Chapter 99: Qingli Material Workshop -3

As the White Shadow Thought-Dragon tore apart the monster’s psychic entity, the crocodile-like beast that could burrow through the ground gradually ceased its struggles.
“It gnawed at your cart wheel.”
YangZicang, dressed in work pants and a khaki coat, walked over from a distance.
This outfit screamed “immense wealth,” instantly drawing the attention of a group of people ahead. Several cart drivers came over and dug into the ground, revealing the corpse of a strange giant crocodile.
“Hello, sir. I am Li Shuguang, the guard of this cargo convoy. Thank you for your help.” Li Shuguang said very politely.
The group said, “We had indeed heard that strange burrowing monsters occasionally appeared beneath this forest zone, often causing financial losses or even casualties to nearby travelers. Never expected you to deal with it so effortlessly.”
“Just a casual matter. Do you happen to have any lost-nucleus models? I’d like to purchase some. Both obtuse-angle and triangular ones are needed. My name is Jia Zijian.”
“How much chronos are you willing to offer?”
Seeing that Yang Zicang carried no goods, Li Shuguang directly asked in terms of chronos.
“For triangular ones, I offer thirty-five years each; for polyline-fold ones, ten years.”
Several cart drivers exchanged delighted glances.
“To be honest, friend, your offer is a bit low. The autumn fair is imminent; it’s the season everyone is buying models to craft the lost-nuclei engines needed for autumn-winter goods. Add three years to each, and I can sell you ten triangular ones.”
“No need then.”
Yang Zicang didn’t make a hasty purchase. The earlier battle had cost him over forty thousand chronos in principal, and the reimbursements had been deposited with Mori. If not for the fact that Qin Meng’s abandoned plot needed stabilization, he would have wanted to return to the Interlace to accumulate more chronos.
Because… I’ve already had the idea of buying a shop for Xiaoyu several times. I need to curb my lately somewhat conspicuous extravagant lifestyle.
“Hey, friend, I have three pieces here I’ll sell to you.” A puller stepped out and said.
Li Shuguang shot a glance at him. The puller glared back unflinchingly.
Xu Xiuchuan, who was handling the daily expenses this time, quickly completed the transaction with him. The puller turned around and said cheerfully to the other pullers:
“Brothers, this friend of ours is very straightforward—haven’t shortchanged me by even a single day. If you don’t want to wait, you can trade now. Transferring them into timeline is more secure.”
With him setting an example, the remaining pullers hurried over to trade.
“If you all sell to him, I’m not responsible for the rest of the journey.” Li Shuguang threatened.
“What’s up with you? If you want to be responsible, then fix Old Lin’s cartwheel properly.”
“Exactly. We hired you to handle monsters, but when the cart broke down, you didn’t say a word. If not for this brother, Old Lin would have suffered a loss in silence today.”
The puller called Old Lin waved his hand, “Forget it let’s leave it at that. Better to cause less trouble. It’s simply my bad luck today.”
Li Shuguang was resentful for a long time, let out a cold snort, but didn’t make a scene. It clear this wasn’t the first escort and trade the group had done together.
Zuo Feixian lowly said to Xu Xiuchuan, that here even the bodyguard can bid up prices for commssion, truly a long-lived fine place.
But there is no court here. Violating verbal agreements either faces no punishment or results in a fierce fight. It’s a place where only the strong can survive.
Li Shuguang had clearly grown accustomed to such freeloading behavior. Beyond scolding them a couple of times, he turned to YangZicang and said:
“Brother Jiazi, let’s travel together.”
A few of them jeered and teased Li Shuguang.
YangZicang weighed the bag containing ten or so Lost Model fragments and said, “No, we still need to find someone.”
Not long after walking further, they began to make out structures built from piled rocks.
Calling it a shantytown might do it a disservice. This place already has the scale of a small town or village, with a sizable population.
Comparison brings pain. That squatter settlement gathering at Ning Yang’s place is indeed a slum compared to here.
……
At that moment, over a hundred kilometers away, Ning Yang was squatting dejectedly by the entrance to the shantytown, waiting for the returning cargo fleet.
Having lost access to both water and boiler engines, Ning Yang regarded this excursion to obtain blueprints as the last hope to turn his settlement’s fortune around.
Before long, a column formed by human figures and flatbed carts appeared on the horizon.
Zhao Qi’s cargo fleet had arrived as promised.
……
As Su Li walked, tears seeped from the corner of his eye. He wiped them away, and others came toward him.
Having trekked for quite a while and rarely seeing anyone come back from the woods, Xu Xiuchuan couldn’t help but ask, “Excuse me, how much farther is the Liqing Material Workshop?”
The young man who had been rushing out on his own immediately stopped, his crying voice not yet dissipated, he said, “Is there something you need?”
“I want to buy some Lost-Obsession Models, and go see this brother-boss’s place there.”
Su Li’s face changed immediately. “No, go somewhere else.”
Yang Zicang carefully surveyed the expression of the person in front of him, able to tell that the emotions concealed within were extremely unstable.
“You won’t know for sure until you go look—maybe the boss has them somewhere.”
“I am the boss.”
“You are? What’s wrong with you?”
“We don’t sell Lost-Obsession Models. Go somewhere else, straight to the trade district.”
“So what do you sell? Formulas? I could take a look at those too.”
Yang Zicang took a few steps forward, and Su Li was still blocking the way ahead, holding herself up with her hands. There must definitely be something wrong.
“You can tell me if there’s anything going on,” Yang Zicang said in a low voice.
“I…” Su Li’s voice was somewhat trembling as she shook her head violently. “You can’t handle this. Leave now!”
Zuo Feixian narrowed his eyes, while Xu Xiuchuan hummed a tune fixedly staring at Su Li—anyone could tell there was some issue in that house between them.
Yang Zicang’s back manifested the shadow of the White Shadow Thought-Dragon.
Su Li jumped back in surprise and took a step backward, shaking. “You’re red too!”
A ring inscribed with runes appeared in the sky before Yang Zicang’s chest, with a quadrilateral slowly rotating within him.
White. Do you think I can make it through now?”
……
Outside the sparsely built town stood various houses: some hanging plaque signs of gathering grounds, others suspended over their doorways with distinctive titles individually inscribed thereupon.
These are outposts established by people from nearby small and medium-sized settlements, leveraging Wuyou’s reputation to do business.
Since they came from this direction, Yang Zicang and his two companions were the first to see the building with the signboard reading “Li Qing Material Workshop.”
Dingling~ Yang Zicang pushed open the door, and the brass bell behind it rang with a crisp sound.
Inside, someone who looked similar to Su Li had already pieced together several stone slabs. The man squatting beside the formation was pulling his hand back from a piece of lost thought engine material, while a chaotic faint glow radiated from the center of the room.
Noticing the newcomers, Su Qing turned her head to look over.
“Guests? Oh, brother, you’re back.” Su Qing, who had been squatting, stood up and calmly glanced at Su Li behind the group.
Su Li turned his head away.
It was true that the two of them hadn’t had “lost thought models” to sell recently. But right now, this person who looked exactly like his brother was refining a lost thought engine!
Xu Xiuchuan and Zuo Feixian exchanged a glance behind Yang Zicang and shook their heads slightly.
Inside the house, made of alternating stone and wooden planks, a quiet atmosphere prevailed. Yang Zicang swept his gaze around the room and found nothing unusual.
“We’d like to buy some lost thought models.”
“Sorry, we only handle material trading and processing here. If you go next door to Wuyou’s trade district, you’ll easily find some.”
“I told you we don’t have them. Please leave now,” said Su Li from the doorway.
Su Li forced herself to hold steady… The one impersonating her younger brother moved so fast that in just this short time, he had already selected a complete set of fossils from the piled materials and even started attempting to craft a “Primeval Relic”—a Lost Thought Engine.
“Primeval Relic” was the name her brother and that customer surnamed Gu had given to it, a term for something much older in this world.
Yang Zicang cast his gaze downward at the materials on the floor.
It was only then that he smelled an extremely faint scent of blood in the air. Had “Silent Night” not heightened his innate perception of the surroundings, he might never have detected it. To be precise, this wasn’t so much smelling as it was confirming through perception.
Yang Zicang spoke: “What you’re trying to craft—is it fossil relics?”
“Oh?” Su Qing’s eyes flickered. “Fossil relics—where did you hear that term?”
“Some of my friends who coexist with nightmare specters told me about it. Come to think of it, I don’t even know what it’s called around here.”
Upon hearing Yang Zicang’s mention of “friends who coexist with nightmare specters,” Su Li beside him retreated a couple steps without a trace.
At this moment, Su Li was like a startled bird—even knowing that the three before him were all Silver-White Models, in this lawless place, no one would genuinely trust others solely based on that. Those silly enough to believe everything they heard would sooner or later be devoured whole.
Standing before the ball of light, Su Qing turned around to look over:
“You actually know about fossil relics.”