Chapter 78: Gatherer Squad

Lan Qingyou: "It's done."

Shang Chuan: "That's good. You have no idea how many people have come asking about the antifreeze potion these past two days."

Lan Qingyou: "The antifreeze potion can be made later, I can even sell it alongside the Kerosene."

Shang Chuan: "Just selling Kerosene won't maximize the profits from it. I plan to find Li Huai to make some stone heaters, so we can bundle them for sale. When the time comes, the three of us will split the profits we get?"

Actually, Shang Chuan had already been considering the feasibility of this matter the moment Lan Qingyou decided to try refining Kerosene.

He had even discussed this matter with Li Huai in advance.

Now that Lan Qingyou had made the Kerosene, all that remained was for Li Huai to make the heaters.

Lan Qingyou: "The stonemason? I suppose that works. In that case, you decide on the pricing."

Upon hearing that Shang Chuan already had a sales method in place, Lan Qingyou directly washed her hands of it.

As for the finished products, they had instead become mere byproducts.

What she needed was to discover topics, solve topics, and enjoy the results—that was all.

Shang Chuan: "Alright, leave it to me then."

Shang Chuan: "By the way, how are the lessons with Professor Samayel going?"

Lan Qingyou: "Not bad, he's quite a dedicated person."

Shang Chuan: "That's good. I looked for several of them, and I also felt he was the one most eager to make progress."

After the two briefly discussed things, this short meeting came to an end.

And after Lan Qingyou had a good night's sleep together with Steel Wool, she began a new day of classes.

After all, since she had managed to make Kerosene, it proved that Blue Star's chemistry was useful.

Although she might encounter this or that problem during actual operation, the fact that 'chemistry knowledge is quite useful' was indisputable.

A Harvard University professor providing one-on-one targeted tutoring—this would have been absolutely impossible back on Blue Star.

At the very least, it was something a not-so-wealthy family like Lan Qingyou's couldn't even dream of.

"Who has wolf pelts? I can make some simple things. One wolf pelt coat in exchange for two wolf pelts."

"Holy crap! How did I not think about furs?"

"Why didn't you mention this when the Mana Turbulence started, guy? Now you finally remember."

"Those with furs secretly made them long ago. Those without furs can only watch. Don't you see those guys who frequently go out to kill monsters keeping perfectly quiet?"

"Even though it smells a bit bad, at least it's somewhat warm."

"I used to work in leather processing. Whoever has wolf pelts, I can process them for you for free, just give me one pelt as payment."

"I actually have a few rabbit pelts lying around here."

"Hand them over."

"This shop is selling stone heaters, limited to 100 per day, coming with a complimentary one liter of Kerosene. Also selling 500 liters of Kerosene daily, limited to 5 liters per person."

"Heaters? Kerosene? Did Shang Chuan's shop restock with new items?"

"No, I get the heaters, you can make them with some hammering, but how did you manage to get Kerosene?"

"I heard it was made by that Witch, Lan Qingyou."

"Hmm? Witches can make this stuff too?"

"Witches can't, but it seems alchemy can."

"Dammit, if I had known I would have studied alchemy too."

"Give me a break, do you really think alchemy is that easy to learn? We have some university professor at our Shelter who reads alchemy books all day but hasn't learned a thing. The point is, the leader is even perfectly happy to let him do nothing but research this."

"Must be nice, doing nothing but just reading books."

"What else can they do? Look at the things Lan Qingyou makes, which one of them isn't a profitable project. There are plenty of people green with envy."

"Haha, just bought a heater and five liters of Kerosene. Feels awesome."

"I bought one too. Got to hand it to Lan Qingyou, this is so comfortable."

"Envious. I was too slow."

"Sherlock, this profiteer is truly greedy for money. A heater actually costs 1000 units, and a liter of Kerosene is 100 units. Selling it so expensively, why don't you just die."

"Just buy it, just buy it. At least you can turn it on at night and get a good night's sleep."

"Isn't 5 liters of Kerosene a day a bit too little?"

"It's not. If you use it sparingly it can last two days, and the Mana Turbulence will end in a few days."

"That's true, it's just a pity I was too slow."

Everyone was talking extensively about the Kerosene, Lan Qingyou, and alchemy.

But in reality, for Lan Qingyou, as long as she grasped the trick and had enough materials, rubbing out 500 liters of Kerosene by hand was merely an hour or so of work.

It's the same old saying: knowledge is power, and knowledge is wealth.

If others found out that the cost of these things was extremely cheap, Lan Qingyou and Shang Chuan would probably suffer another round of vicious cursing.

But Shang Chuan didn't care; after all, a pig covered in mud isn't afraid of dirty water.

Lan Qingyou cared even less. These people were just cheap anyway; their mouths were cursing, but their hands weren't slow at all.

...

"Everyone, I just got a heater from Shang Chuan. We can finally get a good night's sleep tonight."

In a wooden cabin in a certain corner of the Abandoned Forest, where a group of men, women, young and old were listlessly sitting around a bonfire trying to stay warm, Li Wufeng, who was sitting at a desk not far away, suddenly shouted at them.

"Really?"

"Quick, take it out and let's try it."

Hearing there was a heater, this group of people excitedly rushed excitedly over to the desk, waiting for Li Wufeng to take the item out.

"Make way, make way all of you. How am I supposed to take it out if you're all crowded together? That thing can't be put on a table."

Li Wufeng smiled, waving his hand for everyone to step back. After making room, he finally extracted the item.

This stone heater's design was similar to Lan Qingyou's.

Except that because it was made of stone, it didn't have iron grilles, and there was no glass on the observation hole. However, the observation hole was similar to a honeycomb coal briquette, so there was no need to worry about accidentally igniting something.

Apart from this heater, there was also a wooden barrel covered with a wooden lid containing five liters of Kerosene.

The person tried to lift the stone heater but found he couldn't move it at all, so he had to look at the group of people gathered around.

"Zhao Doulai, Otto, Cam, lend a hand. Let's move this thing into the small room. Shang Chuan said this thing can only warm up an area of about 20 square meters, so a smaller room will be warmer."

"Alright."

"No problem."

The three whose names were called immediately stepped forward.

With the four of them working together, they finally managed to move this clunky thing into the small room enclosed by wooden boards.

Adding oil, lighting the fire.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, a roaring fire blazed within the heater.

"Ah... I don't know why, but I suddenly feel much warmer."

"It was just lit; it must be psychological for you."

"Psychological is fine too, as long as it's warm. This way we can get a good night's sleep without worrying about waking up freezing or just freezing to death directly."

"True that. Even though the smoke from the firewood isn't too toxic, having to open the window occasionally to clear the smoke means it doesn't keep the warmth at all."

Someone rebutted.