As night drew to a close, Lu Sinian checked the system time. It was almost eight o’clock. Just as he was preparing to close up shop, the elevator dinged again.
“Hey, is the boss in? Come out and greet me!”
The elevator doors opened, and several people stepped out.
The person at the front was dressed in a long robe, looking quite dashing, but a closer look revealed numerous bruises and cuts on his face.
Most striking was the large dark circle under his left eye, giving him a pitiful appearance.
A guard followed beside him, carefully applying medicine to his wounds with a cotton cloth.
“Hiss.” The guard’s hand trembled slightly. The man gasped, then kicked him hard, yelling, “What are you doing? Don’t you know how to apply medicine?!”
The guard stumbled back several steps, bowing in panic, “My lord, I’m so sorry, I was wrong, please don’t be angry.”
This man was none other than Hawthorne, who had just been brutally beaten. That guy named George had hit him relentlessly in the face, and no one had stopped him the whole time.
After he had been beaten enough, the city lord finally began to leisurely try to break up the fight, infuriating Hawthorne. Before he could even speak, he was forcibly dragged away to receive treatment.
What was even worse was that after suffering such serious injuries, he was told that Vista City didn’t have any mages skilled in healing?
In the end, he was given a bottle of ordinary medicine and sent on his way. The seemingly kind-hearted city lord kept playing the victim, but had no intention of providing any proper treatment.
Hawthorne was so angry that his eyes turned red.
The band-aid Vorris had used before worked wonders, and with the shop located near Vista City, how could they not have suitable wound medicine!
So, he ended up in this sorry state. It was a pitiful sight with his wounds not even healed, and he still had to come to the Abyss to buy supplies.
When Lu Sinian looked up, the man’s dark circles under his eyes immediately drew his attention. He almost burst out laughing, but out of consideration for the customer, he forcibly suppressed a smile.
Even so, his words still carried an uncontrollable chuckle: “May I ask what this customer would like to buy?”
Hawthorne nearly jumped up in anger. He was already seething with rage, and now he was venting it all on the other man. He deeply felt that if it weren’t for this shopkeeper, he wouldn’t have gotten beaten up.
A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips. He held his head high, utterly arrogant: “So you’re the owner? This little shabby shop is surprisingly well-hidden. You lot, go over there and bring me everything you can!”
He casually pointed to the guards behind him, ordering them to rush in and rob the shop.
Lu Sinian sensed their ill intentions. Instead of stopping them, he deliberately made way, allowing them to plunder freely.
Ever since he learned the shop had its own defenses, he had been eagerly anticipating this day.
Unfortunately, the customers who had come before him were all unusually respectful, and did not dare to lay a hand on him. He even felt that if he made the slightest move, they would practically kneel and beg for mercy.
This meant Lu Sinian hadn’t yet witnessed the true power of the system.
Now, things were looking good. His eyes gleamed as he watched them make their move, eager to see how the shop would retaliate.
Lu Sinian’s gaze was focused and unwavering, causing Hawthorne’s guards to draw their swords, but they hesitated, exchanging glances.
Lu Sinian grew impatient, and finally urged, “Hurry up and smash it! What are you standing there for?”
Strange, even stranger.
Hawthorne glanced at the man uncertainly, a sense of unease creeping in. Could this be a trap?
He’d been incredibly unlucky these past few days, and fell for too many scams. Sensing something amiss, he immediately became more vigilant.
He decided to talk to the shopkeeper first.
“Hey, I’m Viscount Hawthorne. I’m here to buy some goods. How much are these?”
Lu Sinian heard a familiar name. So this was Hawthorne, the nobleman Vorris had mentioned.
It seemed he wasn’t planning on causing trouble again. Lu Sinian, listless, lazily rested his chin on his hand: “Not selling.”
Having already promised Vorris, he naturally wouldn’t break his word.
Gold coins were important, but for a merchant, integrity was the greatest asset for future success.
Hawthorne, whose temper was always easily ignited, had already shown remarkable restraint in negotiating. Hearing Lu Sinian’s words, his eyes widened: “Are you kidding me? What kind of shop are you if you don’t sell anything?!”
“Not selling.”
“You!”
Just then, the elevator stopped, and several more customers arrived.
“Manager, we’d like to buy two bottles of Coke.”
Lu Sinian stood up with a smile, took two bottles of cola from the ball of light, and handed them to them: “Here, ten gold coins per bottle.”
The customers took the cola, placed a small bag of gold coins on the counter, and without even glancing at Hawthorne standing to the side, they paid and left decisively.
Hawthorne watched them leave, then said loudly, “Didn’t you say you weren’t selling? What’s this?” He pointed to the small bag of gold coins.
Lu Sinian put the gold coins into his system space, converted them into energy coins, and said without looking up, “Hmm, I won’t sell to you.”
“Heh.” Hawthorne chuckled. “Vorris told you to do this, didn’t he? Don’t worry, I’m much richer than him. If you sell to me, you’ll get your money back. He’s just a commoner, you should know the pros and cons.”
Lu Sinian shook his head again, his movements slow but firm: “I won’t sell.”
“I gave you a chance, you really are asking for trouble. I was going to give you another chance. Smash it! Don’t stop!”
Upon hearing the order, three or four warriors immediately began to attack.
Hawthorne coldly raised his sword, his target was the ungrateful shopkeeper before him!
With a single slash, time seemed to slow down. His blade moved incredibly slowly before Lu Sinian’s eyes, and at the same time, a clear, youthful voice rang in his mind, chillingly cold.
[Intrusion detected. Master, activate Advanced Alert Mode?]
Hmm?
There’s an unexpected surprise.
Ignoring the massive sword so close at hand, Lu Sinian simply asked Rong Qing, “What does ‘Advanced Alert Mode’ mean?”
Rong Qing’s voice softened slightly: “Master, without your permission, the dimensional shop’s low-level alert mode is basic attack nullification and reflection.”
“In Advanced Alert Mode, the reflection force directly affects the opponent’s energy core, potentially causing a decrease in power. Simultaneously, a penalty of a certain amount of coins is imposed based on the attack intensity.”
Lu Sinian’s eyes lit up. To his shame, he even immediately devised a quick way to get rich.
Coughing twice, he thought to himself, “Don’t teach the child bad habits, don’t teach the child bad habits.”
“Then activate it.”
But this time, the other party came to him of their own accord. Who else would he take advantage of if not him?
As soon as he finished speaking, the massive sword, which had just solidified, slashed down fiercely.
A crisp “clink” rang out, but Lu Sinian didn’t budge an inch. Hawthorne maintained his grip on the sword.
Gradually, he slowly retreated.
With a clang, the greatsword fell to the ground, and a trickle of blood escaped Hawthorne’s lips.
He looked at his hand in disbelief as he clutched his chest.
He felt it.
…The shattering of the magic core.
Its form was almost entirely dust. Even magical energy couldn’t be stored within it, and it slowly dissipated into his body.
He tried to absorb magical energy repeatedly as if in disbelief.
Failure, failure, yet another failure! He couldn’t find it, he couldn’t find it at all! Where was his magic core?! No, impossible.
Hawthorne looked up, dazed, and saw Lu Sinian’s smile.
The jet-black hair and pupils he hadn’t noticed before now radiated extreme terror.
He finally understood the meaning of the Demon Shop. This…this was the demon.
This person is a demon!
His pale lips trembled. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but couldn’t utter a sound.
[Users: Hawthorne Andy, Emma Ford, Samson Arno, etc.]
[Violated the rules of the Dimensional System Shop, penalty: 5,000 gold coins. Failure to pay the Dimensional Execution Law Power by the deadline will result in penalties.]
[Valid for seven days]
This time, Rong Qing’s voice resounded throughout the entire shop, everyone could hear it.
The moment the advanced alert mode was activated, it wasn’t just Hawthorne’s magic core that malfunctioned.
His subordinates who aided and abetted the evil also developed magic core cracks to varying degrees.
However, for some reason, Hawthorne’s condition was the most severe. It wasn’t just a matter of cracks, he was practically useless.
Hawthorne, already terrified, immediately burst into tears upon hearing that he could live if he paid money, crying, “I have money! I have money! I have so much money! Don’t kill me! I… I’ll go get the money right now!”
He had completely forgotten that his purpose in coming here was to rob the shop and crush Voris.
After his magic core was reduced to dust, he desperately wanted to escape the demon’s sight and save his life.
He hurriedly pulled out a large bag of gold coins from his person, frantically searching his pockets to make sure he hadn’t forgotten any.
Five thousand gold coins was a large sum, and not something even nobles could easily come up with, ordinary people wouldn’t carry it lightly.
Moreover, Hawthorne hadn’t intended to actually buy any goods this time. He was planning to simply rob them, so he certainly wouldn’t be carrying that much money.
System Detection: “Received 132 gold coins, remaining 3968 gold coins. Please pay as soon as possible.”
Hawthorne, his face deathly pale, glanced at his subordinates and roared, “What are you standing there for? Hand over all the gold coins!”
The guards, their hands trembling, fumbled in their pockets, managing to scrape together only a few dozen gold coins.
Seeing that they had no gold coins left, each of them grew increasingly terrified.
“I’ll be waiting for you here for seven days.”
Lu Sinian’s expression remained unchanged but in Hawthorne’s eyes, it was a blatant threat and impatience.
“Okay, okay, please…please wait a moment.”
Hawthorne hastily wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth as he spoke in a trembling voice.
The guards stepped forward to help him, and they stumbled away from the abyss.