Chapter 14: Why take a taxi? Just line up for the bus!

“Um, I’ll take this spiritual tool longsword,” Lin Li said, pointing to the special sale item priced at 499,999 yuan displayed in the showcase before him.

The beautiful sales assistant in her cheongsam hadn't expected that after her continuous talking for over ten minutes, the customer would ultimately choose the cheapest sale item in the store. She couldn't help but feel a hint of disappointment.

However, she was a seasoned veteran of the job. She didn't let her disappointment show on her face; instead, she maintained a bright smile and nodded to Lin Li.

“Certainly, sir. Please wait a moment while I prepare the invoice for you.”

Watching the beautiful sales assistant turn around to help him, Lin Li let out a long sigh of relief.

If it weren't for this single sale item in the weapon shop, with his budget of only 500,000 yuan, he wouldn't have been able to afford a single spiritual energy weapon in the entire store.

A moment later.

“Please come again.” Having paid, Lin Li walked out of the weapon shop carrying a long wooden box, escorted by the beautiful sales assistant.

…………

“Damn, the weapons used by practitioners are way too expensive! Great, now that I've bought this spiritual tool longsword, I can practically say I'm penniless.”

With his entire net worth reduced to the 3,070 yuan remaining in his WeChat balance, Lin Li’s face was filled with bitterness as he left the weapon shop. Furthermore, his business for the day was not yet finished.

Half an hour later, a stoic Lin Li walked out of a pharmacy.

To hunt exotic beasts in the wild, one needed not only spiritual energy weapons but also medical supplies for treating injuries.

It seemed that anything related to practitioners was never cheap... In the pharmacy, Lin Li bought a tube of ointment highly favored by practitioners for its ability to stop bleeding quickly.

A small tube of ointment, weighing only about thirty grams, cost him 3,000 yuan—equivalent to 100 yuan per gram.

After buying this hemostatic ointment, Lin Li's total net worth was now down to just seventy yuan.

To go from possessing a fortune of a million yuan just a few days ago to falling to such a state—his heart felt utterly chilled.

“Whew...”

*Rustle, rustle, rustle...*

A gust of wind blew past, causing the leaves of the roadside trees to sway gently, making a rhythmic rustling sound.

The raindrops falling from the sky were scattered in all directions by the sudden wind.

Some of the rain splashed against Lin Li's face. The cool sensation helped the somewhat depressed Lin Li perk up slightly.

“This is all necessary investment for the early stages. In the future, I will earn back the entire million I spent, and even more.”

Lin Li cheered himself up mentally, holding his umbrella as he walked toward the distance, preparing to hail a taxi to go home.

But just as he had taken a few steps, he suddenly turned and changed direction, walking toward the distant bus stop.

With only seventy yuan left on him, why would he take a taxi? He’d just queue up for the bus!

…………

*Click.*

*Thud.*

Upon returning home, Lin Li placed his wet umbrella on the balcony to dry.

Then, he returned to the living room and opened the wooden box containing the spiritual tool longsword.

“499,999 yuan... you better perform well for me tomorrow!”

Lin Li picked up the 80-centimeter-long spiritual tool longsword from the wooden box and began to perform a mock, leisurely sword dance in the living room.

After playing around for a bit, he began to mobilize the spiritual energy within his body, focusing it into the spiritual tool longsword in his hand.

Infused with spiritual energy, the sword erupted with a faint golden light. Vaguely, one could feel its sharpness rising by a grade.

“Good sword! Truly a good sword!” Looking at the sale item glowing with faint golden light, Lin Li nodded with satisfaction, his confidence in tomorrow's exotic beast hunting plan greatly bolstered.

However, after only a minute, Lin Li stopped injecting spiritual energy into the sword, because continuing like this would consume too much energy.

When exotic beast hunters were out in the wild, they would only inject spiritual energy into their swords during combat; no one would be foolish enough to exhaust most of their spiritual energy before the fight even began.

Placing the sale item back into the wooden box, Lin Li leaned back and slumped into the soft sofa.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, downloaded an app, registered an account, and logged into the software that could only be accessed by those who had obtained an Exotic Beast Hunter Qualification Certificate.

The interface of the app was very simple, consisting of only two sections: the Intelligence Section and the Communication Section.

The content in the Intelligence Section was released by the Exotic Beast Hunter Guild, while the content in the Communication Section could be posted by anyone.

“Rongcheng East District outskirts, near Liu Family Village: A wild dog exotic beast with high-stage Tier 1 strength has appeared.”

“Rongcheng South District outskirts, near Zhao Family Village: A wild boar exotic beast with peak-stage Tier 1 strength has appeared.”

“Rongcheng West District outskirts, 5km from Erxian Bridge: Witnesses have spotted an unknown number of forest wolf exotic beasts.”

“Rongcheng North District outskirts: A black bear exotic beast with early-stage Tier 2 strength appeared yesterday at 3:00 PM, 7km from the abandoned parking lot.”

As Lin Li scrolled through the intelligence, he discovered that the wilderness surrounding the urban areas was teeming with exotic beasts.

The more he read, the more alarmed he became, feeling that the danger in the wilderness was far more severe than he had imagined.

No wonder the government constantly advised citizens not to go into the outskirts unless necessary.

Every single piece of intelligence regarding exotic beast sightings in the Intelligence Section proved that the government's daily warnings were absolutely correct.

“Why does the intelligence in this section always start from high-stage Tier 1? Isn't there anything lower than that?”

After browsing the Intelligence Section for over ten minutes, Lin Li noticed this strange phenomenon.

He thought about it and guessed that the reason might be that exotic beast hunters possessed at least peak-stage Tier 1 strength.

Therefore, intelligence regarding beasts below the mid-stage of Tier 1 was likely not recorded in the Intelligence Section.

After finishing with the Intelligence Section, Lin Li clicked on the Communication Section. The number of posts here was dozens of times greater than in the Intelligence Section.

“Sharp Sword Squad recruiting, brothers with awakened abilities preferred...”

“Dawn Squad recruiting, handsome guys and beautiful girls preferred...”

“Titan Squad recruiting, strong and sturdy men preferred...”

“Malatang Squad recruiting, brothers who like eating Malatang preferred...”

“Thunderbolt Squad recruiting, brothers who like foot massages preferred...”

What on earth is all this?

After reading dozens of posts, Lin Li found that they were all recruitment ads, giving him the distinct sensation of browsing a gaming forum.

…………

(End of Chapter)