Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Marrow-Cleansing Fruit Ripens

After they settled on a price, 123 Wood ultimately decided to buy 10,000 waterwood stones from her.

He wanted more, but Ling Mo refused. Whether in business or in life, if you were too easy to talk into, people learned how to handle you.

In 123 Wood’s eyes, waterwood stone was even more precious than water-chilling stone. What if she listed them and someone else snatched one or two before he could secure his share?

“Soy Sauce Drunk: Fine. I need to prepare anyway.”

After sending that, Ling Mo slipped into her pocket space, collected 10,000 waterwood stones, and quickly built a temporary warehouse.

She worried the trading item might have tracking functions. If she stayed inside her pocket space, it should keep her from being located.

When the trade began, she also activated the illusory cloak’s invisibility.

Fortunately, the exchange went smoothly. No tricks, no surprises.

Because of that good behavior, Ling Mo generously included an extra 200 water-chilling stones.

Elsewhere, a player frowned at 123 Wood. “Old Boss, that trading item can do video trades. Why didn’t we use it? If we did, we might’ve figured out Soy Sauce Drunk’s identity.”

123 Wood shot him a hard look. “Soy Sauce Drunk has hidden her identity from the beginning. That means she doesn’t want to be exposed. If we tried something like that, we’d only earn her disgust.”

If she was willing to sell waterwood stone, it meant she still cared about this country.

Right now, other countries only knew about water-chilling stone. They didn’t even know waterwood stone existed.

And based on expert analysis, Soy Sauce Drunk probably wasn’t the man they initially assumed. She was likely a young lady—maybe even quite young.

With that in mind, her caution was understandable.

What they needed to do was maintain stability and give her a safe environment to grow.

Just then, 123 Wood shuddered. “What’s going on? Why is it so cold?”

It wasn’t just him. Everyone felt it. The temperature was dropping fast.

A staff member counting the shipment suddenly cried out in delight. “Old Boss! It’s water-chilling stone! Along with the 10,000 waterwood stones, Soy Sauce Drunk also sent 200 water-chilling stones. That’s why it’s freezing!”

123 Wood ignored the cold and hurried over. When he confirmed the stones with his own eyes, excitement surged through him.

They’d fought like mad to secure just over two hundred water-chilling stones before, and every single one had been distributed to preserve supplies. Even then, it wasn’t enough.

Now another two hundred had dropped into their hands.

It was a lifeline.

At that moment, a slip of paper drifted out of the shipment. The handwriting was crooked and uneven.

Buy fifty, get one free. One time only. Next time depends on my mood.

123 Wood stared at it and felt a quiet certainty settle in his chest.

He’d made the right call. Not digging deeper had been the right call.

“Too cold!” someone yelped. “Hurry—throw the water-chilling stones into water!”

Chaos erupted. People scrambled and used tools to dump the stones into a large tank full of water. A moment later and they might’ve been frozen into statues.

It was brutal.

Meanwhile, Ling Mo remained inside her pocket space.

She stood in front of the marrow-cleansing fruit tree, breathing hard.

The other trees were thriving too, but their fruits ripened at different rates. For now, only the marrow-cleansing fruit was ready.

The mature marrow-cleansing fruit was blue and semi-transparent, like it was filled with liquid that slowly flowed.

Ling Mo picked one, rinsed off the dust, and bit in.

The flesh melted in her mouth like jelly.

Then pain exploded through her body.

Not long after the pain faded, an unbearable stench rose off her skin—so strong she nearly blacked out.

Ling Mo bolted out of her pocket space and rushed into the bathroom, scrubbing away the foul grime clinging to her.

When she finally faced the mirror again, she looked… better. Her skin already seemed clearer.

After asking Qie Man, Ling Mo learned that taking marrow-cleansing fruit worked in two stages.

The first stage expelled impurities from the body. Everything she’d washed off just now was the buildup that had been trapped inside her.

The second stage was the real prize: improvement and strengthening of the physique.

The first stage could be completed quickly by taking multiple marrow-cleansing fruits. The second stage required long-term use.

Ling Mo decided to finish the first stage as fast as possible.

So she stayed right there in the bathroom and ate more.

If she was going to sweat out filth and stink anyway, she might as well do it where she could wash immediately instead of ruining clothes.

She kept going, even as pain made her face twist. She clenched her teeth, swallowed another bite, then paused to wipe away the grime oozing from her skin.

Hour after hour, she endured it.

By the next morning, she’d eaten more than twenty marrow-cleansing fruits. At last, the pain stopped—and nothing else seeped out of her body.

According to Qie Man, no pain meant the first stage was complete. Now she could begin the second.

Ling Mo stared at her reflection.

She was still the same person, but the feeling she gave off had changed completely.

No exaggeration—her skin looked smoother than a peeled boiled egg. It made the skincare products she’d hoarded feel almost laughable.

And the physical change was even more dramatic. Ling Mo felt lighter, as if she’d been running with sandbags tied to her limbs and someone had finally cut them away.

When she trained, it became unmistakable.

She dropped into a full split with ridiculous ease and just stared at her legs, stunned. She reached down and patted them like they belonged to someone else.

By her estimate, her physical fitness was several times better than before.

With her body transformed, Ling Mo had Qie Man redesign her training plan.