Chapter 52: Severe Casualties

Shang Chuan worked fast, and Li Huai wasn't far behind.

Their trade requests arrived practically back-to-back.

Wasting no time, Lan Qingyou set Steel Wire Ball down on the desk, accepted Li Huai's stone slabs first, and began laying them out across the floor one by one.

When the first floor ran out of space, she moved to the second and third floors.

Once that was done, she drew alchemy arrays on every slab — a process that ate up a full hour for all one hundred.

Then she set Li Huai's large iron cauldrons on top of the slabs.

This was where the ability to fly really showed its value.

Even though every room was packed wall-to-wall, hovering in the air meant Lan Qingyou's movements were neither slowed nor muddled.

Weigh the herbs, add water, ignite, stir.

This night was destined to be sleepless.

Not just for Lan Qingyou, but for everyone.

Gu Xiaobei sat in her Level 3 shelter — which she'd decorated with considerable ethnic flair — with nothing to do but grit her teeth and wait it out.

Eventually, she couldn't sit still any longer.

After tossing a piece of lumber that added a measly 1 energy point into the core, she opened her friends list and found Li Huai.

Gu Xiaobei: "Got any meat over there? I want volcanic beast meat."

Li Huai: "What for?"

Gu Xiaobei: "Making a late-night snack for Boss Lan Qingyou."

Li Huai knew perfectly well about the relationship between the two — Gu Xiaobei had been introduced by Lan Qingyou, after all. So without another word, he went and butchered the volcanic beast he'd killed that very day.

He sent over not just the meat but the organs and bones as well.

Then Gu Xiaobei got to work on Lan Qingyou's midnight meal.

As lone wolves, the three of them experienced something resembling teamwork for the first time that night.

It didn't feel half bad, actually.

But if given the choice, they'd really rather not experience it again.

One scare like this was more than enough — a few more and they'd lose their minds.

Lan Qingyou, meanwhile, worked through the entire night.

At one point she dashed up to the third floor to inject fresh mana into the core, lest the shield's energy run dry.

It wasn't until dawn broke outside and a golden glow began radiating from cauldron after cauldron of finished potions that she finally, barely, stopped.

She was exhausted. She was drowsy. She desperately wanted to sleep.

But not yet — once the potions cooled and settled, she still had to trade them away.

Slumped over the Magic Desk, her head buzzing, her eyes slightly unfocused, Lan Qingyou listlessly kneaded Steel Wire Ball's soft body.

One night. 105 cauldrons. 41,000 vials of potion. She was starting to think she might actually be superhuman.

It felt a lot like frantically finishing homework on the last day of summer break.

Except the intensity was orders of magnitude higher.

Based on her earlier math, one person needed 8,666 vials — roughly 21-plus cauldrons — to last three days. But since over a dozen hours had already passed, the actual requirement was lower.

Or rather, it was lower for those whose shelters hadn't been destroyed yet.

Seriously though, what was up with the intensity of this Mana Tide?

This was absolutely not something that a bunch of newcomers who'd been in this world for barely a month should have to endure.

Grumbling internally, Lan Qingyou lifted her heavy eyelids and glanced at the regional channel's population counter.

Twelve hours had passed. The channel that had once shown over nine thousand people now displayed just over three thousand.

Severe casualties.

A quick scan of the regional channel's chat confirmed as much — it was wall-to-wall profanity.

Though most of the rage was directed at a single person.

Xin Tianle.

"Xin Tianle, you goddamn bastard! I'll haunt you even as a ghost!"

"That son of a bitch made off with ALL our materials! So much for 'weathering the storm together!'"

"Should've known better than to trust a Xinluo rat!"

"It's over. Without materials, we're dead."

"Everyone — if you see that dog Xin Tianle, avenge our two hundred souls!"

"What?! Xin Tianle's actually Xinluo?!"

"What's there even to say about this?"

"Nothing to say. Just sit back and watch the show."

"Ahahahaha, I told you Xin Tianle was shady, but did any of you listen? You all lined up to get scammed."

"I'm actually curious how his Level 3 shelter fit several hundred people."

"I can answer that — I've been there. He linked five Level 3 shelters together in a chain."

"Scary. Xin Tianle actually invited me once. Thank god I didn't fall for his crap."

"Well, you know — Xinluo folk. Everyone already knows what to expect, right?"

"Bravo! I give Xin Tianle's play a perfect score."

"I used to think District 666's dynamic duo of villainy was complete — Lan Qingyou looting burning houses and Shang Chuan fishing in troubled waters. Turns out there was a hidden tiger lurking in the shadows all along. Color me impressed."

Seeing all this, Lan Qingyou smiled.

She knew of Xin Tianle. In the Villain Valley of District 666, the man was normal enough to be abnormal.

After the Mana Turbulence, when people started banding together, he'd begun steadily absorbing those looking for a group.

Sure, most were just petty thieves and small-time crooks, but en masse they represented considerable strength.

Rumor had it that under their collective effort, his shelter had been the second to reach Level 3.

That tidbit alone had drawn in quite a crowd.

Though looking at things now, that rumor had probably been planted by Xin Tianle himself.

Brutal. A single man had wiped out over two hundred people.

District 666 really did breed exceptional talent.

But why were they calling her a "house-looter?" Her potion prices had always reflected equivalent exchange!

Lan Qingyou didn't understand. Lan Qingyou was hurt. Lan Qingyou blocked the commenter.

She knew perfectly well that even with the block, those people would still buy her potions through Shang Chuan.

But Shang Chuan was a merchant — and the worst kind: a middleman who skimmed off the top.

His prices had always followed black market rates.

In fact, there was a decent chance Shang Chuan was the one pulling the strings behind the black market itself.

Anyone going through him was hemorrhaging resources.

And she was more than happy to watch that kind of person bleed.

After about an hour, once the cauldrons had cooled and the contents had properly settled, Lan Qingyou squeezed out the dregs, left a small amount of dregs-water in each pot, and then sent the whole lot to Shang Chuan.

Naturally, only after setting aside 21 cauldrons' worth for herself to survive the remaining days of the Mana Tide.

A hundred cauldrons had been her absolute limit — any more and even if she could produce them, the shelter simply wouldn't hold them all.

How Shang Chuan chose to distribute the potions was his business.

She'd already notified Gu Xiaobei and Li Huai ahead of time, so no doubt they'd already coordinated with Shang Chuan.

After finishing all of that, she surveyed the floor littered with shattered stone and shook her head with a weary sigh.

These disposable alchemy array pedestals would have to wait until after she'd slept to be cleaned up.