Chapter 23: Tipping Off

Upon hearing this, the expression on Brother Dao’s face noticeably stiffened.

His eyes darted around quickly before he forced a smile and said, "Heh, it’s exactly what it sounds like! Xu Xiao and a group of other students are staying in the girls' dormitory across the way; we don't exactly see eye to eye."

"When I said I wanted to 'have a word with her,' I meant I wanted to discuss the plan for searching for food tomorrow."

"Is that so?"

Lu Li clearly didn't believe him, his eyes filled with suspicion as he looked at Brother Dao.

"It’s the absolute truth, Brother Lu Li! I wouldn't lie to you! If you don't believe me, you can go and ask Xu Xiao yourself!"

Brother Dao patted his chest, acting as if he were taking a solemn oath.

"Fine, then I'll trouble you to take me there."

Thinking that there was still some time before midnight, Lu Li walked toward the exit.

Brother Dao scrambled up from the ground and shouted to his underlings behind him, "What are you all standing around for? Brother Lu Li is coming, go and notify everyone who needs to be notified!"

One of the underlings with dyed yellow hair nodded, walked straight past Lu Li, and clattered away toward the outside.

"What is he doing?" Lu Li watched the hoodlum’s retreating back, his guard up.

"Oh, I just told him to go ahead and call that girl Xu Xiao down, so you wouldn't have to wait, Brother Lu Li..."

However, behind Lu Li’s back, where he couldn't see, an underling with white-dyed hair was busy sending a message to a contact on his own data panel.

...

Elsewhere.

Zhao Jin, who was busy assigning tasks to his subordinates, suddenly paused and casually opened his data panel.

There was only a single, lonely message on it.

"Lu Li has been located. Coordinates: Yongcheng No. 1 High School dormitory building."

A savage expression quickly spread across Zhao Jin's face as he muttered to himself, "I thought I wouldn't be able to find you. You've finally appeared..."

"What is it? Did you find the person who killed A-Hao?" A cold female voice came from beside him.

"That's right! Hong, you handle the rest. I'm going to slaughter that brat and give A-Hao some justice!"

As he spoke, Zhao Jin prepared to stand up and leave.

"Let me go." Luo Hong pressed down on Zhao Jin’s arm and shook her head. "Grandfather specifically instructed that tonight is crucial! Plus, the Lin family might come looking for trouble at any moment; you need to stay here and hold the fort."

"But that brat isn't easy to deal with; even A-Hao was taken down by him..."

Zhao Jin looked hesitant, clearly disapproving of his wife's proposal.

"It's fine. I'll take more people with me and flatten that dump," Luo Hong said coolly, her indifferent eyes devoid of any humanity. "I can clean up the survivors there while I'm at it. After 'corpse-crystalizing' them, we should be able to obtain quite a few origin crystals."

Zhao Jin pondered for a moment before sitting back down in his chair. "Very well. Those 'corpses' do need to be harvested. If you're going, take care of it all at once so we don't have to make a second trip."

Watching Luo Hong leave, Zhao Jin turned his gaze back to the people in the conference room.

"Does anyone else have questions about tonight's mission? You can bring them up now."

Someone in the room raised a hand. "Brother Jin, if that 'trading platform' really does go live, are we sure we only want to collect high-grade origin crystals? Do we not need to pay attention to anything else?"

Zhao Jin nodded and replied, "That's right, only high-grade origin crystals for now! Before the market stabilizes, all we need to do is accumulate initial capital! Rank is the most important thing!"

Someone else pressed on, "But Brother Jin, the other families will likely be buying up high-grade crystals too. If we get into a bidding war, we might end up taking a heavy loss..."

"Loss?" Zhao Jin laughed, looking quite smug. "I hope the other families bid against me! Remember, if anyone competes with us, always outbid them! With Luo Hong there, it will be others who suffer, not the Zhao family! Don't forget, our rate of acquiring crystals is twice that of everyone else!"

Everyone nodded upon hearing this, though a worried voice still spoke up: "Brother Jin, everyone knows Sister Hong’s ability, but the problem is that our crystal haul over the last two days hasn't met our expectations. I fear the other families are making moves as well."

"Yes, yes, half of the coordinates given in the ancient texts have already been cleared by others, leaving only corpses..."

"The crystals we have on hand aren't abundant. If we get into a price war with other families, I'm afraid it will be a pyrrhic victory..."

Zhao Jin waved his hand, signaling for everyone to be quiet.

"Everyone, don't worry! Regardless, the Zhao family has already seized the initiative. Collect as many high-grade crystals as you can!"

"If necessary, use the Zhao family's reputation to drive the price down..."

...

"Do me a favor."

Lu Li placed two backpacks on the ground and looked at Xu Xiao with a sincere expression.

He unzipped the bags halfway, revealing the bright red second-grade origin crystals inside.

"So many second-grade crystals... where did you get them..." Xu Xiao was filled with surprise and couldn't help but rub her eyes.

"Don't worry about that. As long as you're willing to help me, this third-grade crystal is yours."

With that, Lu Li pulled an orange crystal out of the other backpack.

Xu Xiao was currently Level 3 and hadn't yet absorbed the ten-crystal limit. With this third-grade crystal, she could jump straight to Level 4. Lu Li's compensation was very attractive to her.

However, Xu Xiao didn't agree immediately. Instead, she replied in a teasing tone, "Don't you still owe me a favor? Why not just use this third-grade crystal to pay it off?"

"That was a life-saving favor, Class Monitor. Are you sure?" Lu Li wore an equally playful smile, pretending to shove the entire backpack into Xu Xiao's hands.

"Hmph, I won't let you off that easily. Fine, tell me, what do you need help with?" Xu Xiao rolled her eyes and pushed the bag away.

"It's simple..." Lu Li intentionally drew out his words, looking back at Brother Dao and the yellow-haired underling. "If there's nothing else, you two can go ahead and leave. We have some private matters to discuss."

Upon hearing this, Brother Dao and the yellow-haired youth both trembled, forcibly tearing their eyes away from the two backpacks of crystals.

"Right, then we won't disturb you, Brother Lu Li. If you need anything, just come find me!"

Only after watching the two disappear from sight did Lu Li explain to Xu Xiao what he needed done.

"Exchange first-grade crystals for high-grade ones? But I don't have that many first-grade crystals..." Xu Xiao looked confused.

Not to mention the present moment, there wasn't even a platform on the data panel that allowed trading with global players. Even if everything were as he said—that once midnight passed, the [Global Trading Market] would go live—who would trade high-grade crystals for low-grade ones?

Everyone knew by now that there was an absorption limit for origin crystals—only ten could be absorbed every seven days. Everyone was racking their brains, trying to trade low-grade crystals for high-grade ones to get ahead of others in rank.

Lu Li wanted a piece of the pie too, but could he really compete with others?

Lu Li was confident. "Don't worry. If things go as expected, you won't even be able to buy a single high-grade crystal."

Xu Xiao was completely stunned; she even doubted if she had heard him correctly. "Not even one? Then what do you want me to do? Act as a prop to build hype in the trading market?!"

"Exactly."

Xu Xiao’s mouth opened slightly. After a brief moment of thought, she finally understood what Lu Li meant.

"You want me to drive up the price of high-grade crystals?!"

Lu Li nodded, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.

"But what is the point of that? You could clearly use high-grade crystals to level up; why go against the grain and trade for low-grade ones?" Xu Xiao was getting anxious. She felt that Lu Li, who was still Level 0, might not understand the restriction that players could only absorb ten crystals every seven days.

"You don't need to worry about that. In any case, the more first-grade crystals we can trade for, the better. Besides, there is one more thing I need to ask you..."

Lu Li suddenly turned his head toward the boys' dormitory, his expression serious.

"...Does that hoodlum leader called 'Brother Dao' know that I killed Chen Hao?"