Lu Sinian saw off another group of people, and tallied his day’s gains. Although many had only bought a little, he had still earned a few hundred energy coins.
Seeing that it was getting late, he was instructing the system to shut down the passage device when he heard the familiar ding-dong sound again.
A considerable number of people were transported through the device. Previously, most customers had been simply dressed and arrived alone, but this time the customers seemed to have arrived with great force.
They were all carrying swords, short-sleeved vests, and belts.
As soon as they landed, they looked around: “This is the Abyss? Looks nothing special.”
“Exactly, the rumors about the Abyss being full of monsters are all lies.”
A man with a scar on his face stopped their conversation: “Alright, stop the banter, hurry up and complete the task the guild leader gave us.”
The group stopped and walked confidently into the Floating Life General Store, their eyes immediately drawn to Lu Sinian standing inside.
The man had black hair and black eyes. His slightly narrowed, almond-shaped eyes made him less alluring and more ruthless as if he saw through everyone’s petty tricks.
The shop lights were dim, and the flickering white light made him appear even more eerie. The mysterious patterns on the walls seemed to struggle free.
They watched helplessly as he withdrew his cold, ant-like gaze and raised his arm, unsure of what to do.
A chill ran down everyone’s spine. They finally remembered the rumors circulating outside: the shopkeeper in the Abyss was very likely a demon!
The Abyss was a place where no one ever returned, teeming with countless magical beasts. They had clearly reached the Abyss, yet they hadn’t seen a single one. Why?
With a demon’s power, they could rival gods so mere magical beasts were nothing to them.
A chorus of swallowing filled the air. The president of the Magic Association had given them a fee to come to the Abyss—they thought it would be an easy task but it turned out to be a death sentence!
The scarred man forced himself to remain calm. He touched the gold coins in his pocket, his voice trembling, and all his previous arrogance gone: “Sir…no, lord, we…we’ve come to buy something.”
Lu Sinian glanced at the new customers, and was genuinely delighted. So many people had come!
He casually put down the pen on the counter, completely unaware that he had nearly terrified the customer.
“Just take a look, you can buy these.”
The scarred man still retained some sense. He knew he couldn’t let the other person discover his purpose and ruin the guild leader’s plan.
He couldn’t gauge the strength of the man before him, and dared not step into this strange building, only repeatedly saying, “I want that red-packaged drink, the red-packaged one.”
He took out all the gold coins from his purse. The guild leader had given him a thousand gold coins this time, instructing him to buy as much as possible, preferably by bargaining.
This time, he dared not bargain. Just getting out alive was enough. He didn’t know if a thousand gold coins would be enough, and if not, would the Demon Lord be angry?
Lu Sinian saw that the customer wasn’t planning to enter the shop, figuring the other person probably had their reasons, and not wanting to force him, he took the purse.
To his surprise, the money pouch, though seemingly decent, felt surprisingly heavy in his hand, almost causing him to drop it.
Lu Sinian was astonished. He scanned it on the counter and discovered it contained a full thousand gold coins!
He quickly did the mental calculations: a thousand gold coins were equivalent to ten thousand energy coins. He had only earned a few hundred in the past two days, and those earnings were all spent on inventory.
Yesterday, due to insufficient funds, he had only bought twenty bottles of cola. Today, he had already sold seven, leaving thirteen.
Lu Sinian truly hadn’t expected this day to come. He hadn’t bought enough stock to sell, and he could only watch helplessly as the money slipped through his fingers.
A sudden pang of pain shot through him as he stared at the money pouch, his eyes filled with a deep sense of longing and reluctance.
Lu Sinian said to the customer, “Would you like to buy anything else? We’re out of drinks, this only comes to 130 gold coins.”
Scarface couldn’t help but tremble, and was afraid of angering the demon. But this money wasn’t his, it was given to him by the guild master for buying things. He hesitated, then took out a small purse—his own personal stash.
“Then, I’ll take one of each of the other items.”
Lu Sinian took all the cola, a durian candy, a bag of potato chips, and a band-aid from the ball of light, packing them into a large parcel.
He took out over a hundred gold coins from the purse and handed the remaining coins, along with the parcel, to Scarface.
Scarface was about to take it when he felt a strong resistance from the other person, and was unable to pass it.
He looked up nervously, only to meet the gaze of the person before him.
From afar, the eyes appeared as black as ink, but upon closer inspection, they were actually grayish-brown. When the eyes smiled, they held a captivating allure. Looking into them, one could only see their own reflection—a beauty that was breathtaking.
He seemed to see an untold depth of affection and longing within them. That extremely handsome face was so close to him, and for a moment, Scarface felt a surge of panic.
Before he could even utter a word, pondering whether he should tell the demon he was straight if the demon had truly taken a liking to him, and whether this would incur the demon’s wrath, his hand suddenly loosened, and the package fell into Scarface’s grasp.
He heard the other’s deep, pleasant yet eerie voice enter his ears. His thin lips parted slightly: “Will you… come again?”
Scarface’s ears turned bright red, his mind went blank, and he could barely understand what the other meant. His mouth opened and closed, but he couldn’t form a coherent sentence.
“Never mind…” A soft sigh echoed from the demon.
As Lu Sinian left, he glanced back at the scarred man one last time. His alluring eyes were brimming with tears, and it was so captivating that the man almost doubted his own sexuality.
He thought vaguely, “So it seems… men aren’t necessarily a bad match.”
After seeing them off, Lu Sinian sat in his chair with his chin in hand. He was silent for a long time.
The system’s voice sounded in his mind, tinged with a hint of anxiety.
[Master, how are you…?]
Lu Sinian looked up, his eyes dull, and devoid of hope. He clutched his chest, heartbroken: “Such a huge deal… ruined because we didn’t have enough stock! I’m so upset, sob sob sob.”
The system seemed to freeze for a moment, but quickly recovered, its mechanical voice offering him emotionless comfort.
[Don’t be sad, Master. There will be plenty of opportunities to make money in the future.]
Lu Sinian sighed. He looked back at the access device once more as if he could see the glittering gold coins disappearing into the distance through the elevator.
*
“Boss…Boss, wake up.” A rough, hoarse voice echoed in his ears that it was impossible to shake off, like a death knell.
Scarface slapped him hard, a howl of pain jolting him awake.
He then remembered he had emerged from the abyss.
The package he carried confirmed that everything that had just happened was real. That eerily handsome face lingered in his mind.
He dared not recall it, muttering to himself, “Demons are too good at bewitching people, they are even more alluring than succubi.”
Shoving away his companions’ heads, Scarface called to them, “Let’s go, report the mission progress to the Magic Association.”
They re-entered Vista City and successfully delivered the remaining gold coins and cola to Alec, the Magic Association’s president.
Alec hesitated, then opened the package. He hadn’t spent much of the thousand gold coins, in fact, most remained.
According to the mysterious man’s price, a thousand gold coins for a bottle of cola was a hundred times the original price.
He sneered. They really knew how to make money.
At the same time, a brilliant idea flashed into his mind: why not just rob the shop? The remaining cola would be his, and he could sell it to the nobles in the main city for a hefty profit.
They weren’t short of money, and they’d definitely sell it for ten thousand gold coins a bottle.
As for the rumored shop owner being a demon? Hmph, he’d bring his knights and followers of the Church of Light. Using the pretext of exterminating the forces of darkness—he wasn’t afraid to kill him.
Alec glanced at the scarred man standing motionless, and casually tossed him a bag of gold coins, his attitude perfunctory, like dismissing a beggar.
Scarface’s face immediately darkened, and he coldly questioned Alec, “What? You think you can just get rid of us like this? Guild Master, you seem to have it easy.”
He hadn’t taken this mission for the gold coins, otherwise, he would have simply absconded with the thousand coins.
He had only taken the risk because he’d heard that someone in the Magic Association could cast a high-level healing spell, Lightwing Protection.
Lightwing Protection could heal fatal external wounds. His brother had been injured while fighting the beast tide, and was barely clinging to life but his injuries were worsening, leaving him no choice but to grit his teeth and come to the Magic Association for help.
Ali frowned, not really wanting to deal with him, and said, “You guys go back first. I’ll send someone over in the next couple of days.”
“You…” Scarface couldn’t help but try to grab his collar, but before he could get close to Alec, his subordinate immediately stopped him.
His companion was seriously ill, and could die at any moment, they couldn’t wait two more days.
He clenched his fists, his teeth grinding together.
Suddenly, the image of the demon’s handsome face flashed before his eyes. The scarred man slowly unclenched his fists, turned, and left.
He thought to himself, “I shouldn’t have trusted the Magic Association’s reputation. But thankfully, there’s still a glimmer of hope.”
If the demon could find a way to save him, he wouldn’t need the Magic Association’s charity.
He remembered the other items he’d bought when he was being manipulated, including a medical item called something like a band-aid.
He decided to go back and try it.