Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 456 - 394 Palpitations_1

"Money?"

Before Huai Shi could finish, Raven's solemn voice came through, "Put that thing down..."

"What's wrong?"

"There's a Curse on that thing."

Raven said coldly, "Don't trust those soul merchants from the Abyss. Those guys naturally take pleasure in spreading Disasters—with your current level, if you carry that thing around, it wouldn't be surprising if you suddenly drop dead one day. I mean the kind of baffling death, you know? Like one day, while you're eating hotpot, drinking tea, or fighting with someone, suddenly you're just... gone."

Instantly, Huai Shi dropped his hand quicker than if he'd been electrocuted. He also took two steps back, pulling Yuan Zhao with him.

"Oh my?"

The death merchant chuckled. "Don't you like it? No wonder, after all, nobody likes to accept the true nature of the Abyss... Seems like I am disliked, HEHEHE... Are you angry? How terrifying, how terrifying, the little ones from the Current Circumstances are really terrifying..."

He leaned in, as if he wanted to say more, but then he saw the hilt of the Sword of Virtue that Huai Shi had unconsciously drawn from his waist pouch. As if sensing an enemy present, a dazzling morning light lit up on the Broken Sword Blade of the Sword of Virtue.

With a suppressed shriek, the death merchant stepped back, his limbs squirming beneath his black robe, yet not daring to be rash. Slobbering as if drooling with desire, he muttered quietly, "Big loss, a big loss this time..."

"A deadly loss, a deadly loss..."

In his embrace, it seemed like a cacophony of noises echoed his sighs.

As he retreated step by step, his stall quickly shrank and then crawled into his backpack on its own. After stepping back three times, he casually picked up his backpack but cast a half-smiling, half-mocking glance at Huai Shi and Yuan Zhao.

"Customers, the wares in my shop are all high-quality and reasonably priced, honest to all ages..."

He left behind a nonsensical phrase, then melted into the shadows in the gaps of the light, as if he had never been there at all.

Only a mirror was left in place.

"What the hell?" Huai Shi was taken aback.

"Got scared and ran away after being found out, I guess?"

Raven snorted. "These guys are like rats, very fond of causing trouble, but they're incredibly cowardly. If they have someone powerful backing them, they act high and mighty and do whatever they please. But once their bluffs are called, they reveal their true colors and run faster than anyone... Afraid of being relentlessly pursued, they throw away some worthless thing as a plea for mercy. Psh, they're even worse than those dragon maggots."

"That thing on the ground?"

Huai Shi squatted down, getting closer to examine the mirror left behind.

It was just a cheap cosmetic mirror sold at street stalls, tacky in design and gaudy in color, sparking no desire to buy.

"I don't know what it is." Raven glanced at it briefly. "There are too many weird things in the Abyss. I suggest you don't even touch it, just turn around and leave."

"That's true."

Huai Shi nodded. He did have a few hundred pounds of Pure Gold on him, after all. As the saying goes, 'A person of great means doesn't invite peril.' He, a person of five hundred gold, was quite precious himself; he couldn't just pick up any random junk.

Mainly, he remembered that the last thing he picked up and took home... was the Book of Fate, which made him the Astronomical Society's number one Second Fifth. What if he picked up another thing like that again? He couldn't handle it!

Once he made up his mind, he grabbed the curious Yuan Zhao and turned to leave.

Only Raven looked back at the mirror on the ground with a smile that was not quite a smile.

In the mirror, there was a Reflection of the bustling Group Star—except in the Reflection, everything became blurred with flesh and blood. Countless bubble-like cysts and deformations grew from the walls of the carriage, with moving eyes opening and closing indifferently, overlooking all the grotesque scene.

The whole world seemed to turn into a horror movie in an instant.

But the next moment, with a flap of Raven's wings, the surface of the mirror suddenly shattered, turning into dust.

The rest of the casual stroll was unremarkable. Only a few rare Border Relics in several big workshops caught the eye, but all were without exception overly expensive.

Even the display items were just projections. The shops promised that if purchased, they would be express-delivered directly to the home the next day, saving the customer all the trouble.

The one that Huai Shi coveted the most was a dagger that appeared to be made of crystal.

This Border Relic, named 'Mother Body,' was unearthed from a Hell Vein just last year, a naturally formed weapon in the conditions of Hell.

Once scratched or pierced by this weapon, new gemstone clusters would continuously grow from the wound until it drained the entire Source Substance of the victim, turning them into a crystal mine.

Unless a higher-tier relic weapon was used to forcibly remove the wound and the crystal clusters that penetrated the bone, there was no chance of survival.

Truly malevolent.

The only drawback was that it would insidiously transform the user, causing them to crystallize without realizing. Once a certain limit was reached, the person would merge into the crystal dagger, becoming a part of it, contributing an insignificant millimeter or two to the growth of the 'Mother Body.'

To avoid this inconvenience, the shop had a buy-one-get-one-free offer, providing an additional transformation surgery—covering the bones of the customer's dominant hand with an extremely thin layer of cursed coating, fighting poison with poison, to counter the erosion from Mother Body.

Anyway, a thick brochure made Huai Shi inhale several breaths of cold air.

He deeply marveled that people nowadays really would do anything for Power.

At the end of the day, those who, like him, possessed an abundance of Border Relics that they could not even use up and yet remained unharmed by them were few and far between. The majority of people made do with just one, without any room to be choosy.

Those with money, connections, and a bit of caution even sought out Alchemists from various Genealogies for custom orders.

They made their selections directly from the Relic Catalog.

That list of miracles preserved by the Stone Pot Society is also a roster of Disasters.

When an Alchemist has reverse-engineered a Border Relic and proves it can be realized again with controllability, it will be registered in the Relic Catalog after consideration.

By now, there are over five thousand relics of all sorts registered. Among them, the Nail of Incineration crafted by the Alchemist Gru during the Witches' Night is a representative piece.

Due to the peculiar nature of Disaster Miracles, most mass-produced relics come with many limitations and are often much weaker compared to the original versions.

This also depends on the Alchemist's own skill level and the effort poured into the process.

But the most important attributes are controllability and predictability.

After all, nobody wants to capsize somewhere because of some inexplicable Curse, or worse, bring something home that wipes out their entire family. Let alone be dragged down with an entire city into a deep sinkhole because of some idiot—that's real bad luck.

Instances like these have happened more than once in both the Border and Current Circumstances, each one a severe Disaster.

It's just a shame that there are so few Alchemists capable of forging Border Relics.

In the whole world, there are only seventy-one Alchemists who can create S-level or higher Border Relics, and the schedule of every one of them is backed up for fifty years.

For most Sublimators who don't have money or connections and want to become strong quickly, the only choice is to be hardheaded. Or, they sell their lives to some large organization to be a Diligent Stick; if their abilities are enough, they don't need to worry about these things.

Whether or not these things truly belong to them isn't that important. Isn't the need for these items just about getting a better meal? Though it may not sound very cool to say it, more often than not, Power isn't the most important thing... It's the meal that matters.

And by the time Huai Shi had solved his meal problem, it was already approaching evening.

Spending two hours, he placed his set of Folding Knives, spoils of war, in the Border Trade Hall of the Giant Goose Group for sale. After being appraised by four different appraisers in succession, the duty manager called the branch boss for instructions and offered Huai Shi two methods of sale.

One method was the simplest and most direct: the Giant Goose Group was willing to spend ninety million US Dollars to buy the set of Border Relics outright, after which how much they sold for would have nothing to do with Huai Shi.

The second method was consignment. Giant Goose could offer Huai Shi a seventy million US Dollar deposit, which would be deducted from the final sale price, and Giant Goose would take an eleven percent service fee. This goes to show that it is good to be a big company. With just an opening and closing of their mouth, they could easily pocket over ten million dollars.

Unfortunately, Giant Goose's reputation comes at a hefty price.

After much contemplation, Huai Shi proposed a third option: he would give the set of Folding Knives to the Giant Goose Group without charge, but in return, they must use their networks to seek out a piece of 'Undying Flames' for him across the territory, weighing at least sixteen ounces.

An exchange of goods.

In the end, the one who came to make the decision was an old acquaintance of Huai Shi, a peculiar goose-like creature that appeared in the conference room as a projection and promptly agreed to the deal.

A three-month period was set.

Giant Goose would mobilize channels of the second level and below to search for Huai Shi. If they ultimately could not find the item, then the set of Folding Knives would still be sold to Giant Goose for seventy million US Dollars.

Honestly, the terms were extremely harsh.

Even to Huai Shi, the deal didn't seem fair.

But he was constrained by circumstances; a six-month deadline loomed, and one and a half months had already passed. Moreover, if he could exchange the Folding Knives for the Undying Flames, Huai Shi didn't care how much potential loss he incurred.

The goose-like creature explained clearly: The reason for purchasing at twenty million dollars less than the first proposal was to compensate for the loss caused by the idle use of channels. For Giant Goose, offering twenty million less was already very considerate—a friendly price indeed.

When Huai Shi signed and stamped his signature, leaving behind his Source Fluctuation, even the goose-like creature appeared quite astonished.

"What's up? Is there a problem?"

"No, I just thought... you might hesitate a bit." The goose-like creature coughed awkwardly. "After all, based on what we know about you, you are the thrifty type..."

"Which is why my heart is bleeding."

Huai Shi rolled his eyes, his hand trembling as he signed.

There's an order to things—money that can't be used is less useful than a steamed bun.

Though he was used to pinching pennies, after being brutally schooled by Raven dozens of times, at least Huai Shi wasn't skimping when it came to spending money now.

Whether his heart was in anguish was another matter.

"The rest is up to you guys."

As Huai Shi drifted out of the conference room like a soul, he suddenly felt an unexpected palpitation.

It was no phantom pain from the loss of wealth, but a real sensation, a Resonance bursting forth from his chest.

The Book of Fate was trembling slightly.

The last time he experienced this was...

Huai Shi and Raven looked at each other.

"You don't say?"