Lu Sinian stepped forward and took the bottle of cola from the orb of light. Being a shrewd businessman, he didn’t forget to promote his other goods.
“Sir, you’re injured. How about buying a band-aid? It might not be effective but it’ll at least give you peace of mind.”
As Lu Sinian spoke, he couldn’t help but feel guilty. To be honest, he wasn’t sure what use these things were in this world. He felt like he was ripping off his customer. The gruesome scratches on this person’s back clearly couldn’t be fixed with a band-aid.
The warrior beside him nervously accepted the cola with both hands, not daring to speak to Lu Sinian. He could only buy the band-aid as well, feeling that he probably wouldn’t live much longer. In Hell, what you traded for was almost obvious.
“My lord,” he said, his voice trembling with tears, “could you not take all my soul? Could you take half?”
Before he could finish, Lu Sinian gave him a strange look, and Abel quickly changed his tone, “No, even most of it will do as long as you let me live. Please let me live!”
Lu Sinian clicked his tongue, inwardly surmising that this first customer might have some kind of mental disability. But since he was the only customer, he explained politely.
“I don’t want your soul. Just use gold coins.”
“Cola costs ten gold coins, and band-aids cost ten gold coins, twenty gold coins in total.”
Abel stood frozen as if struck by lightning. A few seconds later, he hurriedly pulled out his purse. His movements were so swift it was as if someone was chasing him, and dumped it all onto the counter.
He clutched his clothes helplessly, saying, “T-Then see if this is enough.”
The shopkeeper, with his black hair and black eyes, smiled gently, his eyebrows curving. He carefully picked out twenty gold coins and placed them in the cash register.
[Ding-dong, received twenty gold coins, converted into two hundred energy coins]
Hearing the system’s mechanical voice, Lu Sinian found it pleasant to the ear for the first time, and even became more amiable towards the customer.
He handed the customer the cola and band-aids, and even showed him how to open the can.
Abel composed himself, thinking that he was going to die sooner or later anyway. He closed his eyes tightly, and gulped it down in one go.
The icy liquid burst open on his tongue the moment it touched it, and the exploding bubbles made him involuntarily shrink his mouth. At first, he found the drink quite strange, but he couldn’t stop drinking it, one sip after another.
A peculiar refreshing sensation circulated within him, and the slightly bitter liquid only further stimulated his nerves. The warrior couldn’t help but burp, a gasp rising in his throat.
This was truly a strange drink. He had never experienced such an irresistible power, it was as if he had instantly ascended to heaven!
Abel gripped the red-packaged bottle tightly, unable to resist taking another sip.
Unlike his previous reckless gulping, he savored the exhilarating burst of bubbles in his mouth, secretly awestruck.
This strange drink…it truly tasted like something from hell.
Just as he was about to raise his hand to examine another unassuming item, another kind of energy surged from his magic core. It was as if breaking through some shackle, instantly reaching his internal organs with the heat enveloping his body.
“Ugh…” he groaned. He collapsed to the ground, and curled up in extreme pain.
Lu Sinian was startled and quickly helped him up, frowning as he asked the system.
“What happened to him? Was your cola really not poisoned?”
[Master, it’s just the product’s effects kicking in. Don’t make a fuss.]
The system gave a faint, almost imperceptible hum, tinged with pride.
Lu Sinian didn’t want to argue. He carried the man to the wall, gently resting his head against it, and asked, “When will he wake up?”
[Less than a quarter of an hour]
Sure enough, Abel opened his eyes not long after. His eyes were bright, filled with admiration and respect for the powerful unknown.
He had indeed panicked for a moment when that power first appeared, but then he realized how familiar it was. The high-level bottleneck he had been unable to break through was shattered like flowing water.
A massive surge of energy flowed into his spiritual core, which was reforged and restructured, becoming even more powerful. At this moment, he felt as if he possessed limitless power. High-level warriors were indeed extraordinary, and simply not on the same level as mid-level warriors!
Even his physical body had been reshaped, his energy more abundant than ever before.
He knew perfectly well the source of this power. If breaking through to a higher level were truly so easy, he wouldn’t have been stuck here for over two years, unable to reach that bottleneck each time.
Undoubtedly, it was the effect of that bottle of cola.
Is this the power of a demon? Abel couldn’t help but submit to this mysterious and elusive strength.
He looked at the black-haired, black-eyed shopkeeper with awe. While excited about his breakthrough, he knew that all of this was thanks to the other party, and Abel wasn’t ungrateful.
For some reason, Lu Sinian felt this customer was a bit strange, and was worried that he might have eaten something bad in the shop.
If he had to give away the energy coins he had just received, it would be a huge loss.
“How…are you feeling?” The shopkeeper asked with concern, his brow slightly furrowed.
Abel’s spirits lifted, secretly thinking this might be a test from the Demon Lord. He raised his head and replied with a strong voice, “My lord, I feel full of power now. Give me your orders, and I will surely convey your will to the world!”
Lu Sinian automatically filtered through the other’s words and understood that this probably meant, “I’m fine. The goods are worth it, so I’ll promote them widely.”
He nodded secretly, feeling that although this customer was a bit strange, he was quite savvy.
“Then I’ll leave it to you to promote them. I hope to gain more customers.”
The warrior nodded vigorously, determined to serve the Demon Lord faithfully and spread the word!
“You can try a Band-Aid,” Lu Sinian stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment, then reminded Abel.
Abel tore open a Band-Aid. The small piece wasn’t enough to cover the wound but he showed no disdain, and carefully applied it to the cut on his arm.
If even an ordinary-looking beverage possessed such extraordinary abilities, he dared not underestimate anything else.
The moment he applied it, he felt a tingling, numb sensation on his wounds. It had begun to heal at an astonishing speed.
He wasn’t unfamiliar with the healing potions of the Church of Light, but they only restored minor external injuries, and their effects were quite limited. Something that worked instantly like this was pure fantasy.
Suddenly, he remembered his brother’s severed right arm from hunting monsters. His eyes lit up. The Demon Lord’s abilities were so powerful—what if, just what if, he could repair the severed arm…
Abel looked up, his eyes filled with hope, and asked, “My lord, can you regenerate a severed arm?”
Lu Sinian: “Perhaps in the future if there are enough customers.” This would unlock more items, and the shop had countless grayed-out items waiting to be unlocked. There was a bewildering array of things.
These words awakened Abel. Gods require faith to worship them, for example, the God of Light had believers throughout the world, and the power of faith inexhaustible.
“The Demon Lord’s words are basically saying that as long as he has enough followers, he will grow stronger, and in the future, his poor brother will have hope!”
Although the Demon Lord might be an evil god, to Abel, in this chaotic world, good and evil are the same. What does it matter if he’s an evil god, as long as people can survive?
In an era where human life is cheap, those who can help them are the gods worth believing in.
Abel put all the loose gold coins back on the counter, deciding to buy one of everything!
In this timeline, gold coins are still relatively valuable. A normal adult earns about three gold coins a month. Even a mercenary like Abel who earns a lot, only earns about seventeen or eighteen gold coins a month. After daily expenses, he’ll only have a few left.
He didn’t carry many gold coins with him this time. He bought two bottles of cola, two bags of potato chips, three cheap durian candies, and two band-aids.
Having sold quite a few items, Lu Sinian was clearly in high spirits. Energy coins poured into his account, adding nearly seven or eight hundred to his savings in one go.
The Abyss Passage Device had a fixed teleportation point located to the left of the shop sign. It was quite rudimentary but as long as it worked, it was fine.
After seeing the customer off, Lu Sinian began planning his restocking.
He currently had seven bottles of cola, eight bags of potato chips, seventeen durian candies, and eight band-aids.
These were the only items he could restock in the system shop, so he bought a small amount of each to replenish the shelves.
He bought thirty durian candies, and the rest were in quantities of twenty. After buying these, he had 32 energy coins left.
Lu Sinian couldn’t help but sigh at how difficult it was to earn money. He had just thought these few hundred energy coins were a fortune, but they were gone before he even spent much of them.
[Today is the newbie bonus period, and there are no restrictions on when to purchase goods. From now on, you can only purchase goods after the end of each day. Please be aware of this, and try to purchase reasonable categories and quantities of goods.]
In other words, you can’t purchase goods blindly. With so little money on hand, if you sell out your goods, you’ll be left staring blankly at your customers.
Understanding market trends, prioritizing popular items, and making the most of every energy coin are key to earning more money.
Lu Sinian finished tidying up the ball of light and waited for the next customer.
*
In the blink of an eye, Abel arrived at the spot where he had fallen from the underground abyss.
The forest was now calm and quiet without any noise. It seemed the magical beast had discovered its prey was missing and left impatiently.
Even now, Abel was seventy percent confident he could kill the leopard.
His magical power was so abundant that he had nowhere to unleash it, and his wound was now just a faint red mark. He was at his peak.
He had no time to worry about the monster. With various items tucked into his arms, he raced towards Vista City.
He was going to meet up with his mercenary group and tell them the good news!