Chapter 46

Chapter 46: Listing Water-Chilling Stones

Moonlight would work too, but she had sealed all the villa’s windows shut. Besides, how could moonlight compare to sunlight?

“Hey, smartbrain,” Ling Mo said suddenly. “Do you have a name?”

Calling it smartbrain, smartbrain all the time was practically begging to get exposed.

“Smartbrains have serial numbers, not names.”

“Then what’s your number?”

“5201314.”

Ling Mo just stared for a beat.

It sounded like a lovesick confession disguised as an ID.

“Fine. From now on, you’re Qie Man.”

“Okay!” The voice sounded almost pleased, nothing like the System’s icy monotone.

She put away her wages from the third round, one gold coin, then headed to the laundry room and dumped all the filthy clothes from Mo Ka Forest into the washer-dryer combo. After that, she went upstairs for a shower.

Seven days of tied-up hair finally came loose. She washed it thoroughly, did her skincare, dried everything, and only then climbed into bed.

Meditation could replace rest, but it couldn’t replace sleep.

Ling Mo was out in seconds.

Elsewhere, half the players stayed wide awake. They flooded the game forum, especially after someone in the top ten began bragging about the reward they’d drawn.

The forum exploded like hot oil hit with water.

Hidden big shots surfaced one after another, offering ridiculous prices to buy that prize.

Ling Mo, meanwhile, woke in the middle of the night because she was freezing.

In weather where the average temperature had climbed to sixty degrees, she had been cold enough to wake up.

“Qie Man,” she croaked, “what’s the temperature inside?”

“Current temperature: 3°C. Please keep warm.”

Three degrees. She was practically living in a fridge.

Ling Mo stumbled downstairs barefoot, and the icy tile made her suck in a sharp breath. The indoor pool had a thin crust of ice on it.

The culprit sat innocently on the coffee table: the little water-chilling stone.

She knew it could lower the temperature, but she hadn’t realized it was this strong.

She hurriedly stuffed the water-chilling stone back into pocket space, then brewed herself a cup of brown sugar ginger tea. Catching a cold in this kind of weather would be a special kind of misery.

By the time she finished drinking, it was nearly dawn. She didn’t want to sleep again, but she didn’t feel like cultivating either, so she tugged on a thicker outfit and wandered around.

Then a thought hit her.

“Qie Man, once a water-chilling stone runs out, can Blue Star’s water restore it?”

“No.”

A grin tugged at her mouth.

New business.

She could offer a trade-in service: dead stones could be used to offset part of the price of a new one. Recycling, repeat profits.

She really was a genius.

She opened the game forum again. She’d gone to bed too early the night before to keep up, but it was still lively now.

Scrolling through older posts, she saw endless complaints about the round.

Bystander A: “Damn it! I finally scraped together points and a bunch of assholes stole them. Good thing a seasonal limited ingredient popped up later. Just wait, if I run into those guys again, I’m beating them every time.”

Later: “Be grateful. At least you kept your spot in the game. Plenty of people didn’t.”

Qing Qing Zi Jin: “You’re all amazing, but I had the worst luck with people. Has anyone seen someone in camo with a mask and a grass-cloak? That person is bad news. They stole our points and even took our vegetable basket. If I hadn’t gotten lucky and found one, I would’ve been eliminated.”

Ling Mo blinked.

That description… was absolutely her.

And this Qing Qing Zi Jin still cleared the round?

She kept scrolling and saw another familiar username: Piao Miao Yun Yan.

Her eyes widened at the thread.

Happy Every Day: “Piao Miao Yun Yan, if you had the guts to do it, come out and own it! Near the end you knocked everyone out and stole all our points. If I hadn’t guarded against you, you’d have screwed me too!”

Piao Miao Yun Yan: “I don’t even know you. Stop smearing me. Everyone, don’t believe him. I suspect she has a grudge against me in real life and is taking revenge.”

Ling Mo could only think: wow. She hadn’t met many people this round, but every single one of them had been dangerous in their own way.

At first, she’d thought Piao Miao Yun Yan might be a little calculating, but fundamentally decent.

Apparently, she’d underestimated her.

From now on, she’d keep her head down.

More posts followed, other top-ten winners showing off their prizes like it was the smartest thing in the world.

Ling Mo could only marvel at the guts.

If you had something valuable, why announce it?

Then again, maybe they were strong enough that they didn’t need to hide. Everyone had their own way of surviving.

She closed the forum and opened her shop.

The round had been harder, and ten percent of the players had been eliminated, but the rewards were rich. She had earned one gold coin as first place.

Now she just needed to set a price for the water-chilling stones.

Too high and no one could buy them. Too low and she’d be the one getting robbed.

“Qie Man, what should I price a Water-Chilling Stone at?”

“Fifty coins. Also, I recommend Master exchange for gold, jade, and other precious minerals.”

“Why?”

“Because gold and jade are extremely expensive luxury goods in Interstellar. They mainly circulate among the upper class. Trading for them will bring Master enormous wealth.”

“If gold is that valuable, then these coins…”

Ling Mo took out the gold coin she’d been paid with and studied it suspiciously.

“They are only gold-plated.”

Ling Mo sighed.

She opened the shop interface and started listing items. Ten Water-Chilling Stones to test the market, half for coins, half for gold, jade, and gemstones.

Then she wrote the warnings in blunt, unmissable terms: do not carry it on your body; do not keep it in cramped spaces; and absolutely do not put it in pocket space unless you wanted someone to freeze to death.

She added that as long as the stone was submerged, it would stop releasing cold air. Even Blue Star’s water worked, she’d just tested it.

The stone’s effect would last only about a dozen days, and when it failed, it would become an ordinary rock. Her shop would offer trade-ins when that happened.

Better to be clear now than have people tossing the dead stones anywhere they felt like.