Chapter 73: Striving for Performance
Lin Huai uploaded the recording of Iron Egg’s final moments to the main chat, intending to make an example of her to keep the others in line.
[Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice]: @Everyone, I hate backstabbers more than anything. This is what happens to them, and I hope this is the last time.
[Dragon Emerging from the Sea]: [Thumbs_up.jpg] Well handled!
[Fastest Hand at SF Express]: As expected of our Boss—swift, clean, and decisive.
[Jiangzhehu Inheritor]: Good riddance! Now that that snake is gone, I can finally breathe easily.
[Hungry Spirit Blue Knight]: What a shame. I had so many more insults lined up! But seeing her dead makes me even happier.
[Flying Dog Hair]: Tsk, tsk. Good thing I’ve always been sensible.
[Left and Right for Men]: Boss Bone Ash, you’re amazing. Ungrateful trash like that should be put down on the spot.
[Man on Top of Man]: Exactly, exactly! We would never dream of betraying Boss Bone Ash.
[Honey Blood Ice Orange]: She got what was coming to her. Boss Bone Ash has been so good to us! Other zones have it way worse, and she didn’t even know how to be grateful. Dying was too easy for her.
[Tchaikovsky Driver]: Boss Bone Ash is the greatest!
[Grass Don’t Float]: Seriously, what kind of weirdos came over from Sector 587? It feels like we’ll never finish cleaning them out. No wonder their old leader was so terrible.
[Sounds Good Is a Good Head]: Hey, don’t lump us all together! Not all of us are like that. I have nothing but respect and gratitude for Boss Bone Ash.
[Read and Reply Randomly]: Exactly! I completely revere Boss Bone Ash! Don’t go spreading rumors about me.
After posting the video, Lin Huai closed her screen and focused on the road. The sky had already darkened, and she still had forty kilometers left to cover for the day.
She cleared the remaining distance quickly, then climbed up to the second-floor lounge to unwind on the sofa.
Closing her eyes, her thoughts drifted back to what had unfolded at the Mass Grave.
“Old Hei, are you around?”
There were too many questions she couldn’t answer on her own. She wanted to consult Old Hei, but he gave no reply, so she let it go.
If she couldn’t figure it out right now, there was no use obsessing over it. Once she reached the end of the road, the answers would reveal themselves.
Her mind then turned to a more practical matter.
Sitting up, she pulled up her screen and opened the Elite Squad group chat.
[Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice]: @Everyone, speak up if you’re online.
[Milk Tea Seven Parts Sugar]: Squeak!
[Cute and Sparkling]: Squeak squeak squeak!
[Hungry Spirit Blue Knight]: Creak creak!
[Jiangzhehu Inheritor]: What’s up, Boss?
[Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice]: I have a contact where I can purchase autonomous driving systems and robotic arms for automatic crate collection. They aren’t cheap—two million underworld coins for a full set. Who wants one?
[Old Wang from Building Materials]: Holy crap, what an amazing upgrade! Put me down for one! My butt is practically welded to this seat… Boss, save a set for me!
[Fastest Hand at SF Express]: Waaaah, what if I don’t have enough saved up? I want autopilot so badly!
[Jiangzhehu Inheritor]: Boss! I want one! I have plenty of cash!
[Milk Tea Seven Parts Sugar]: Hehe, I have the funds too. The young lady helped me sell medicine, and I made a huge profit. It’s just enough!
[Cute and Sparkling]: Heehee, me too! Miss Jiang helped me sell sweet-and-sour ribs, so I’ve got plenty of coins. I want a set!
[If You’re Bad, Practice More]: Boss… I’m broke, but I really want it… What do I do?
[Peace and Violence]: Boss… can I buy on credit? I can write an IOU!
[Dragon Emerging from the Sea]: I’m a little short on coins myself…
[Hungry Spirit Blue Knight]: @Jiangzhehu Inheritor, my dearest young lady, could you please lend me some money? [Praying_hands.jpg]
[Flash Delivery Yellow Knight]: Me too… Miss Jiang, please look at me when you’re handing out charity!
Seeing that everyone desperately needed these upgrades, Lin Huai sent a private message to Ah Jiu, asking him to prepare ten sets of autonomous driving units and collection arms.
[Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice]: @Jiangzhehu Inheritor, how are the squad funds looking?
[Jiangzhehu Inheritor]: Boss, I just ran the numbers. Our shared vault holds a total of six million underworld coins. Everyone’s personal shortfall is pretty big, so it won’t be enough to cover the rest.
[Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice]: Got it.
Lin Huai went straight back to her private chat with Ah Jiu.
[Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice]: Ah Jiu, Ah Jiu, we’re a bit short on cash on our end. Can I buy these on credit?
[Ghost Car Nine-Headed Bird]: How much are you short? Since you’re ordering ten full sets, I can give you a bulk discount! I’ll lower each set to 1.8 million, so you only need 18 million in total.
[Ghost Car Nine-Headed Bird]: Or better yet, I can set it up as a ‘buy nine, get one free’ deal! That brings the total down to 16.2 million underworld coins, which saves you even more.
[Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice]: That’s wonderful! Ah Jiu, you’re the best. Thank you so much! I’ll gather the funds right away and come see you tomorrow to boost your sales.
[Ghost Car Nine-Headed Bird]: Sounds great!
Combining the squad’s shared vault with everyone’s personal savings, and with Lin Huai, the young heiress, Cute and Sparkling, and Milk Tea lending out extra coins, they finally pooled together the 16.2 million underworld coins.
First thing the next morning, Lin Huai took out her Undertaker work permit and headed to the Crematorium. She brought along the corpses that had spent the night absorbing negative energy inside her coffin to be cremated.
She also brought Sister Hanba a brand-new dress she had recently acquired.
The bodies from the Mass Grave were already fragmentary and broken. Her coffin provided fifty cubic meters of interior space. Since compressed remains took up very little room—roughly 0.05 cubic meters each—she had packed in a staggering one thousand bodies.
Even with three cremation furnaces running around the clock, it would take three full days to burn them all.
Sister Hanba’s hand was practically cramping from signing death certificates. While organizing the backlog of bodies, she counted the intake and handed Lin Huai an advance payment of 6,000 underworld coins, calculated at the standard rate of six coins per body.
Lin Huai needed to visit Ah Jiu next, so she took the payment and hurried back to the road.
Returning to the highway, she pulled out her repair shop VIP card along with the golden feather Ah Jiu had gifted her. Sure enough, the specialized outpost soon appeared on the horizon.
Ah Jiu greeted her with a mysterious, excited grin, leading her straight up to the second floor. “Fanfan, guess what amazing treasure I procured just for you?”
Lin Huai felt a spark of curiosity, but her pockets were nearly empty, and she worried she wouldn’t be able to afford whatever he had found.
After heading upstairs and finalizing the purchase of the ten sets of autonomous driving systems and mechanical retrieval arms, she was finally shown the special item Ah Jiu had set aside for her.
It was an exquisite bangle made of pure white mutton-fat jade. Looking at its system profile, Lin Huai was stunned by its stats: the jade bangle was actually an ancient spatial artifact containing an astonishing 3,000 cubic meters of storage!
Best of all, its storage space could accommodate vehicles! Aside from living creatures, raw corpses, and monsters, any large material or equipment that normally couldn’t fit into a player’s basic inventory backpack could be stored inside.
Three thousand cubic meters was massive—it was spacious enough to swallow fifty or sixty of Old Wang’s heavy hauler trucks with room to spare!
Lin Huai fought to contain her excitement and checked the price tag: 3,000,000 underworld coins.
She gave an awkward, dry chuckle. “Um… Ah Jiu, could you hold onto this bangle for me so I can buy it next time?”
