Chapter 499: The Water Sellers Profited

Chapter 499: The Water Sellers Profited

Every time Black Dragon Sister saw such a list of people looking to get beaten up, and saw that the names could be stretched all the way to the bottom, she felt a bit confused. Since when did people on the Continent have such a strange habit? Paying money just to suffer—what kind of logic was that? She had never heard the elders of her clan mention such a thing before. Since when did humans become so harsh on themselves?

Though she didn’t care much about money, she certainly didn’t mind having more of it. Especially after getting the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, she would occasionally shop on it. For example, when it came to tasty food, a human might only order one serving, but if she wanted to eat her fill, ordering less than a hundred servings would feel like barely enough to fill the gaps between her teeth.

Over the past few days—no, ever since the Purple Vine Guild came knocking, and there was a new list of people looking to get beaten up every day—her little treasury had been growing steadily. She also had plenty of practice opponents each day. For someone recovering from injuries, this was as good as life could get. Although the quality of these people varied—some were too weak, and she had to hold back to avoid accidentally killing them with a single slap—the stronger ones allowed her to fight freely.

As for going easy on them, so far she hadn’t encountered any “beat-up seekers” who could truly make her go all out. After counting the names on the list and finding them similar to the ones from previous days, Black Dragon Sister put the paper away. She couldn’t lose this—it was needed for roll call the next day.

As for Green Dragon, she was the most leisurely among the three dragons. Unlike Black Dragon, who loved fighting, and unlike Red Dragon, who could shamelessly act as a statue for people to gawk at, Green Dragon quietly stayed in her temporary nest, nursing the damage to her soul. When she had nothing else to do, she would use her Alchemical Avatar to wander around Kaja.

Though Black Dragon Sister thought Green Dragon was afraid that the Derivative Witch would come looking for her again, since that witch had already lingered around Kaja several times.

At night, a member of the church noticed a figure loitering not far away. The figure was wearing a Special Combat Suit, but with his ample experience, he could tell at a glance that the suit didn’t fit the person’s body. Moreover, the figure exuded a strange aura. Even though the entry requirements for the Quarantine Camp were low, not just anyone could go in.

After spotting the figure, he immediately became alert, and his caution spread to his teammates. The figure lingered for a while before slowly moving away from the area.

“Be careful tonight,” the church member who first noticed the figure said gravely. The situation inside the Containment Zone was terrible. Once those Flesh Seeds had fully spread, ordinary methods were no longer enough to stop them. The Flesh Seeds had completely taken over the outer ring, and all of this had happened in less than a day!

However, those unchanged Human Forms had very weak combat power . Basically, one area-of-effect Magic spell could clear out a large group of them. But once a dead body appeared near them, the Human Forms would immediately change shape, taking on the appearance of the deceased and even gaining their combat abilities. Their physical strength and power would increase noticeably, though their special abilities weren’t Mana-based but rather Negative Energy catalyzed by the Soul.

Because of this, the church had been trying to isolate these Human Forms. As for clearing them out… they were like weeds that couldn’t be completely eradicated. A large-scale Magic spell could indeed clear out a large area, but soon after, new Human Forms would appear underground and continue their activities.

Without finding the main body that controlled these scattered Human Forms, any attempts at elimination were meaningless. Dead bodies only made them stronger. As for the Stone Forest, the Sanctuary Church had already rearranged the distribution of Temporary Camps to prevent the Human Forms from the outer ring from approaching it. Although Human Forms had also appeared in the Stone Forest, they hadn’t reached the level of complete infestation like in the outer ring.

Perhaps the situation in the Stone Forest was somewhat special, affecting the production rate of Human Forms. But even so, Human Forms inside continued to appear endlessly. Overall, the power dynamics within the Containment Zone had become like a sandwich, with them caught in the middle and facing pressure from both sides!

The only advantage was that the Sanctuary Church had anticipated the severity of the problem and decisively used a Divine Artifact to seal off the area, preventing that particular entity from escaping. As for what to do next, the Lockdown Zone was currently slowly shrinking. Even if there were large amounts of Flesh Seeds buried underground, it didn’t matter—they would eventually be concentrated as the Lockdown Zone contracted.

What they needed to do now was to speed up efforts to resolve the issue in the Stone Forest. After that, they would clear out the irrelevant people. As long as the Stone Forest existed, the Containment Zone would come to a complete halt once it shrank to that area. After all, this was only a “Divine Artifact” that mimicked the Containment Barrier, not a true sealing class, and it lacked something like the Element Heart to serve as a nuclear energy source.

But the current trouble was that the Soul Spirits active within the Stone Forest, once they had a vessel, could unleash tremendous power. The closer to the center, the stronger they became. The outer ring was still manageable, but in the inner ring, the slightest carelessness could lead to a situation where a large group of bosses would gather to watch.

So, powerful individuals had limited effectiveness here. Even those with immense destructive power had to take down the Human Forms one by one to avoid accidentally destroying dozens of stone pillars in one go. The Negative Energy released from the Soul Spirits of so many destroyed stone pillars, accumulating in one area, was enough to give reckless people a bitter lesson.

The night passed without incident. Early the next morning, Zheng Yichen stepped out of his single room. In the Quarantine Camp, some people were already up earlier than him. The Mercenaries heading out were washing their faces with bucket water they had bought. This made them feel quite annoyed. These merchants really knew how to seize opportunities.

Water that could easily be fetched from any small river outside was now being sold for 2 to 5 copper coins on the Online Store, depending on the size of the container. Damn it, why not just rob people? If you dare sell water at such high prices, why not sell air too?!

What was even more heartless was that these merchants not only sold water but also bought back the water containers. Most of these containers were cheap and poor quality. The buying price varied by size: the largest ones went for one copper coin, while the smallest ones required ten to make up one copper coin. It all depended on how you bought them!

The problem was, given the current situation, who dared use water that had been sitting overnight? The water bought was used on the spot. As for the containers, throwing them away… well, they needed water every day, so throwing them away felt wasteful. With the smallest size, five containers could be exchanged for another bottle of water… As for whether the returned containers might carry something unwanted, that wasn’t an issue. The Trading Zone of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book strictly prohibited the circulation of living things. The checks were rigorous, and there were related Magic spells inside—any living thing entering would instantly lose its life!

This was clearly stated, partly to warn those who couldn’t resist trying to sneak something out. No one did that anymore—those who tried had all paid with their lives, teaching others a lesson. Those who thought too highly of themselves or were overly confident in their skills had all died!

The other reason was to prevent losses for opportunists or those tricked by them… There were too many strange living things in this world. After Zheng Yichen opened this channel, it was inevitable that some scheming people would try to exploit it. Like how princesses or queens from The Empire or certain kingdoms mysteriously disappeared from heavily guarded royal palaces. Zheng Yichen believed that if a channel for living things were opened, such incidents would definitely become more frequent!

He couldn’t let the Online Store end up flooded with listings for princesses or queens, could he? This world had slave trading, but Zheng Yichen absolutely didn’t want such things to appear on the Online Store. Ugh!

Earthlings talked about slavery… though it sounded somewhat exciting, looking at his current body, why think too much about it? He still had a bunch of Ghost Maids at home! With those molds, Zheng Yichen had gained a clear understanding of the detailed parameters of every Ghost Maid’s body… down to the finest detail.

So, these merchants buying back used water containers didn’t violate any rules within the Containment Zone. Even if someone maliciously slipped in a Flesh Seed, it wouldn’t spread through the Trading Module.

Because of this, the opportunistic merchants were quite pleased. There were many people inside the Containment Zone. Knowing it was a one-way entry, some hesitated to enter afterward, but there were still those who went in… The Sanctuary Church had the most people, but they couldn’t make money off the church. The church was a complete, forward-thinking system that could be self-sufficient when it came to water resources.

The only ones they could take advantage of were the Mercenaries and Adventurers… It was just business—couldn’t really call it taking advantage. If they didn’t like it, they could buy water from the church… The church’s water portions were just larger, not much different otherwise. After all, water resources on the Online Store also had costs. Even the smallest free item was a loss—was Mana free? Were handling fees free?

Most of these costs had to be passed on to the Professionals.

“Will the price of water go up after some time…” Green held a plastic bottle, a very thin one, like the cheapest pure water bottles on Earth. A light squeeze would deform it, and its quality made people seriously doubt whether it contained tap water or pure water… These bottles were from the Purple Vine Guild’s Online Store. Don’t think a world of swords and Magic had no plastic bottles.

Things like water containers were mostly made of animal skin bags or some creature’s stomach sac? Did people really think Alchemy in this world was so poor that it couldn’t even produce plastic? When Zheng Yichen crossed over, this world already had materials similar to plastic.

There were many kinds, many of which were residues left after Alchemy experiments. What Zheng Yichen did was conduct more careful, simple research to produce this ordinary plastic that didn’t emit toxins during normal use. Slightly warming it was fine, but if you boiled it in hot water, harmful substances would definitely leach out. Well, nothing was absolute. For ordinary water bottles, this was good enough. Who would fill such soft bottles with boiling water anyway? For that kind of water, wouldn’t a thermos be better?

“Price hike? That would break the rules,” Dan Marina said casually. Those selling water were basically making a fortune at this time. A price hike was impossible—with so much competition, whoever raised prices would be the first to be squeezed out of the circle. “So no need to worry about the water situation.”

“Tsk~ Seriously, the water sellers are probably making a killing these days…”