Song Yu glanced sideways at that medical kit. There were at least seven or eight rolls of professional-grade medical bandages inside, alongside several types of pharmaceuticals she had never laid eyes on before.
[Tier 1 Medical Bullet: Restores 50 HP], [Tier 2 Medical Bullet: Restores 100 HP]…
These NPCs were truly extraordinarily wealthy.
Whichever NPC she happened to cross paths with, every single one of them was rolling in riches.
It made one want to launch a robbery.
“Thank you.”
Song Yu offered a shy word of gratitude to Shuyuan. This polite demeanor formed a stark, bizarre contrast against the terrifying visage she had worn while slaughtering those players just moments prior.
Those corpses were still lying out there on the ground, after all.
Yet Shuyuan didn’t find anything amiss; after all, those players had brought this fatal end upon themselves first.
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Under the reinforcement of the medical bandages, the injuries on Xiao Hei’s body healed rapidly.
“Would you like to come rest at my camp for a bit?”
Shuyuan lowered his gaze to look at Song Yu, flashing a shallow smile.
“…”
How on earth could any man in this world grow up to look this breathtakingly gorgeous!
“Would that be imposing too much on you?”
Song Yu feigned a reluctant push-and-pull while harboring calculating little abacus beads clicking furiously inside her head. With dinnertime rapidly approaching, heading over to Shuyuan’s camp might just score her and Xiao Hei a free meal.
Song Yu had already secured a shelter in advance—it was slightly dismal, but its greatest advantage was the total absence of zombies: it was located down inside the storm drains.
Song Yu had inspected it beforehand; there were no zombie rats, cockroaches, or other pests.
It counted as relatively safe.
“Not at all. I quite like this little fellow.”
“Let’s go.”
Shuyuan extended a hand toward Song Yu. His fingers possessed distinct, articulated joints, slender and pristine like polished white jade.
One had to admit that Shuyuan possessed all the configurations of a male lead in a romance novel.
However, Song Yu wasn’t foolish enough to imagine herself as the heroine.
Which sane author would write a female lead who lived through a hellish gauntlet like hers?
Internally grumbling, Song Yu slipped her hand into Shuyuan’s, letting him assist her as she scrambled up onto the back of the giant tiger.
Feeling the plush, incredibly soft tactile sensation beneath her palms, the corners of Song Yu’s lips curled upward involuntarily.
A tiger! Never in her wildest dreams had she expected she’d one day get to ride on the back of an actual tiger!
This sensation felt truly magical!
The white tiger moved at a moderate pace, transporting Song Yu and Shuyuan back to the camp before long.
Shuyuan’s camp was a fenced-off arbor-and-park compound, serving as one of his various operational bases.
The camp housed numerous animals, the vast majority being ferocious beasts and raptors.
Following Shuyuan deep into the interior of the camp, Song Yu spotted the presence of other human beings as well.
“Yo, Shuyuan.”
A short-haired young girl dropped down gracefully from a banyan tree, greeting Shuyuan with a beaming smile. Song Yu caught the title floating above her head:
[Recycling Merchant – Jing Ming]
Talk about iron shoes worn out in a fruitless search only to stumble upon the prize by sheer luck; she never expected the two merchants she was searching for to be huddled together in the same place.
Taking advantage of the time the two spent chatting, Song Yu swiftly inspected the inheritances of the two players she had just terminated.
Due to limited backpack slots, essentially all players would store their highest-value, most voluminous supplies directly inside their grid slots.
Song Yu was no exception.
This group of players actually possessed some strength, with each individual boasting five to six backpack slots.
To Song Yu’s pleasant surprise, one of the players’ backpack slots contained a staggering 207 vials of Tier 1 blood, alongside 83 vials of Tier 2 blood!
With this massive haul of blood, Song Yu could head over to Chen Su’s place and trade for a substantial stash of supplies.
Aside from that, there were 2 hand-cranked flashlights, a baseball bat (+11 attack damage), a long spear (+18 attack damage), 6 blocks of jam bread (+25 fullness), 6 bottles of mineral water, 3 bottles of vodka (+11 hydration, +21 mood value, prone to inducing alcohol addiction), and 2 packs containing 40 cigarettes total.
Song Yu even laid eyes on a four-door sedan missing both its gasoline and its keys!
True enough, armed robbery remained the premier highway to wealth.
Song Yu couldn’t help a twinge of regret for those few players slaughtered by Shuyuan.
Even the mutated blood dropped by that Tier 3 zombie had vanished into thin air alongside the player’s demise.
Still, every loss came with a corresponding gain.
While Song Yu had forfeited a fair amount of potential loot, she had successfully netted a +30 favorability boost with Shuyuan.
Figuring out how to cozy up to this fellow was practically self-evident.
As she finished tidying up the supplies in her spatial inventory, the conversation between Jing Ming and Shuyuan concluded.
Song Yu hadn’t eavesdropped intently, but she caught the general gist of it.
Shuyuan had led his army of beasts to carve out a massive cache of supplies from a wholesale market, and Jing Ming, operating as a broker, was helping him network with other merchants and organizations within Yangliu City to swap this cache of goods for items Shuyuan actually needed.
With a major deal like Shuyuan’s preceding her, Song Yu wasn’t certain if Jing Ming would even deign to glance at her paltry little offerings, causing a hint of hesitation to cross her features.
As if reading Song Yu’s exact thoughts, Jing Ming extended a hand toward her with a brilliant, sunny smile.
“I’m Jing Ming, the recycling merchant. If you have any needs, you’re welcome to seek me out. Even transactions as small as a single biscuit or a bottle of water are trades I’m happy to handle, you know.”
“We can do it right now, even,” Jing Ming emphasized.
“Thank you.”
Song Yu offered a sheepish smile, pulling a portion of her supplies out from her backpack slots.
The volume wasn’t high: the weapon-grade baseball bat, long spear, and dagger, along with a single unit each of instant noodles, self-heating rice, candy, and compressed biscuits.
And that bicycle.
To speak frankly, that bicycle was less efficient for traveling than simply jogging on her own two feet.
As for the vodka, cigarettes, and four-door sedan stashed inside her pack, Song Yu had zero intention of recycling them over to Jing Ming.
It simply wasn’t a cost-effective trade.
The conversational demeanor and body language Jing Ming projected gave off an impression of supreme friendliness and sincerity.
Yet her profession dictated that she could never be a simple character. Song Yu preferred assuming the worst of people, and she suspected Jing Ming operated much like herself—everything displayed to outsiders was merely a carefully constructed facade.
Lull people into lowering their guard, and then catch them off guard to slaughter them!
Though Song Yu’s version of slaughtering usually involved literal, physical elimination.
The game NPCs Song Yu had encountered thus far were limited to the Watchers organization members who resembled normal human beings; as for the rest…
Jing Ming inspected the supplies laid out by Song Yu, caught a glimpse of Song Yu’s apprehensive, nervous expression, and flashed her an amiable smile.
“Relax, what are you looking to trade for?”
“Water, or medical supplies—either works.”
Hearing Song Yu’s response, Jing Ming murmured in contemplation, holding off on a direct reply for a moment.
“Both of those items are extremely scarce commodities, as you well know.”
“I can trade you 10 bottles of water, or 1 roll of disinfectant bandages.”
Jing Ming quoted her price, though she had originally contemplated squeezing her a bit harder.
The goods Song Yu provided were standard across the board, yet Jing Ming’s merchant intuition told her that the young girl standing before her definitely still possessed superior goods stashed away!
“Let’s… swap for the bandages.”
Jing Ming’s pricing was downright cutthroat.
Then again, when dealing with recyclers, one had to steel oneself for getting fleeced.
Judging by blood merchant Chen Su’s reactions, these NPC merchants all held fixed, designated functions that could never be broken or exploited.
Moreover, NPC merchants were scattered across every corner of Yangliu City and would randomly relocate at any given time; for players attempting to locate these NPC merchants to trade supplies, travel costs alone presented a massive logistical headache.
Jing Ming’s ruthlessness was the kind backed by absolute, unshakeable confidence.
Having finalized the transaction with Song Yu, Jing Ming straddled Song Yu’s battered bicycle and pedaled away from the park at a leisurely pace.
Song Yu cast her gaze back toward Shuyuan—this was the true main event.