Kirby wore an expression of barely concealed arrogance.

Truth be told, the value of one Super Red Devil was actually lower than that of the Heart of Slaughter.

The reason she had exchanged it with Xu Lang was precisely for this follow-up move.

Trying to scam her? Trying to collude with others to inflate the price of chili peppers?

They really weren't taking her, Kirby, seriously at all!

Who do you think I, Black Market Merchant Kirby, am?!

"Kirby, aren't you afraid we'll tell everyone about your love for chili peppers?" Tong Qi asked.

"Hmph!" Kirby snorted, her little nose tilting upward, her eyes gleaming with shrewd intelligence. "I haven't given you the level seven door either!"

"Playing us like this, we might just go back on our word. Take the door and not fulfill our promise." Tong Qi squatted down and poked Kirby's cheek with her finger.

Kirby bared her teeth, swatting away Tong Qi's finger, then pulled a parchment scroll from her trouser pocket. "Just sign this contract scroll!"

[Contract of Wealth]

[Type: Item]

[Level: ???]

[Effect: Both parties sign a contract concerning money. The party who breaks the contract will suffer the Curse of Wealth, reducing their fortune luck by 99% for one week.]

[Description: You should know that power isn't open to those at the bottom, but money is... Would you rather hang from a lamppost, or work in a factory?]

Seeing this scroll, Xu Lang's eyes lit up again.

Kirby really had so many good things!

He had been about to leave, but seeing Kirby with all these treasures made his heart itch again.

"Kirby, you're so cute!" Tong Qi said bluntly.

Kirby stood there, cleaver in her left hand, scroll in her right, her little belly puffed out, nearly making Tong Qi melt from the cuteness.

"Don't say that about me! Hurry up, hand over all the money!" Kirby growled in a menacing tone.

"Kirby, look what this is!" Xu Lang suddenly produced a brilliantly crimson long blade, chuckling softly.

Kirby's gaze shifted, fixing on the Blood Pelican Blade. "A Spirit-Awakened Named Blade! How do you have something like this?!" she exclaimed in shock.

Xu Lang smiled. He brought the Heart of Slaughter and the Blood Pelican Blade together, and the former immediately fused into the latter.

[Sequence Employment Conditions: One Spirit-Awakened Butcher's Cleaver (Satisfied); Personally Slay 10 People (Satisfied); Experience Near-Death Three Times in a Row (Not Satisfied); Constitution 50 (Satisfied)]

"It seems we don't need your Spirit-Awakened Butcher's Cleaver anymore."

Kirby's plan to scam him out of his money had fallen through.

Moreover, Xu Lang felt this was a scam within a scam, because Kirby had deliberately concealed information about the cleaver, not revealing it.

That cleaver either had very low durability, or its effect was very... abstract.

Kirby's little face fell. Her throat hitched with a sob. She tried to hold it in, but ultimately couldn't. Two large teardrops, like peas, rolled from the corners of her eyes.

"Waaah... Kirby is such a failure! A failed merchant like me will be expelled when I return to my clan!" she cried, covering her face.

A flicker of surprise passed through Xu Lang's eyes.

Kirby's sadness and fear at this moment were actually genuine!

But well, that was Kirby's own problem. Those who scam others will always be scammed in return.

"Kirby, don't cry. Look on the bright side, you still have the weakness of loving spicy food in our hands now," Cao Yaxuan said with a 'kind' smile.

The original agreement was to trade 200,000 Copper Coins and a level six door for the level seven door.

Now that Kirby had offended them, they certainly couldn't stick to the original terms.

"Waaah!" Kirby sat on the ground and wailed.

She had been scammed to tears.

"Tsk tsk, is this what a salesperson driven mad by performance targets looks like? So pathetic!"

Xu Lang sighed inwardly, then stared at Kirby and said, "If you sell me that cleaver cheaply, I might consider buying it... And don't think about raising the price. In the entire Mad King Dormitory Building, I'm probably the only one who can afford your Spirit-Awakened Butcher's Cleaver."

Kirby instantly stopped crying, scrambling to her feet. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." Xu Lang nodded, pointing at the Sequence Encyclopedia. "But you have to make a copy of this encyclopedia for me."

Kirby was dumbfounded.

Wasn't this still taking advantage of her?

...

Xu Lang and his group left Kirby's little stall feeling quite satisfied.

After the earlier bargaining, the seven members of Dorm 200 later bought some other items at fair prices. Tong Qi and Xu Ruyan both made decent gains.

When Zhai Ren had come out earlier, some people had asked Brother Zhai what he had bought.

Now, when Xu Lang came out, there were only whispers. Not a single player came up to strike up a conversation.

In the past, when Xu Lang walked around, people from the original Clear Sky University would still exchange greetings. But now, it was as if a lamentably thick barrier had sprung up between Xu Lang and them.

It couldn't be helped. At a class reunion, someone arrives in a Ferrari, surrounded by an entourage, while you arrive on a shared bike...

And that person is also a murderer.

If you still dared to go up and talk to them, your mental fortitude must be incredibly strong!

Returning home, Xu Lang just flopped onto his bed.

The matter of becoming a Butcher could be handled later. For now, he needed to fuse the facilities first to avoid wasting the cooldown time.

...

[Golden Pillar Jade Toad Door]

[Type: Facility]

[Level: 7]

[Defense: 400]

[Durability: 750/750]

[Effect 1 (Wealth Energy): Gold, Silver, and Copper Coins can repair durability.]

[Effect 2 (Treasure Return): Automatically collects Gold, Silver, and Copper Coins in front of the door.]

[Effect 3 (Treasure Light Shield): The Jade Toad generates one protective shield every ten seconds, capable of blocking one attack.]

[Decomposition Yield: Jade x70, Gold Thread x70, Gilded Treasure Lacquer x10, Jade Spirit x1]

[Upgrade Condition: 8000 Nightmare Coins]

[Description: Why envy a thousand measures of grain in a jade tower, when a single toad's croak fills the Silver River.]

...

After the fusion and upgrade, the Golden Pillar Jade Toad Door only saw an improvement in its basic attributes. It seemed like a small loss, but that wasn't really the case.

In the early stages, obtaining an economically-focused door like this was something Xu Lang definitely wouldn't replace. As long as he upgraded it once, the Golden Pillar Jade Toad Door's effects corresponding to that level would appear.

To be honest, Xu Lang was already starting to feel somewhat overwhelmed!

Money was completely insufficient!

There were too many fusion mechanics!

What gave him some relief was that facilities of the same type couldn't undergo level fusion.

Otherwise, the problems he'd face would be: Should he upgrade Lucky Star Piggy too? Should he also upgrade the Surveillance Camera and Radio? With the core facilities' levels all raised, should he fuse for new effects?

Just thinking about these questions made his head hurt.

"I should buy fewer overpriced items from now on... Using Nightmare Coins to upgrade is a bit more cost-effective than buying overpriced items."

Xu Lang sat on his bed, thinking silently.

"Lang Ge, come quick!" Tong Qi exclaimed in surprise.

Xu Lang got off the bed. "What's wrong?"

"Zhang Dahai and the others found a lot of level six items!" Cao Yaxuan chimed in.

Xu Lang's heart tightened. "Any level seven ones?"

In the dormitory building's evaluation standards, during the third cycle, level six items were top-tier, while level seven items exceeded the standard.

If level seven items appeared, then monsters exceeding the standard would surely follow later.

"Not yet!" Xu Ruyan's choice of words was clever.

'Not yet' implied they might very well appear later!

Only one day of rest time remained!

"Never mind that. We just need to improve ourselves." Xu Lang looked at Xu Ruyan. "Have you cleared the Laboratory Building?"

"Not yet." Xu Ruyan shook her head.

Xu Lang said gravely, "After I become a Butcher, I'll go with you. That'll be safer!"

The closer the game's start, the more frenzied the players become!

Players were already fighting and competing with each other. Now, with the Mad King Dormitory Building having a last-place elimination system, the conflicts between players during the game itself were bound to become even fiercer!