Shen Zhiyi picked up Little Lightning from the fence, patted its fur, and returned to where she had been sitting.

As soon as he sat down, Little Lightning smelled a familiar scent.

He peeked out from Shen Zhiyi's arms and stared intently at the direction where the self-heating hot pot was placed.

That look speaks for itself.

"Okay, okay, I'll give it to you right away." Shen Zhiyi said helplessly.

You're saying no kitten likes spicy food?

She felt that Little Lightning shouldn't be called Little Lightning, but rather Little Hot Pot.

As soon as the cat was placed on the table, Little Lightning immediately buried its head in its food.

Too lazy to cook anymore, Shen Zhiyi took a fruit from the noodle tree and ate it. She could give the rest to Xiaoyugan, since Xiaoyugan is still growing, right?

After a hearty meal, Little Lightning lay down on the table to rest.

Shen Zhiyi didn't disturb it, and got up to go out and study what to plant on the star soil.

When merging with the nebula, Shen Zhiyi moved the patch of star soil where the banana trees were planted to the corner of the cabin so that she or Xiaoqing could climb up and pick them.

After thinking for a moment, Shen Zhiyi planted an orange tree next to the banana tree.

We'll deal with the remaining orange tree when we have more star soil next time.

We also need to plant noodle trees, since their fruit is very filling.

The thing placed in that corner of the fence is the Soul-Devouring Vine. When the Soul-Devouring Vine reaches maturity, it can climb up the fence from there and cover the entire fence.

The low-grade star soil next to the Soul-Devouring Vine was planted with herbs that had been harvested.

On a patch of star soil next to it, Shen Zhiyi pondered for a long time, unsure of what to plant.

After thinking for a moment, he planted the random spirit fruit seed.

The seeds of spirit fruits can randomly increase some attributes, and there is a market for them if they are sold later. It's just that we don't know when they will bear fruit.

There were still some spots left on the soil around the orange tree, so Shen Zhiyi planted another ring of purple rice flowers on top.

They even planted the plant that came out of the blind box on the star soil of the flour tree.

She dusted off her hands, finally finished; she was almost exhausted.

After washing her hands, Shen Zhiyi decided to check on Chen Peng, as she hadn't heard from him at all.

I had just opened my private messages when I saw a message from Chen Peng.

He said he encountered a fake bard merchant.

The fake bard was dressed in rags and was extremely arrogant, as if they owed him money, and he charged exorbitant prices.

Fortunately, Chen Peng learned about the wandering merchant from Sang Sang, so he managed to get rid of the fake one.

Chen Peng also told Shen Zhiyi that the fake bard merchant hadn't left yet and was still wandering in the interstellar space.

Many players have already been scammed.

Tell Shen Zhiyi to be careful; the fake one might come knocking on her door.

Just after she finished reading the message, an uninvited guest arrived on her nebula.

It was that fake bard merchant.

Shen Zhiyi sized up the fake merchant, who then let out a cold snort.

"What kind of look is that? What kind of attitude is that?" The merchant's tone was very unpleasant. "I am a wandering merchant. If you anger me, you can forget about trading goods!"

Shen Zhiyi's eyes darted around, and suddenly an idea came to her.

"Oh, I'm just curious about what bards in interstellar space look like."

"Please have a seat, merchant." Shen Zhiyi placed the chair behind her next to the merchant.

The merchant sat down with satisfaction: "You're smart to know what's good for you."

"Tell me, what goods do you want to trade?"

Shen Zhiyi smiled at him: "That depends on what supplies you have."

"I have plenty of supplies; there's nothing I don't have, only things you can't imagine." The merchant looked very smug, as if Shen Zhiyi were some country bumpkin who had never seen the world.

"Really? Then..."

Shen Zhiyi smiled again, "Then bring it here." She directly beckoned Black Wolf to make his move.

The black wolf pounced, pinning the merchant to the nebula, its sharp teeth pressed against the merchant's neck. The merchant was so frightened that he dared not move.

He's been a tyrant for years, and he's screwed over countless players in StarCraft. I never expected him to actually get his comeuppance today!

Who would have thought that a player who had only recently entered the interstellar world would have such a powerful contracted beast as Black Wolf!

The system didn't tell him about this before he came, did it?

The businessman now realized he had bitten off more than he could chew.

"I was wrong, let me go, and you can have the supplies in the bag!" The merchant could already smell the faint fishy stench coming from the black wolf's mouth.

If he doesn't back down, the black wolf will bite right through his neck.

"Oh dear, then I won't be polite!" Shen Zhiyi said with a delighted expression. "Thank you for the merchant's gift!"

Shen Zhiyi picked up the bag from the merchant's hand.

The merchant's heart bled when he saw the bag taken away; it contained all the valuable goods he had amassed over the years! Though not much, they were all his treasures.

"Then, could you please ask your contracted beast to release me first?"

The businessman was almost in tears.

Shen Zhiyi gave him a half-smile and said, "Of course, after all, you've given me a lot of things, merchant."

"Ah Jin, hurry up and release the merchant. The merchant is our 'honored guest' now."

The black wolf obediently released its claws from the merchant's chest.

The businessman swallowed hard; he was terrified, he had almost lost his life.

"Then, I'll be going now," the merchant said cautiously as he got up.

Having already obtained the goods, Shen Zhiyi naturally wouldn't keep the merchant any longer. "Alright, merchant, take care."

Upon hearing this, the merchant fled in a panic.

"I thought this businessman would be quite capable, but it turns out he's all bark and no bite?"

Fox Moon climbed onto Shen Zhiyi's shoulder. "Who isn't afraid of Black Wolf? Black Wolf is taller than you."

Shen Zhiyi thought about it and agreed.

I happily opened the bag, eager to see what was inside.

Shen Zhiyi took out a bead from inside.

He took out another bead.

He then pulled out another bead.

......

No, is this merchant covered only in beads?

Shen Zhiyi emptied the bag, revealing it to be full of beads, with only one or two scattered butterfly coins.

Mermaid pearls: Pearls formed from the tears of mermaids; they can be used in medicine and taken internally.

Shen Zhiyi initially thought they were just ordinary beads, but she didn't expect them to be shark beads.

It seems this merchant does have some good stuff.

She counted them; there were a total of 37 mermaid pearls and three butterfly coins.

Just as I finished packing up my things, the system's familiar mechanical voice appeared again.

Congratulations to player Shen Zhiyi on your success!

The system paused, unsure how to describe the situation.

[Congratulations to player Shen Zhiyi for successfully identifying the real and fake bard merchants, and for bringing down the fake bard merchant, and... um...]

The system is stuck again.

The system has never seen anyone directly steal an NPC and scare them away!

Is this something a player would do?

This situation makes it very difficult to define the system, and the CPU is almost overheating due to the system's overheating.

......