Qi Xu directly pulled out a Polaroid camera, raised it overhead, tilted slightly at the waist, and posed with a "V" sign alongside Amei Spider's legs. The spider cooperated quite willingly, even increasing its favorability by another 5 points due to the photo, chuckling with a "tsk tsk" sound.
Amei Spider asked curiously, "Why would you specifically come into the zoo to collect scrap? Where did you get the authorization?"
Qi Xu answered with complete honesty, "I'm a player here to participate in the 'Animal Asylum' dungeon."
"Huh? You... you..."
Amei Spider stammered for a while but couldn't get another word out. Eventually, its attitude noticeably cooled, and it lay back on its desk, spinning a pen idly.
"You're here to collect scrap, right? Go pick what you want. Bring it here later, and I'll calculate the total price for you."
Qi Xu nodded and headed inside. It seemed this dungeon had more secrets than expected.
Despite Amei Spider's cold demeanor, its pen kept slipping from its legs, and it kept sneaking glances over, sighing one moment, distracted the next, and then—another 5-point increase in favorability.
Qi Xu knew now wasn’t the time for conversation. Amei Spider was bound by rules and couldn’t say much. Best to focus on the task at hand.
This warehouse was far more organized than the previous garbage heap, with neatly stacked crates and clear divisions.
The crates on the far left were filled with all kinds of feathers and scales, but only two items were worth salvaging.
〖Scale of the Rainbow-Scaled Sky Dragon〗: "Can block three fatal attacks. Afterward, the scale turns to powder, which can be dissolved in water and consumed to strengthen the body and enhance physical stats."
Damn, that’s impressive—two uses in one! Too bad there was only one. Qi Xu stored it in his backpack, saving it for emergencies while using other lethal items first.
The other find was 〖Goose Down〗, essential for making down jackets or quilts. Most high-level players already had temperature-regulated gear, but this stuff could be sold in bulk.
The lower-tier market was worth tapping into—after all, average players made up the majority.
There were 36 large crates of goose down in total. Qi Xu stacked them neatly by the warehouse wall, resealed the inspected crates, and returned them to their original spots. He even tidied up the occasional scattered trash.
【Zoo Warehouse Manager Amei Spider’s favorability toward you increased by 10 points. Current favorability: 30 points.】
Amei Spider watched Qi Xu with a hint of sorrow. Such a meticulous, polite human... what a shame.
The middle section had fewer crates. Qi Xu casually opened one at the edge—inside were discarded medical supplies: syringes, IV tubes, medicine packaging, cotton balls, gauze, etc.
None of it was reusable. Just as Qi Xu was about to move on, he noticed a half-filled syringe at the bottom.
He scanned it with his interface.
〖17ml Potential Stimulant〗: "Temporarily unlocks a lifeform’s latent potential, doubling all three core stats for 1 minute per milliliter consumed. Side effect: 5 hours of weakness. Can be injected or ingested directly." Note: "This needle is contaminated. Use carries a risk of mad cow disease infection."
Qi Xu checked the crate—this syringe had the most remaining liquid, though others had traces too. If combined, the total would be substantial.
So he got to work, carefully extracting every syringe.
He lined them up on the floor, going through sixty or seventy crates of hazardous medical waste. The reason these were stored here was that they required specialized disposal. Otherwise, they wouldn’t even qualify for warehouse storage.
Amei Spider watched with pity. This human must be desperate, scavenging even through garbage.
After a hesitant sigh, it made a decision...
Qi Xu noticed Amei Spider’s movement—it seemed to have placed something in the far-right crate.
He didn’t rush over. After finishing his task, he tallied the results: 352ml of Potential Stimulant collected. If he could extract it properly later, it’d be fully usable!
362 minutes—over six hours of doubled combat stats. Qi Xu felt ready to take on another high-level Stitched Abomination!
A great haul!
After a brief delay, he finally approached the far-right crate. Inside were all kinds of bones—animal and... human?
Human? Why were there human bones? Qi Xu reassessed his assumptions. The overall direction was correct, but there must be a missing link in the chain.
Amei Spider, seeing Qi Xu deep in thought, quietly sighed in relief. Realized the danger, huh? Hopefully, he had a forced dungeon-exit item.
If so, now was the time to use it.
But to its surprise, Qi Xu quickly resumed action, eagerly gathering bones—all of them usable for weapon crafting. Some human bones might even belong to ability users, carrying special effects.
Qi Xu packed them with glee, filling eighteen large sacks!
He hauled them all to the warehouse entrance.
"Amei Spider, I’m done. Calculate the price—I’m taking all of these."
"Fine."
Amei Spider inspected the haul, even pulling out a calculator to tap away for a long while before announcing, "133 Survival Coins total. I won’t charge you for that pile of garbage."
It pointed at the precious syringes Qi Xu had set aside.
Qi Xu paid 200 Survival Coins instead. "Sorry for taking so much of your time. Keep the rest as a tip. Amei Spider, I really like you, you know?"
【Zoo Warehouse Manager Amei Spider’s favorability toward you increased by 10 points. Current favorability: 40 points.】
Suddenly, Amei Spider asked, "Humans have items that force a dungeon exit, right? Do you have one?"
Qi Xu nodded. "Yeah, need one? I’ll give it to you."
Amei Spider blurted, "I don’t need it. You use it."
"I don’t need it either. I want to finish this dungeon."
【Zoo Warehouse Manager Amei Spider’s favorability toward you decreased by 20 points. Current favorability: 20 points.】
"Transaction complete. Get out."
Qi Xu didn’t argue further. He looked at Amei Spider earnestly. "Believe in me, darling. I understand. I can handle this."
Amei Spider had already gone back to spinning its pen, ignoring him completely.
Only after Qi Xu left did it weakly stop spinning—four of its legs snapped off at once, and it vomited a mouthful of blood...
..........
