And then...

"Eeeeeeeeeee!!!!"

"What is this?! Why does something like this even exist???"

"Aaaaaah!!! Survival game, you're totally screwing over the fish! *********."

Well, Chen Ping calmly watched the mermaid merchant start cursing. How should I put it? Everyone knows that mermaids have beautiful voices, so even if the content of her curses is unpleasant, it doesn't sound like she's cursing at all.

Although the mermaid merchant was cursing, she had no choice but to hand the mermaid clan contract scroll to Chen Ping, then looked at him with red eyes.

Chen Ping completely ignored her and looked at other items. Then he saw the coral reef again, this time called the Ten-Colored Coral Reef. Its effect was the same as the other coral reefs, but this one was stronger than the Seven-Colored Coral Reef. It was also of epic quality, but a rare epic, and the price was 4 pink pearls.

Chen Ping directly took out 6 pink pearls to buy the two coral groups, which will expand the swimming pool and also serve as a habitat for the mermaid clan.

Then I looked at the items again and found that there was one more item of legendary quality.

【Name: Rainbow Shell Skirt】

Category: Lower Body

[Quality: Legendary {Set}]

[Effect: Agility +100, Spirit +300]

[Effect: Bubble Magic Shield. When used, it summons a bubble magic shield that can withstand legendary-level attacks for ten minutes.]

[Identification Description: Wait a minute! Isn't this the long-lost Little Mermaid's dress? I can't believe it was stolen by a survival game, and now it's being sold off?!]

[Recommendation: Wow, I suggest buying it! This dress is part of the Seven-Colored Set. Collecting the whole set is very powerful, although the remaining four pieces are located in the four most powerful mermaid empires.]

......

Chen Ping glanced at the price. Hmm, exactly three pink pearls. His entire fortune—it felt like it had been perfectly arranged.

As Chen Ping quickly took out the pink pearls and bought the dress, he secretly complained.

Well, the mermaid merchant didn't know the origin of this equipment, since she came from a relatively small tribe, not the Mermaid Empire.

However, she felt a certain attraction to the dress, giving her an urge to possess it.

However, as Chen Ping put away the skirt, the inexplicable attraction disappeared.

Blinking her eyes, the mermaid looked at Chen Ping. She hadn't expected this guy to be so rich, even owning pink pearls. You know, pink pearls are only produced by pearl oysters with a shell weight of 90 or higher, and they live in the deep sea.

Even they dared not approach easily.

Chen Ping put away all the items with satisfaction. He had originally planned to use the discount card, but after looking at the goods, he felt it would be a waste, so he decided not to use it.

Chen Ping: "Alright, you're out of money. You can leave now."

Upon hearing this, the mermaid merchant nodded, then looked around. Seeing the doorway, she immediately manipulated her water sphere to float over.

Chen Ping: "???"

Then he asked, "What are you doing?"

Mermaid Merchant: "???"

"What do you mean, 'what'?"

Chen Ping: "Huh? Shouldn't you be leaving?"

Mermaid Merchant: "Uh, isn't this just me leaving?"

Chen Ping: "...Shouldn't you have left through the portal like you did when you came? You're not classy at all."

Mermaid Merchant: "...You think I don't want to? Survival games don't reimburse expenses, okay? How about you reimburse me?"

"Open a portal to return to my previous location. Hmm, it'll probably cost [amount] gold coins. Will you reimburse me?"

Chen Ping was instantly dumbfounded, then asked, "How far were you from here before? How could it cost over 140,000 gold coins for teleportation?"

Mermaid Merchant: "Okay, wait for me to sense it, it'll be quick."

After saying this, the mermaid merchant closed her eyes, her delicate, jade-like hands constantly forming some kind of hand seal.

After a while, the mermaid merchant opened her eyes and said with a strange expression, "That's strange. My previous location was less than 100 kilometers away from here, so why is the teleportation fee so expensive?"

"Hmm~ Could it be that the survival game is secretly taking kickbacks? Taking 99% of the kickbacks directly??? That's too much! What a bastard, hmph~."

Chen Ping scratched his cheek and asked the mermaid merchant, "Are you sure it's okay for you to curse the survival game like that? Won't it make things difficult for you?"

Upon hearing this, the mermaid merchant scratched his cheek and looked at Chen Ping with a puzzled expression, replying, "Hmm, what does 'being given the cold shoulder' mean?"

Chen Ping: "Uh..."