Chapter 38: Is This What You Call Poverty?

Lu Sheng was quite excited; as long as the buyer was willing to take them, he had plenty of red fire ants, with three or four hundred soldier ants capable of producing red pouches alone.

"Boss, do you take large quantities?"

"No matter how large, I'll take them all."

Lu Sheng took out all his red fire ant cards in one go—312 in total, with more than a hundred being newly born queens from yesterday, still alive and well in the sub-dimensional space.

The boss's eyes lit up, not out of surprise at the number—he'd seen far too much in his life for such a scene to shock him—but because his curiosity was piqued by the hidden story behind such a quantity.

To obtain so many red fire ants, this man must have found a nest and destroyed it. A nest means a queen, and a queen is worth much more than ordinary red fire ants.

"I wonder if you have a queen in your possession? I’m willing to pay three thousand Tier-1 Source Orbs for one."

Without hesitation, Lu Sheng replied, "No."

The boss continued, "No need to rush, young man. Gathering so many red fire ants at once, and acquiring so many blank Tier-1 cards to capture them, tells me your organization isn’t weak. Ask your leader if you’d sell me a queen—consider it a favor owed by Feng Xing to your group."

Lu Sheng was taken aback—clearly, this man misunderstood something. But that was fine; having a fictitious identity could be useful.

"It’s not that I won’t sell it—there really isn’t one. The queen’s resistance was too fierce—she died during the last capture attempt with the blank card."

Capturing monsters with blank cards always carries a chance of failure, especially with those whose willpower is strong. A queen, commanding an entire colony, naturally has formidable mental strength; failure is to be expected.

Feng Xing sighed. "A pity indeed—the red fire ant queen is a treasure. For these red fire ant cards, that’s nine hundred and thirty-six Tier-1 Source Orbs. Would you like the payment in orbs, or do you want to trade for cards?"

Lu Sheng had been browsing the monster catalogue here for quite a while, clearly with the intent to buy—this, Feng Xing, after years of running his shop, could easily discern.

"I’ll trade them. I want the All-Seeing Moth, Muscle Dog, and Water Sprite."

"In that case, your balance falls short. You still owe me three hundred and sixty-four Tier-1 Source Orbs."

"No problem."

After the transaction, Lu Sheng finally obtained the three cards he needed.

Among them, only the All-Seeing Moth came as a pair, capable of breeding. The other two were unique monsters.

The Muscle Dog could help him train physically, while the Water Sprite could be placed in sub-dimensional space to generate water and serve as a spring. This way, he would no longer need to approach hazardous waters.

He was uncertain about the capabilities of these two, but he placed them in the sub-dimensional space and set them to their tasks: the Water Sprite in the pool, and the Muscle Dog to train.

Once done, Lu Sheng went on to browse the functional cards and equipment section, hoping to find something that could accelerate breeding, whether a card or equipment.

But he quickly gave up—any functional card, even the most basic, cost a hundred Tier-1 Source Orbs, and equipment started at the same price. It was simply too expensive; he couldn’t afford it, now that he only had two hundred and forty-eight Tier-1 Source Orbs left.

Helpless, Lu Sheng wandered around, hoping to broaden his horizons.

During his stroll, he ran into Wei Liang. The two exchanged glances, sharing the look of comrades down on their luck.

What Wei Liang didn’t know was that while he only had ten Tier-1 Source Orbs—barely enough to buy anything—Lu Sheng’s definition of "poor" was two hundred and forty-eight orbs left. The meaning of "poverty" was vastly different for each, yet united by the same inability to acquire what they wanted.

They wandered together through the functional card area, their curiosity piqued by the unique abilities on display.

When they came across storage cards, Lu Sheng considered buying one to conceal the existence of his sub-dimensional space.

Wei Liang tried to dissuade him, "At our level, isn’t it a waste of orbs to buy something like that?"

In Wei Liang’s view, as Tier-1s, they rarely needed such things. They hunted around the settlement, and the team leader usually had a storage card—no need for them to carry or haul things themselves.

Lu Sheng waved him off, "It’s just ten Tier-1 Source Orbs, nothing much."

Wei Liang peered at him suspiciously, "Aren’t you broke? Why waste what little orbs you have?"

Lu Sheng mused, "I am broke. Look at these functional cards—they’re worth hundreds at least. I only have two hundred and a bit left; I can’t afford them. But a storage card, that’s within my means."

Wei Liang felt a complicated mix of feelings. So this was Lu Sheng’s version of poverty? He glanced at the ten orbs in his own pocket and felt even more conflicted.

Damn, he’s showing off!

"By the way, where did you get so many orbs?" Wei Liang was puzzled. It wasn’t easy to earn that many just by killing monsters.

Lu Sheng hesitated, "Well... Actually, the day before your awakening, we found a red fire ant nest..."

He then recounted the story to Wei Liang, whose expression grew more and more plaintive. "So if I’d come a day earlier, I’d have gotten some red pouches too? And now you’re all about to break through to Tier-2?"

Wei Liang’s feelings were tangled—who could understand the pain in his heart?

But he quickly recovered, offering sincere congratulations, "Congratulations, truly—I envy your stroke of luck. I could die of jealousy."

He half-joked as he spoke.

Lu Sheng studied Wei Liang’s eyes and saw that they had regained their clarity, with no trace of the bitterness from moments before. Such rapid emotional adjustment was rare.

Generally, only those with either a simple mind or superior opportunities could manage this. From what Lu Sheng knew, Wei Liang was a good man, but not a naive fool—such people didn’t survive in the apocalypse.

Therefore, Wei Liang must have something valuable on him to resist the lure of the red pouches.

But Lu Sheng thought no more of it—for who doesn’t have a secret or two?

"Here, Brother Liang, take these five red pouches. I’m already at Tier-2; they’re of no use to me."

"That’s not really—"

"Don’t open your pocket so wide, Brother Liang; you’ll tear it at this rate..."

"Hahaha..."

Wei Liang didn’t think much of it. He accepted Lu Sheng’s gift simply because he didn’t want to fall too far behind. Even if his innate card was of high quality, rank was still important. He could always repay the favor with interest once he became stronger.

Lu Sheng, too, thought nothing more of it—Wei Liang had helped him when he first arrived, and that alone was worth this return.

Red pouches were no rare treasure to Lu Sheng; the fifty he held were set aside especially for Wei Liang. He only gave five rather than more to avoid any potential trouble.

Caution is the universal principle of survival in any world.