When Su Cha closed the door and turned around, she caught Cang Yuan sizing her up.
After a long pause, he finally asked in a slow, deliberate tone, “Are you short on money?”
“Huh?” Su Cha blinked, temporarily bewildered by the sudden question.
Cang Yuan stepped forward and shoved something into her hand.
Su Cha looked closely.
It was a beautiful Crystal Stone, roughly a third the size of her palm.
“This is a yellow crystal.
You can exchange it for two hundred shell crystals,” his cold voice explained.
“For me?” Su Cha was stunned.
Wasn’t this the very beast crystal the villain had given to the Clan Leader in the original novel?
How valuable was a beast crystal in the Beastman world?
One only needed to imagine the sheer difficulty of hunting a Jurassic-sized dinosaur to understand.
But why would Cang Yuan suddenly give it to her?
“Mhm.”
She didn’t want to accept something so precious from Cang Yuan for no reason, but her curiosity about the beast crystal got the better of her.
After a brief hesitation, she said, “I’ll pay you back with enough shell crystals in the future.”
“No need.” Cang Yuan’s voice was aloof and distant, carrying a hint of displeasure.
Su Cha guessed that Cang Yuan was annoyed at her lack of appreciation, so she stopped dwelling on the issue and asked instead, “Can females use yellow crystals?”
She figured she could just pay him back once she had the money.
Making money was easy for her anyway.
Cang Yuan frowned but answered anyway, “Yes.
It’s not as effective for a female as it is for a male, but it can still improve physical fitness and make you less prone to sickness.”
Hearing Cang Yuan’s explanation, Su Cha grew even more curious.
However, unsure if there were any side effects, she decided to wait until she had treated Cang Yuan’s leg before trying it out.
She didn’t want to cause any delays; if the villain ended up permanently crippled, he might just decide to kill her again.
“Thank you,” Su Cha sincerely thanked him.
She retrieved a wooden box and carefully stored the yellow crystal inside.
Watching her actions, Cang Yuan looked like he wanted to say something, but ultimately kept quiet.
Early the next morning, as Xiong Qi escorted the gathering team out, he relayed the message Su Cha had asked him to pass along.
This immediately provoked the ridicule of several other females.
“Spending five beast coins to buy sweet-root stalks?
Does she think we’re idiots?
It’s a scam.”
“Su Cha is dead broke.
How could she possibly buy as much as we gather?
Let’s not get tricked into working for nothing.”
Others were skeptical.
“She came to my house to trade for a lot of red fruits earlier.
It doesn’t look like she’s short on beast coins.”
“Exactly.
Didn’t she also win one hundred and fifty beast coins in the competition at the bonfire party?
That’s enough to trade for a lot of sweet-root stalks.
It’s something we can do along the way, anyway.”
Seeing that the two groups were about to argue, Xiong Qi quickly intervened.
“Alright, alright.
The gathering team will follow the normal routine, and the rest of you are free to do as you please.
I’m just passing on a message for Su Cha.
Whoever wants to gather sweet-root stalks can do so, and whoever doesn’t can just go about their day as usual.”
Xiong Qi briefly explained Su Cha’s requirements for purchasing the sugarcane before leading the crowd of Beastmen out of the tribe.
For the sake of their cub, Lu Ming’s family of four gathered about a dozen sugarcanes each.
A few others also picked a handful, intending to test the waters.
Later, Lu Ming and several other Beastmen nervously knocked on Su Cha’s door.
A sizable crowd of onlookers stood in the distance, watching the spectacle.
A male Beastman opened the door.
It was the one Su Cha had hired to repair her wall.
The Bear Beastman was named Xiong Da.
Seeing the items they brought and remembering Su Cha’s previous instructions, he ushered them inside.
“Where’s Su Cha?
Didn’t she say she was buying sweet-root stalks?
We brought them all!” a burly man bellowed, holding two sweet-root stalks in his hands.
Spotting Cang Yuan whittling wood nearby, the man marched right up to him.
“Hey, Snake Beastman, hurry up and call your female out here.”
Cang Yuan furrowed his brows but stopped what he was doing, acting as if he hadn’t noticed the Wolf Beastman’s disdainful glare.
Pointing at Lu Ming, who stood at the very back, Cang Yuan’s icy tone sounded like an absolute command.
“You, tally the count and put everything in one pile.”
Lu Ming stepped forward, looking bewildered, but obediently began counting the sweet-root stalks the Beastmen carried.
During the process, someone loudly refused to cooperate, merely urging Su Cha to come out right away.
“We don’t want his sweet-root stalks,” Cang Yuan told Lu Ming without even sparing the loudmouth a glance.
Lu Ming paused for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
“What did you say?
You useless piece of trash, are you messing with me?” The Beastman exploded in anger, rolling up his sleeves as he lunged forward to grab Cang Yuan by the collar.
The Wolf Beastman was named Lang Yiduo.
If that female, Su Cha, hadn’t claimed that sweet-root stalks could be exchanged for beast coins, he wouldn’t have bothered wasting his time.
He was just trying his luck, hoping to earn some coins to buy his female her favorite fruits.
The expected violent scene never unfolded.
Lang Yiduo’s dark, muscular arm was firmly clamped by a pair of well-defined hands.
He tried to break free, but it was to no avail.
With a casual flick of his wrist, Cang Yuan sent Lang Yiduo tumbling to the ground.
Lang Yiduo scrambled to sit up, looking utterly disheveled.
With a trembling hand, he pointed at the cold-faced man.
“Y-Y-Your strength…
has it recovered?!”
The crowd watched in astonishment.
Ever since his last injury, Cang Yuan had been unable to use his combat power.
His body had suffered heavy damage—he frequently coughed up blood and would sometimes even faint while walking.
Yet just now, they had clearly seen an orange glow enveloping Cang Yuan’s hands.
They finally remembered that half a year ago, when Cang Yuan first arrived at the tribe, he had been incredibly strong.
Despite only being at the fourth rank, he could fight the tribe’s Fifth-rank Beastmen to a draw.
Thanks to the natural advantages of his snake beast form, the tribe had relied on him to hunt down dragon beasts on several occasions.
But what they didn’t know was that Su Cha’s medicine had suppressed the poison within him, allowing him to utilize a portion of his combat power.
Furthermore, reaching the sixth rank meant he could alter the color of his aura at will.
However, Cang Yuan didn’t bother answering.
His handsome face was filled with impatience as his gaze swept over the dozen or so Beastmen present.
“If you want to trade, stand quietly.
If not, get out.”
That immediately silenced everyone.
They waited quietly for Lu Ming to log their items.
There were ninety-seven sweet-root stalks in total.
Cang Yuan directly handed Lu Ming five shell crystals and instructed, “Figure out how to change these into smaller denominations.
Keep whatever’s left over.
Next time, just collect the sweet-root stalks and bring them here.”
Lu Ming’s father and mother were ecstatic.
Thank goodness they had listened to their cub and gathered extra.
Their family alone would take home nearly half of the beast coins.
When the dozen Beastmen emerged from Su Cha’s home, Lang Yiduo, humiliated and enraged, snapped his sugarcanes in half, threw them on the ground, and stormed off.
The Beastmen watching the show outside had their suspicions.
However, seeing that many of the Beastmen came out empty-handed, they curiously approached to ask, “How did it go?
Did Su Cha really give you beast coins?”
“She did.
The shell crystals are with Lu Ming and his family.
They’ll break them into smaller change and hand out the beast coins,” a middle-aged female Beastman replied.
“Did she really pay five beast coins per stalk?
How many did you make?” Upon hearing this, the others immediately regretted their inaction and wanted to get to the bottom of it.
“Yes.
I only gathered four.
Anyway, I won’t waste more time talking.
I need to go back and have my male search around the tribe to see if he can gather a few more.
That way we can trade for more beast coins tomorrow.” The middle-aged female turned to head home, not forgetting to tell Lu Ming’s family that she would drop by their place later to collect her coins.
With that, several other Beastmen also hurried off in a frantic rush.
Seeing the commotion, the rest of the crowd immediately tried to make up for lost time.
Before long, the news that Su Cha was actually buying sweet-root stalks with Beast Coins spread throughout the tribe.
In no time, every acceptable sweet-root stalk outside the tribe had been stripped bare.
Upon hearing the news, Hu Luoluo smashed several expensive clay bowls through gritted teeth.
“That cheap female!
She must have seduced Mu Beichen and scammed those shell crystals out of him.”
What one cannot have always incites a restless desire.
Ever since that bonfire party, her yearning to possess Mu Beichen had only grown stronger.
Even Mo Ze paled in comparison.
The unforgettable face she had seen illuminated by the firelight beneath a sky full of stars was etched deeply into her mind.
Yunxi had mentioned that Mu Beichen carried many shell crystals on him, and Yunxi had even given her a few.
Su Cha was a piece of trash who couldn’t even afford meat in the past!
Where would she get so many shell crystals?
She definitely got them from Mu Beichen.
What a shameless female!
Hu Xu looked at the female, who was completely devoid of her former gentle pride, and silently cleaned up the mess.