Chapter 34: Little Money Beckons to Me

The man said nothing, merely casting a meaningful glance at the two, lingering especially on Lin Xiao with a hint of curiosity in his eyes. It was not difficult to deduce from the scene that Lin Xiao had slain the violent rabbit. His task was to ensure the safety of the pair; now, knowing they were unharmed, it was time for him to leave. As for how Lin Xiao managed to kill the beast, he was uninterested. He believed that as long as Lin Xiao acted again, he would soon witness his methods firsthand.

With the collapse of the earthen wall, the drone finally captured the situation at the scene. Those watching the live broadcast breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the two safe and sound.

“These two youngsters are alright, thank goodness. I was worried about them just now.”
“Aren’t you curious how they managed to defeat the spirit beast?”
“Maybe setting up the earthen wall was part of their strategy. I suspect one of them is an earth-type, the other a melee-type, luring the violent rabbit inside.”
“Seems that’s exactly what happened.”
“But to deal with the violent rabbit so swiftly—their strength is not to be underestimated. Remember that five-member squad struggled greatly to defeat one before.”
“Whatever the case, I’m sticking with these two. I have a feeling they’ll surprise me.”

…

Once the man disappeared, Zhou Zhi finally felt a wave of lingering fear. He plopped down on the ground. “That scared me senseless—I thought we were done for. Xiao, when did you become so formidable?”

Lin Xiao wasn’t sure how to explain. The events of the past week had been rather strange, and he had no intention of telling Zhou Zhi about the nursing home. “It’s not that I’m strong, the rabbit was simply too weak. I’ve been working out lately—haven’t you noticed I’ve gained muscle?”

At Lin Xiao’s words, Zhou Zhi did sense something different about him—he did seem more robust now. And listen to him, was that even a reasonable statement? How could the rabbit be weak? Where was it weak?

“Let’s not dwell on that. Lin Xiao, what’s our plan now?”
“Keep moving forward. That was just an accident. As long as we’re careful, we should be fine.”

The two pressed on, and Lin Xiao had already resolved to take the cautious approach for the rest of their journey. For the majority of the day that followed, they genuinely encountered not a single spirit beast. They did, however, stumble upon the corpses of several spirit beasts.

Lin Xiao had already checked the violent rabbit they defeated earlier—there was no spirit bead. Obtaining one was clearly no simple matter. Half a day had passed since the assessment began, and besides facing spirit beasts, the new students had encountered another challenge.

Upon entering the secret realm, everyone had more or less run into spirit beasts, so battles were inevitable. Coupled with the constant travel, all were ravenously hungry. Yet, food along the way was scarce, failing to meet the needs of the group. Some found nothing at all, and many began contemplating whether to eat spirit beast meat.

Eventually, one team could no longer hold out and began cooking spirit beast meat. Once it was cooked, they eagerly ate. To them, meat from a level-one spirit beast, though requiring some time to digest, was manageable as long as they weren’t attacked during the absorption period—better than starving.

Unfortunately, they underestimated the spirit beasts, whose sense of smell was extremely keen. The aroma of meat attracted nearby spirit beasts, who immediately launched an attack when they found the team.

There were seven in the group, making them quite formidable. But the swarm they attracted numbered nine spirit beasts. Normally, they could have held out for a while; but having just eaten, their bodies were still absorbing the energy from the meat, which inevitably affected their combat ability.

The guardian stepped in immediately, dispersing the spirit beasts. However, he also revoked the qualifications of the entire team. Though they protested, it was futile.

Lin Xiao and Zhou Zhi witnessed their elimination from a distance. Clearly, cooking in the secret realm was a dangerous act. These people were simply unprepared—even level-one spirit beast meat was too much for them.

What Lin Xiao didn’t know was that the reason he could consume so much high-level spirit beast meat without any side effects wasn’t his own physical prowess. It was entirely thanks to Liu Jiao, a ninth-level healing specialist. The first time Lin Xiao ate high-level beast meat, Liu Jiao neutralized the violent energy within it. Later, his body developed resistance, and with intensive training, he experienced no ill effects.

Zhou Zhi, being from a prominent family, had more knowledge in this area than Lin Xiao. “Actually, if you’re absolutely safe, eating spirit beast meat of a comparable level is beneficial. For example, as level-one ability users, even level-two spirit beast meat is fine as long as you absorb its energy. It can strengthen our bodies. The trouble is, in this secret realm, we have no time to absorb it, and the keen senses of the beasts make it too risky unless absolutely necessary.”

Lin Xiao nodded—other teams surely knew this, or they wouldn’t have left so much meat for him to collect.

Having just watched a team get eliminated, Lin Xiao did want to eat spirit beast meat, but dared not cook it now. He wasn’t worried about starving; his snakeskin bag held plenty of food.

“Zhou, let’s take a break and fill our stomachs.” Lin Xiao pulled out some food from his bag and handed it to Zhou Zhi.

Zhou gave him a thumbs up. “You’re always prepared, Xiao. With all this, we could eat for three days and still have leftovers.”

Hearing Zhou Zhi’s words, Lin Xiao fell into thought. It was true—the food he brought was more than enough for the two of them. And that was just a single snakeskin bag; he still had four more in his storage ring. Not all of them contained food—three were filled with food and water.

If he brought all of it out, it would be such a waste. If only he could sell it! With this thought, Lin Xiao suddenly had an idea. He decided to keep enough for the two of them and sell the rest at a high price to the others. That way, his trip to the secret realm would be worthwhile.

Of course, there was no rush. Most people could still hold out now—it wouldn’t fetch a good price yet. He would wait, maximizing the value of his provisions. He could already see the prospect of money beckoning to him.