with the vassal side wasn't far off. He needed to resolve some matters quickly.
"Follow me."
Su Xiao led Bubu Wang and Baha out of the room. Seeing this, Hao Mei, who was a bit drowsy from anemia, reluctantly got up and followed behind.
Previously, after returning from "Kvarb Ring City," Su Xiao had commissioned Kaiser to construct a transmission channel between there and Warehouse No. 2 in the border region.
Regarding this, Su Xiao let Kaiser fund it entirely. Kaiser didn't even haggle. Why? Because after it was done, if Kaiser wanted to flee, coming to the Sun Fortress in the border region would be his first choice.
Therefore, setting up a branch array diagram connected to the large teleportation array in Warehouse No. 2 in advance was a precaution. When it came to his own life safety, Kaiser had never been stingy.
In the past, Kaiser had even tried to buy a high-priced personal death insurance in the Void, with himself as the beneficiary. He ultimately failed because he couldn't get a resurrection item.
Arriving at Warehouse No. 2, Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Baha all stood on the teleportation array. Hao Mei hesitated a bit, but with Su Xiao's hand already resting on the sword hilt at his waist, she could only step onto the teleportation array.
The sensation of teleportation surged. When the spatial fluctuation subsided, Su Xiao found himself in a small room. This small room was about a few square meters, with some miscellaneous items piled against the wall.
Pushing open the wooden door, Su Xiao walked into a large room. This was located in the outer district of "Kvarb Ring City," the military logistics department.
The inner side of the room had a row of counters. The counter was about two meters wide from the back wall. This wall was blocked by a full wall of cabinets, with wooden compartments of various sizes on them.
As the quartermaster, Kaiser's daily job was to sit behind the counter, waiting for soldiers or officers to come with approval documents to transfer supplies, or for contractors to come and exchange items with reputation.
Kaiser wasn't behind the counter. He was squatting in front of a fireplace, with an iron basin on top containing a bubbling, suspicious object.
When Su Xiao saw the murky, viscous, constantly bubbling liquid with a sock shape faintly floating up, and the smell in the room that numbed his sense of smell, he immediately took out a gas mask and put it on.
"Damn, what's that smell? Kaiser, are you boiling shit?"
"The socks couldn't be washed clean, and they've been worn too long. High-temperature sterilization."
Kaiser held a stick, stirring the murky, viscous liquid.
"Ugh~"
Hao Mei couldn't hold it in anymore. She pushed open the window and vomited. This was on the second floor, and no one was downstairs.
Half an hour later, Kaiser fished out his several socks. Originally, he wanted to dry them, but under everyone's opposition, he could only store them in his own storage space.
Kaiser stood there thinking for a while, then poured the viscous, dark yellow liquid from the iron basin into a bottle, sealed it, and planned to debug it later for use as a throwing weapon. Who knows if he would end up creating something bizarre like [Kaiser's Footwash (Concentrated Type)].
The windows were opened to air out the room. Kaiser returned behind the counter. He looked Hao Mei up and down, then turned to Su Xiao and asked, "My dear friend, is this person reliable?"
"Her mark reputation is fine."
"Alright then, let's begin."
Kaiser revealed his signature sly smile. He first spat into his palm, then rubbed his hands together. Soon, yellow smoke emerged. This smoke vaguely formed several lines of twisted text, and faint sounds could be heard, as if cursing filthy words in Goblin language.
After doing all this, a light yellow light shone in Kaiser's eyes. Almost simultaneously, Hao Mei received many prompts.
[Prompt (Void Tree): Due to your outstanding performance, you have become a direct subordinate of Quartermaster · Nicholas Kaiser.]
[Quartermaster · Nicholas Kaiser has activated his exclusive ability: Call Black White (X).]
[Due to the "Call Black White (X) ability," you have obtained the following benefits.]
[You have completed the special event: Luring the Enemy.]
[9 hours ago, you successfully lured the Sun faction's lord · Kukulin Bai Ye into your own territory and fought a hard battle with him. Due to the failure of your other personnel to reinforce, your luring of the enemy had no strategic significance. This situation is unrelated to you. Therefore, you receive the following rewards.]
[Within this world, your faction reputation gain is increased by 22% (if you should originally gain 100 faction reputation points, you will gain an additional 22 faction reputation points).]
[Your faction reputation gain is increased by 18% (this is an additional reward obtained due to the bonus of Quartermaster Kaiser's ability).]
...
[You have completed the strategic event: Infiltrating the Enemy Camp!]
[After infiltrating the enemy camp · Sun Fortress and stealing confidential intelligence, you successfully returned to Kvarb Ring City. Upon learning the confidential intelligence you provided, Quartermaster · Nicholas Kaiser decided to convey this message to his superior "655379*39-? General."]
[Your actions have been rewarded.]
[Within this world, your faction reputation gain is increased by 35%.]
[Your faction reputation gain is increased by 25% (this is an additional reward obtained due to the bonus of Quartermaster Kaiser's ability).]
...
[You have completed the major event: Capturing the Enemy's Supreme Leader · Kukulin Bai Ye!]
[After infiltrating the enemy camp, you bravely captured the enemy leader · Kukulin Bai Ye, as well as his followers Bubuteni and Baha. In recognition of your heroic actions, you will receive...]
[Prompt: Your original rewards have been rejected by Kaiser through his "Faction Bully (X) ability. Since your heroic performance was all under the command of Quartermaster Kaiser, your rewards have been changed to the following.]
[Due to your capture of the enemy leader · Kukulin Bai Ye, within this world, your faction reputation gain is increased by 150%.]
[Your faction reputation gain is increased by 30% (this is an additional reward obtained due to the bonus of Quartermaster Kaiser's ability).]
...
[Your total faction reputation gain increase is 280% (i.e., if you should originally gain 100 faction reputation points, you will actually gain 380 points).]
[Out of gratitude for your superior Nicholas Kaiser's guidance and promotion, and to repay Kaiser's regard and promotion for you, you voluntarily pay 3,200 Soul Coins as a token of thanks.]
[You have paid 3,200 Soul Coins.]
[Due to the transaction tax with Kaiser, you need to pay 1.73% transaction tax for this transaction (3,200 × 1.73% = 55.36).]
[You have paid an additional 60 Soul Coins as transaction tax (calculated according to the "Round Down to Zero, Round Up to One" rule formulated by Quartermaster Kaiser).]
[This tax is determined and implemented by Quartermaster Kaiser, and the ownership also belongs to Quartermaster Kaiser.]
[You have paid a total of 3,260 Soul Coins. You have received one "Receipt."]
[If you have any objections, you can bring this "Receipt" to Reincarnation Paradise for appeal and reporting.]
...
After this series of prompts appeared, Hao Mei first blinked, then quickly checked her existing Soul Coins. Indeed, 3,260 were missing. She swore to the heavens that this was not her intention.
Hao Mei looked at the "Receipt" in her hand. She had a lot to say, but for a moment, she didn't know where to start. She quickly took a sip of wine to calm herself down. After letting out a long breath, whether due to anemia or other reasons, she felt a bit dizzy.
PS: (I will never drink baijiu again. I lay in bed all afternoon today to recover. If I drink baijiu again, I'm a dog.)