"Two detox pills and so much food—if I don’t pay up, I won’t be able to sleep tonight."
Qi Xu didn’t hold back either. The Frostbloom was useful, but for Dongfang Yuan, it wasn’t an urgent necessity, and the items she could exchange for it weren’t particularly needed at the moment. So she accepted it without hesitation but gave Dongfang Yuan plenty of food and drinks in return, along with a water condenser.
"If there’s anything else you need, just ask."
Dongfang Yuan, true to her pay-for-service attitude, replied, "Sure, I’ll summarize the daily training routine for you and send it over later."
Noticing the slightly messy state of Qi Xu’s vehicle, Dongfang Yuan added, "Want me to help clean up?"
When she first boarded, the driver’s cabin had been spotless, but now... it was a complete mess. The floor was covered in black water stains, bloody footprints, and even the sofa and table were dirty.
Qi Xu didn’t feel like chanting any "dark and dirty, make me pretty" spells in front of others, so she declined outright.
"I’ve got an auto-cleaning system. Just say the command, and everything will be restored to its pristine state. Don’t worry."
Dongfang Yuan was envious. What kind of luxury was this?
Stepping down from Qi Xu’s high-end garbage truck and returning to her own drafty, rickety delivery van, Dongfang Yuan couldn’t help but sigh. It was like stepping back from the age of technology into the 70s or 80s.
"Alright, see you!"
They both pressed the "Exit Dungeon" button simultaneously, and without any surprises, they were teleported out.
Qi Xu let out a small sigh of relief. It had been too long since she’d interacted with anyone, and she’d probably come off as overly tense today. But... maybe, just maybe, she’d made a friend.
The thought suddenly lifted her mood. She’d taken a big step forward.
The dungeon rewards remained grayed out, indicating that not everyone had exited yet. Qi Xu figured it’d be a long wait—last time, she’d had to stay until evening, almost the full eight-hour limit.
So she hit the road immediately. The 24-hour bad luck buff had worn off, and the loot boxes she encountered now were back to normal. Almost right away, she struck gold: a bronze loot box containing a blueprint.
And not just any blueprint—a pair of rain boots, exactly what she needed.
Yesterday, she’d ruined several pairs of shoes while gathering loot boxes in the rain. This was perfect.
It only took three pieces of plastic to craft. Qi Xu even had Qiuqiu list the rain boots in the trading hall.
The price was dirt cheap—just three plastic plus any two basic materials.
The strategy was volume over profit.
Sure enough, sales started rolling in almost immediately.
Someone in the chat even began promoting them unprompted.
Qi Xu skimmed the group chat and spotted a message.
Bubbly Girl PotdeGang: "Guess who got paired with me for today’s team mission!"
Old White Dragon: "Retired Magical Boy? Weren’t you two signing up together? Pretty high chance you’d end up teamed."
Bubbly Girl PotdeGang: "Hahaha, yep! Never had such a fun day—someone to chat with, eat with, and even fight monsters together."
Retired Magical Boy: "Yeah, it’d be great if we could team up for missions more often."
Reading this, Qi Xu suddenly remembered how, before her death, factions had been aggressively buying up territory cards.
No faction had successfully claimed exclusive territory yet, but the name alone gave away the intent. So Retired Magical Boy’s wish might actually come true someday.
But that was a long, long way off...
With her current loot box luck, Qi Xu wanted to cover more ground and gather more supplies. Even if she didn’t feel particularly short on anything, her overall stockpile was still lacking.
After two days of selling crafting tables, she’d barely scraped together 500 out of the 1,000 vehicle upgrade card fragments needed.
And raw materials were even further behind.
She couldn’t rely entirely on trading—loot boxes were the main source.
Once on the road, Qi Xu added "Watch Me Slice You" to their small group.
The last spot was finally filled.
Chief Beauty Officer frowned hard the moment he saw the notification.
Great. His girlfriend was going to chew him out. She’d been nagging him about this for ages, but he’d never found the right moment. Now, with the group full, his chance was gone.
The others, however, were thrilled. The small group was their support network—the first place to turn in an emergency.
And after all this time, they knew their leader, Whirlwind, well.
She’d always preferred quality over quantity. Otherwise, the spot wouldn’t have stayed open this long.
Everyone got along well, except for Chief Beauty Officer, who’d been acting thoughtlessly lately, thanks to his girlfriend’s influence.
Otherwise, they’d all helped each other plenty.
Old White Dragon: "Welcome, welcome! Fresh blood at last!"
Retired Magical Boy: "Whoa, it’s Slice Sis! Your trash talk is next-level!"
Dongfang Yuan instinctively frowned. What kind of grown man says "whoa" and calls someone "sis"?
But then again, if Whirlwind could be a cute and pretty girl, maybe Retired Magical Boy wasn’t what he seemed either.
Little Chinese Chef sent two red packets to the group. "Perfect timing! Try my lunch special—Big Plate Chicken! Spicy lovers, grab the first packet. Non-spicy, take the second."
Watch Me Slice You: "Thanks, everyone. I appreciate the welcome, but I’ll pass on the food for now. Not hungry."
Little Chinese Chef: "Come on, I made plenty. It’s my profession—leave a review in the group after eating, and I earn survival coins.
New customers like you even get me a higher commission!"
Whirlwind: "We teamed up in the dungeon earlier. Had meatball soup for lunch and have been raving about it since."
Little Chinese Chef: "Haha, no worries. It’s all about the fun and camaraderie."
Since the group was tight-knit, Little Chinese Chef didn’t hold back.
Iron Shirt Golden Bell: "Oh, so that’s how it works. Was my praise not good enough? I’m not great with words."
Little Chinese Chef: "Doesn’t matter! Any praise gets me paid."
Hearing this, Dongfang Yuan finally took a non-spicy packet—only to notice someone had grabbed both spicy and non-spicy ones.
She felt slightly better. Look at this shameless person, hoarding two portions of such precious food. Tsk tsk tsk...
Chief Beauty Officer, remember this—this one’s greedy.
........
