Chapter 13 | Transformed Into a Swordmaster Girl and Happily Stacking Steel in the Apocalypse

Since it was still early...

Xie Litang pulled out her phone to check her notes.

"Equipment, weapons, potions, cultivation techniques, transportation, sister's wheelchair..."

Practice makes perfect, and true knowledge always comes from experience.

Having made one trip outside the city, Xie Litang gained a bit of experience on what she actually needed.

Xie Litang stared at her notes, her eyebrows furrowed tight.

Her main issue right now was her empty pockets; cultivation techniques were out of the question—she couldn't afford them.

As for vehicles, or even her younger sister's wheelchair, she wanted maglev models that could handle most terrains, but they were far too expensive.

Magnetic levitation was a technology mastered many years ago.

Although demon beasts had invaded, technology hadn't stagnated.

At the very least, the vast number of demon beast carcasses had directly triggered a revolution in materials.

"Equipment, weapons, potions."

Xie Litang quickly determined her necessities.

The moment she stepped into a specialty shop for demon beast equipment, a shop assistant warmly greeted her, asking, "Hello, miss, is there anything I can help you with?"

Xie Litang hesitated, feeling a bit embarrassed to speak up. "Well... do you have that kind?"

The clerk asked, "Which kind?"

Xie Litang said, "A black skin-tight suit."

The clerk couldn't help the twitching at the corners of her mouth, but her professionalism eventually suppressed her smile as she spoke.

"We do. We have everything you could want—bull beast, crocodile beast, rhino beast, all kinds of leather materials."

"If you'd like, we even accept custom orders for equipment made from variant demon beasts."

Custom equipment made from variant demon beasts?

That sounded like something she couldn't possibly afford. Skip.

Xie Litang looked at the three tight suits the clerk introduced: eight thousand eight hundred yuan for bull beast hide, seventeen thousand for crocodile beast hide, and thirty-one thousand for rhino beast hide.

Xie Litang hesitated for a moment before asking, "Can you go a bit cheaper on the rhino beast hide?"

Seeing through her embarrassment at a glance, the clerk gave a slight smile and said, "We can't go any lower. The raw purchasing price for rhino beast hide alone is twenty thousand, so we're barely making a profit."

A look of disappointment washed over Xie Litang's face.

The clerk instantly realized things were looking bad.

This girl was ridiculously pretty, but her demeanor wasn't that of a rich young lady. Why didn't she haggle? The clerk felt anxious on Xie Litang's behalf just watching her.

In the end, the clerk took the initiative. "If you really like it, I can decide to give you a discount and charge you just twenty-nine thousand. What do you think?"

Xie Litang's eyes lit up. "Really?"

The clerk winked at her with a knowing look. "After all, we're doing business here, and I'd love to make friends with you, wouldn't I?"

Xie Litang knew absolutely nothing about haggling.

However, when it came to interpersonal dynamics, she instantly understood.

Xie Litang offered a faint smile and said, "Let me add your contact info. You can notify me whenever the store has promotions, and I'll look for you next time I come."

Hearing this, the clerk beamed with delight. Adding her as a friend, she said, "My name is Yang Yiyi. You can call me Little Yang."

She certainly wouldn't lose money on this deal; at worst, she'd just get a smaller commission or none at all.

However, this was an investment.

She didn't know Xie Litang's true strength.

Yet she saw Xie Litang's breathtaking appearance.

From her salesperson perspective, there were countless guys who would willingly spend money on a girl like this.

Just a few random purchases brought into the store by her would count toward sales quotas, which alone made her worth investing in.

"My name is Xie Litang."

"Alright, Miss Xie. Is there anything else you need?"

"Do you have potions?"

"We do. Currently, the best potions come off the production line of Qi's Technology. They use solid ingredients and have stable effects."

"I need nutrient solutions, stamina recovery potions, and especially—do you have something that lets you stay awake for days without sleep?"

"Low-grade nutrient solution is two hundred a bottle, and stamina recovery potion is eight hundred a bottle. I especially recommend this Spirit-Soothing Aromatherapy at two thousand yuan. It's the same kind used by the City Defense Special Forces—wear it on your body, and you won't feel sleepy even after staying awake for three days and three nights."

"Then ten bottles of nutrient solution, five bottles of stamina recovery potion, and one Spirit-Soothing Aromatherapy."

"Alright, your total comes to exactly thirty-seven thousand yuan."

"..."

After swiping her card...

Xie Litang's heart bled.

The money earned from hunting the deer beast was back down to less than two thousand yuan.

Furthermore, there were still so many things she wanted to buy—like a maglev wheelchair priced around two hundred thousand yuan, or space storage equipment starting at a million yuan.

Of course, those were too far off.

Right now, she urgently needed one more item on her list: transportation.

Xie Litang took a deep breath and said, "Let me not worry about all that for now."

"The top priority right now is to go scatter the ashes of that beast, Old Tapir."

Xie Litang looked down at her wrist.

A subtle pattern faintly emerged in the detail.

This was precisely the mark left behind by Old Tapir—and this mark was even hereditary.

As long as that beast didn't die, even if it couldn't defeat you right now, it would go harass your descendants.

Truly putting into practice: An Old Tapir seeking revenge is never too late, even after three generations.

Xie Litang made one last trip home.

Seeing all those potions, Chen Linling's face fell again. "Sis, you just got back..."

Xie Litang patted her head and said, "Be good. I really will come back soon this time. I swear."

Chen Linling forced out a small smile, then brought out a gift box. "Sis, a present for you."

Xie Litang opened it to find a somewhat heavy, punk-styled mechanical watch, weighing a full two hundred grams.

An embarrassed look flashed across Chen Linling's face as she said...

"I can't really help you with much."

"I hand-assembled this mechanical watch using some spare parts."

"It features a compass function, a holographic map projection, and a full set of cracked demon beast encyclopedia e-books built in. There's a hidden compartment with life-saving blood-coagulation pills, and it can even be disassembled into a mini hand crossbow."

Xie Litang widened her eyes in disbelief. "You... built this by hand?" Her adopted younger sister was actually a tech nerd?

Chen Linling sighed. "Unfortunately, conditions don't allow for much, and I didn't have a workbench, so this was all I could manage. Besides, I have no way to test it like this, so I can't guarantee its performance in extreme environments."

Xie Litang patted her head, encouraging her, "Linling, you're already amazing."

"Sis, I'm not a kid anymore. Stop constantly patting my head."

"You're my sister. What's wrong with patting your head?"

"It's not like I'm your biological sister."

"Sister for a day, sister for a lifetime."

"..."

Under Chen Linling's reluctant gaze...

Xie Litang checked her backpack: compressed military rations, water, potions...

As well as several costly airtight freshness-preserving jars that went for hundreds of yuan each.

Killing that beast Old Tapir was one thing, but it would be even better if she could kill some other demon beasts along the way.

"I'm off."

"Sis, safe travels."