Chapter 4: The Billion Credit Snack
The Undercity Exchange of Neo-Shanghai was a place where the sun didn't shine—literally and metaphorically.
Located beneath the massive durasteel plates of the upper city, it was a sprawling labyrinth of neon lights, illicit auction houses, and stalls smelling of ozone and monster guts. Here, Hunters sold what the official government guilds wouldn't touch: poached eggs, cursed artifacts, and unlicensed weapons.
It was loud, dirty, and dangerous.
And it was currently hosting the most expensive car in the city.
The Jiang Clan's armored limousine—a sleek black beast that hovered silently on anti-grav pads—descended into the grime, looking like a shark swimming through a sewer.
"Disgusting," Mo You commented, wrinkling her nose as she looked out the window at a butcher stall hanging massive insect legs on hooks. "The air here is 40% pollution and 60% despair."
"It's colorful!" Feng Xi pressed her face against the glass. "Look, Master! That man has a robotic arm! And that one has... oh my, three eyes?"
"Mutations," Jiang Chen said, checking his account balance on his datapad. "Side effects of using low-quality serums. Welcome to the real world."
[Current Balance: 50,000,000 Credits]
Fifty million. It was his monthly allowance. To a normal family, this was generational wealth. To Jiang Chen, it was lunch money.
"Listen to me," Jiang Chen said as the car docked at a private VIP bay. "We are here for one thing: Fuel. We find Fire Essence for Feng Xi and Dark Matter for Mo You. We buy it, we leave. No fighting. No destroying buildings. And absolutely no 'accidentally' releasing your aura to crush rude people. Understood?"
Mo You rolled her eyes. "You are a very demanding ant."
Feng Xi saluted, her gold eyes sparkling. "Understood, Boss!"
Uncle Li opened the door, looking pale. He had decided to stay in the car. He couldn't handle another heart attack today.
Jiang Chen stepped out, adjusting his coat. He wore a simple tactical outfit, but the fabric was Grade-A silk, marking him instantly as a "Fat Sheep"—a rich kid lost in the slums.
Mo You and Feng Xi flanked him. Even with their auras suppressed to C-Rank levels, their natural beauty was a beacon. Heads turned. Whispers started.
"Check out the chicks."
"Is that a noble?"
"Looks like the Jiang kid. The cripple. What's he doing here?"
Jiang Chen ignored them. He walked straight toward the "Raw Materials" district. He knew exactly where he was going.
Shop: The Obsidian Lotus.
It was a high-end chaotic goods store run by "One-Eyed Old Zhang," a notorious fence who didn't care who you were as long as your credits cleared.
Jiang Chen pushed the heavy beads of the curtain aside and stepped in. The shop was cluttered with shelves of glowing rocks, jars of monster eyes, and piles of scrap metal.
"We're closed," a gruff voice grunted from behind the counter. Old Zhang didn't look up from the rifle he was cleaning.
"I'm here to buy out your trash," Jiang Chen said, tapping the counter.
Old Zhang looked up. His single bionic eye whirred, zooming in on Jiang Chen's face. He scoffed. "If it isn't the Glass Prince. Did you get lost on your way to the doll store? I don't sell toys here."
"I heard you have a shipment of 'Defective' Fire Cores," Jiang Chen said, ignoring the insult. "The ones from the Volcanic Rift that were too unstable to refine."
Old Zhang paused. "I do. Nasty stuff. Filled with chaotic toxins. You try to absorb those, your mana veins will rot. I'm selling them as industrial explosives, not cultivation resources."
"I'll take them all," Jiang Chen said.
"All of them?" Zhang narrowed his eye. "Kid, that's five tons of radioactive rocks. What are you going to do, blow up the city?"
"How much?"
"Two million credits. No refunds when you die."
"Deal." Jiang Chen tapped his datapad against the scanner. PING. Transfer complete. "Bring them out."
Old Zhang looked suspicious, but money was money. He signaled a worker bot, and a moment later, a heavy crate was dragged from the back room. The moment the lid opened, a wave of sulfurous heat and acrid black smoke rolled out.
These were F-grade Fire Cores. They were red, but veined with ugly black streaks of impurity. To a cultivator, this was poison.
Feng Xi gasped. "Snacks!"
Before Zhang could react, the beautiful blonde woman stepped forward, reached into the crate, and grabbed a jagged, smoking rock.
"Hey! Don't touch that with your bare hands!" Zhang shouted. "It'll melt your skin—"
CRUNCH.
The shop went dead silent.
Feng Xi bit into the rock like it was an apple. The sound of mineral grinding against teeth echoed in the room. She chewed happily, swallowed, and sighed.
"A bit spicy," she critiqued. "Tastes like... burnt pepper. But acceptable."
Old Zhang's cigar fell out of his mouth. "She... she ate it?"
"She has a strong stomach," Jiang Chen said smoothly, though inside he was sweating. 'Feng Xi, you glutton! At least pretend to refine it first!'
[System Notification]
[Entity: Feng Xi]
[Consumed: Low-Grade Fire Essence.]
[Energy Recovered: 0.01%]
[Output: Purified Residue Available.]
Feng Xi hiccuped. A small puff of golden smoke escaped her lips. She held out her hand. In her palm lay a small, perfectly round bead. It was no longer red and black. It was a translucent, glowing ruby.
"Here, Master," she chirped. "I spat out the bad parts."
Jiang Chen picked up the bead.
[Item: Flawless Fire Spirit Pearl]
[Grade: B-Rank]
[Purity: 100%]
[Market Value: 500,000 Credits]
Jiang Chen's heart skipped a beat. She ate a rock worth 400 credits and turned it into a pearl worth half a million.
He looked at the crate. There were thousands of rocks in there.
"Pack it up," Jiang Chen said, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. "Send it to the Jiang Estate."
Old Zhang was staring at Feng Xi like she was a monster. "Who... what class is she?"
"Nutritionist," Jiang Chen lied. He turned to Mo You. "Your turn."
Mo You had been wandering the shop, looking bored. She stopped in front of a display case in the darkest corner of the room. Inside the reinforced glass box sat a lump of black metal. It wasn't shiny. It was matte black, absorbing the light around it.
"This," Mo You pointed. "I want this."
Old Zhang snapped out of his daze. He looked at the black lump and laughed nervously. "Miss, you have strange taste. That's the 'Widow's Ore.' We fished it out of a crashed meteorite three years ago. It's heavy—weighs two tons despite being that size—and it emits a frequency that gives people nightmares. I can't move it. I can't even sell it."
"It's screaming," Mo You whispered, a small smile playing on her lips. "It's screaming in the language of the Void."
"Right..." Zhang backed away slowly. "Five million. Just take it away. It gives me a headache."
"One million," Jiang Chen countered. "You just said you can't sell it."
"Sold."
Old Zhang unlocked the case. "Good luck lifting it. We needed a crane to—"
Mo You reached in with one hand. She didn't grip it. She merely touched it with her index finger.
HISS.
The black metal seemed to turn into liquid. It swirled up her arm like a living symbiote, dissolving into black smoke that was absorbed into her skin.
[System Notification]
[Entity: Mo You]
[Consumed: Star Debris (Trace Amounts of Dark Matter).]
[Energy Recovered: 0.05%]
[Status: Slightly less grumpy.]
Mo You closed her eyes and exhaled. The temperature in the shop dropped ten degrees. "An appetizer. Barely enough to fill a tooth."
Old Zhang was now trembling. He had been in the business for forty years. He had seen S-Rank Berserkers. He had seen Beast Kings. But he had never seen a woman absorb two tons of cursed meteorite through her skin.
"Young Master Jiang," Zhang said, his voice losing all its gruffness. "Who... exactly are you working for?"
Jiang Chen smiled. He placed another credit chip on the counter.
"I'm just a C-Rank cripple, Zhang. Just buying toys."
Jiang Chen turned to leave. "Let's go. We have what we came for."
As they walked out of the shop, the System pinged again.
[Daily Quest Unlocked: The First Hunt]
[Your Summons have tasted energy, but they require blood to stabilize their physical forms.]
[Objective: Clear an E-Rank Dungeon within 24 hours.]
[Reward: Grandmist Body Tier 1 Skill Unlock.]
Jiang Chen stopped on the street.
"A Dungeon?" he muttered.
"Violence?" Mo You's ears perked up. The boredom vanished from her face, replaced by a predatory sharpness. "Did the blue box say violence?"
"It said hunting," Jiang Chen corrected.
"Same thing," Mo You smirked. She looked at the neon skyline of the Undercity. "I smell fear in the air, Master. There is a rift nearby. A small, unstable one."
Jiang Chen checked his map. She was right. Three blocks away, there was an entrance to "The Rat King's Sewers," an E-Rank dungeon commonly used for newbie training.
"We need to test your combat capabilities anyway," Jiang Chen decided. "If I'm going to take back my position in the family, I need to know what you can do."
"Oh, Master!" Feng Xi clapped her hands. "Can I burn it? Can I burn the whole dungeon?"
"No," Jiang Chen said sternly. "You are the Healer. Mo You is the Damage Dealer."
"I object!" Feng Xi puffed her cheeks. "I am a Solar Phoenix! I am destruction incarnate!"
"You are a flashlight until you hit Level 10," Mo You deadpanned.
"I will peck your eyes out, snake!"
"Try it, chicken."
"Quiet!" Jiang Chen hissed as passersby started staring at the two arguing goddesses. "To the Dungeon. Now."
Scene: The Rat King's Sewers (E-Rank Dungeon Entrance)
The entrance was guarded by a lazy federation officer sitting in a booth. He looked up as the trio approached.
"IDs?" the officer yawned.
Jiang Chen flashed his Hunter License. It still read Rank: Student / Status: Unawakened.
The officer frowned. "Kid, this is a dungeon. Even if it's E-Rank, unawakened civilians can't go in without a chaperone. It's dangerous. Giant Rats the size of dogs."
"I have my guardians," Jiang Chen gestured to the two women.
The officer looked at Mo You (in a gothic black dress) and Feng Xi (in a flowing white summer dress).
"The Goth and the Princess?" The officer snorted. "Look, rich kid, this isn't a theme park. Go home before you get your girlfriends eaten."
Mo You's eyes flashed purple.
Jiang Chen quickly stepped in front of her. "Ten thousand credits for an 'Express Entry Pass'."
The officer paused. He looked at the credits. He looked at the scanner.
"Gate is open," the officer swiped the card instantly. "Try not to die. Cleaning up bodies is paperwork I don't need."
Jiang Chen hurried them through the shimmering blue portal before Mo You could turn the officer into a pile of dust.
ZAP.
The world shifted. The smell of ozone was replaced by the smell of damp mold and rotting fur. They were in a dimly lit tunnel, ankle-deep in sludge.
SQUEAK.
From the darkness, red eyes appeared. Dozens of them.
[Monster Encounter: Dire Rats]
[Rank: F+]
A swarm of rats, each the size of a wolf, surged forward, baring yellow teeth.
"Disgusting," Mo You said. She didn't move. She just stood there, looking at her nails. "Master, do I really have to touch them?"
"Yes," Jiang Chen ordered, standing back. "Kill them."
"Fine."
Mo You took one step forward. She didn't use a spell. She didn't punch. She simply... opened her mouth and whispered a single word in a language that hurt Jiang Chen's ears.
"Kneel."
It wasn't a sonic attack. It was Dragon Fear.
CRACK.
The physics of the tunnel distorted. Gravity increased by fifty times in a ten-meter radius in front of her.
The swarm of leaping rats didn't even land. They were slammed into the muddy floor so hard they exploded. There was no fight. There was just a wet splat, and then silence.
[Experience Gained.]
[Experience Gained.]
[Experience Gained.]
The entire front wave of the swarm was reduced to a paste.
Mo You looked back at Jiang Chen, looking unimpressed. "They were weak. Their souls had the texture of wet paper."
Jiang Chen swallowed hard. That was just a whisper?
Suddenly, a screech echoed from deeper in the tunnel. It was louder, deeper. The Boss.
"Oh! My turn!" Feng Xi hopped forward, skipping over the rat corpses. "I want to try!"
"Feng Xi, be careful," Jiang Chen warned. "Don't overdo it!"
"Don't worry, Master!" Feng Xi smiled, raising her hand. "I'll be gentle! Solar Flare: Mini Version!"
She snapped her fingers.
A ball of white fire the size of a marble shot down the tunnel. It looked cute. Harmless.
It hit the darkness.
BOOM!
The tunnel didn't just light up; it turned white. A shockwave of heat blasted back, knocking Jiang Chen off his feet. The water in the sewer instantly evaporated into steam. The stone walls turned to magma.
[Dungeon Boss: Rat King (E-Rank) - ELIMINATED.]
[Dungeon Cleared.]
Jiang Chen lay in the mud, coughing, his eyebrows singed. He looked up.
The tunnel was gone. The roof had melted. He could see the sky. Feng Xi had blown a hole straight through the dungeon and out into the street above.
Feng Xi stood amidst the glowing molten rock, looking proud. "Did I get it?"
Jiang Chen put his head in his hands.
"We are going to get arrested," he groaned.
Mo You smirked, looking down at him. "Relax, Master. At least we are fed."
[Level Up!]
[Jiang Chen: Rank A -> A+ (Progress 15%)]
[Skill Unlocked: Grandmist Perception.]
Jiang Chen looked at the notification. He looked at the destruction.
He started to laugh. It was a manic, crazy laugh.
"Fine," he said, standing up and dusting off his silk suit. "Let's go find a harder dungeon. The E-Rank... is too small."