Chapter 74: Production Station Upgrade to Intermediate Level
Ah Jiu burst out laughing as well. Once Lin Huai settled the 16.2 million underworld coins for the ten sets of equipment, he suddenly produced a party popper and pulled the string with a loud bang.
“Congratulations to VIP player Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice! For spending over fifteen million underworld coins in a single transaction at our second-floor boutique, you are invited to draw a ticket in our exclusive VIP lottery!”
Right on cue, the Nine-Headed Bird dressed in a tuxedo stepped forward from behind the second-floor counter, holding an ornate golden lottery box. “Distinguished VIP, please take your draw.”
Lin Huai glanced at Ah Jiu in surprise, but caught him giving her a sly wink. Reassured, she reached into the opening and pulled out a small golden sphere.
Ah Jiu took the sphere from her hands, twisted it open, and slipped out the small paper ticket folded inside.
He cleared his throat and announced in a booming voice, “Congratulations to VIP Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice for winning the grand prize! The reward is none other than the Space Jade Bangle!”
He beamed at her. “Honored VIP, your luck today is truly extraordinary!”
Seeing the coveted Space Jade Bangle delivered straight into her hands so smoothly, Lin Huai grinned from ear to ear. She stepped forward and gave Ah Jiu’s hand a warm shake. “Hahaha! My luck really is something today. Here, let me share some of it with you!”
The two shared a knowing laugh. Following a brief round of polite applause from the staff, Ah Jiu personally walked Lin Huai downstairs, seeing her off at the garage entrance as she returned to the road.
Climbing back into her hearse, Lin Huai admired the cool jade bangle resting snugly on her wrist. Having strong ties with underworld NPCs—a true ghost network—offered unbelievable perks. She was already itching to build connections with even more outposts.
Still, special service hubs did not appear every day, so she would have to wait for the right opportunities.
Lin Huai transferred the mountain of squad supplies out of her coffin and neatly organized them inside the expansive three-thousand-cubic-meter interior of the Space Jade Bangle. With the casket emptied, she headed down to the first-floor storage bay to open the three bone-crushing boxes she had earned from the evil ghost.
She pulled on her acid-resistant suit, carried the heavy chests outside, and lined them up along the shoulder.
Fortunately, no curses fell upon her this time. Old Hei seemed to have developed a conscience at last, leaving one of the three chests completely free of lurking monsters.
Best of all, beyond a massive haul of basic resources, the crates contained several rare materials—including the Blazing Fire Jade!
The trio of special components needed to elevate her basic crafting workbench to the intermediate tier—the Ice Soul Stone, the Blazing Fire Jade, and the Black Tortoise Dragon Bone—were finally complete!
Without wasting a single second, Lin Huai snatched up the materials, hurried down to the crafting room on the lower deck, and confirmed the upgrade.
The process took only half an hour. When the progress bar completed, Lin Huai’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the newly transformed intermediate workbench.
She immediately loaded one of her intermediate talisman blueprints into the input slot. The machine hummed to life with a rhythmic mechanical clatter.
Intermediate formulas required vastly more resources than low-tier charms, and the production cycle was noticeably longer.
After waiting for twenty full minutes, Lin Huai finally held her very first intermediate talisman—the Boundary-Breaking Talisman!
Although it carried zero offensive power, its utility for gathering supplies was incredible.
True to its name, a Boundary-Breaking Talisman could pierce through spatial barriers. Naturally, that included an enemy player’s personal storage backpack!
While setting the workbench to craft her other designs, Lin Huai sent a message to Jiangzhehu Inheritor, letting her know that their processing service could now accept orders for intermediate blueprints as well.
Over the next two days, Lin Huai holed up in her workshop, working around the clock until she had crafted a solid batch from every intermediate blueprint she owned.
Her current stockpile of intermediate charms included five distinct varieties:
Ten Boundary-Breaking Talismans, twenty Heavenly Thunder Talismans, ten Iron Wall Talismans, ten Illusion Talismans, and ten Earth Escape Talismans.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she tallied her charms, weapons, and ammunition, yet the nervous knot in her chest refused to loosen. The ten-zone collaborative trial was right around the corner, and she could not help but wonder whether this arsenal would be enough.
A persistent hunch gnawed at her mind—she felt certain she would run into formidable rivals in this upcoming trial, perhaps even Chen Feng and his crew from Sector 888 of District 88.
Then again, remembering the matching rules Master Cloud Cliff had mentioned during their conversation at the arena, the system was designed to keep high-level powerhouses from colliding too early. Since this was only the first ten-zone joint trial, she technically should not run into Chen Feng or top-tier players like Master Cloud Cliff and the Old Demon of Xiangxi just yet.
Even so, the uneasy feeling lingered stubbornly in her gut.
Thinking of Master Cloud Cliff and the Old Demon of Xiangxi, Lin Huai frowned.
Both men felt off to her.
Master Cloud Cliff in particular seemed deeply suspicious. During the arena event, he had claimed he was intervening to save her, but Lin Huai knew better—he had stepped in to protect Chen Feng.
Master Cloud Cliff and Chen Feng clearly had a history together.
She hadn’t dwelled on it before, but after visiting the Mass Grave and meeting underworld NPCs who remembered fragments of the past timeline, she realized the situation was far more complicated than she had imagined.
In her previous life, had Chen Feng truly reached the end of the road alone?
Or had Master Cloud Cliff been standing right beside him the entire time?
“Old Hei! Old Hei, Old Hei, Old Hei! Are you there? Answer me! Are you listening?”
Worn down by her relentless pestering, Old Hei finally manifested with an irritated buzz: [What are you screaming for? System assistants have very busy schedules, you know!]
Lin Huai brushed past his grumpy tone and cut straight to the point.
“Old Hei, when exactly does the ten-zone joint trial kick off?”
[Heh. Prying for gossip now, are we? When the time comes, an announcement will go out to everyone. What’s the big rush?]
“I want to know which sectors are being merged into these ten participating districts.”
[Like I’d ever tell you that! Stop trying to fish for secrets. To keep things fair and avoid leaks, the ten participating districts are selected completely at random the moment the trial begins.]
Lin Huai brought out thirty pure Yin energy crystals and held them up. “Old Hei, do me a favor, won’t you?”
Old Hei went dead silent for several seconds before sighing with reluctant honesty: [I’d love to take those crystals off your hands… but my hands are completely tied here. I have professional integrity to maintain; I cannot rig the matchmaker.]
Lin Huai smiled faintly. “I’m not asking you to cheat. I just want you to make sure District 88, Sector 888 gets drawn into our bracket.”
Old Hei fell silent once more. Just as Lin Huai began to assume he had logged off, the thirty Yin energy crystals vanished cleanly from her open palm.
Lin Huai looked up in pleasant surprise. “Old Hei, you’re actually willing to help?”
Old Hei’s synthesized voice turned light and playful: [I won’t rig the draw to pull District 88, Sector 888 in. But in exchange for thirty crystals, I can share a choice piece of insider information.]
“What is it?”
[I tapped into our internal system network to run a check for you. In this upcoming ten-zone joint trial, your District 44, Sector 444 and their District 88, Sector 888 will indeed cross paths~]
He paused, adding with a mischievous chuckle: [And for the record, that matchup was not arranged by me.]
[Oh, by the way—the trial goes live tomorrow!]
With those parting words, Old Hei disconnected.
Up in the quiet lounge on the second floor, Lin Huai sat frozen on the plush sofa, clutching her chest as her heart pounded against her ribs.
