It had only been an hour and a half since Xu Qian left, but when he returned, he was a completely different person. The difference was that he went from a strange, crazy person to a cool guy who didn't care about anyone once he put on a hat.
Meng Ziqiu didn't dare ask how this young master bought the clothes and got the haircut, but simply praised him as handsome.
"Take one." Xu Qian pulled out a pill from somewhere.
"...Thank you, brother." Meng Ziqiu looked at the pill, about the size of his little finger, in his hand, and without thinking too much, swallowed it. Strangely enough, the pill, though not small, dissolved instantly in his mouth, and he barely even tasted it before it was gone.
Xu Qian kept watching his status bar. The moment he consumed the potion, the debuff was dispelled. It was at that moment that Xu Qian decided to make more of the Dispelling Power Powder, so he could keep it on hand for future use.
Meng Ziqiu smacked his lips, but still couldn't taste anything. He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt much warmer.
"Alright, get some rest. We need to leave early tomorrow morning."
"Why!"
The next morning, before it was fully light.
Meng Ziqiu stood at the bus stop at the entrance of the village with his travel bag on his back. In just one day, he seemed to have been fully rejuvenated, and his condition was even better than before he came.
Xu Qian sat on the stone stool. He didn't wear the Flower Brother vest today. In terms of cold resistance, Chunyang is better. Fortunately, he bought two sets of clothes for his youngest son yesterday, otherwise it would have been a bit embarrassing.
As for Meng Ziqiu, he's become quite unfazed by his older brother's inconsistent behavior—it's definitely a smokescreen! He just wonders if he can learn this smokescreen himself; if he does, then in the future…
Xu Qian seemed to see the meaning in his eyes, and snorted. This guy's got some nerve. "Don't even think about it. You can't learn it."
Meng Ziqiu chuckled, not paying much attention, and squatted down. "By the way, big brother, where are we going to find my brother after we get out? Have you figured it out yet?"
"Crossing the desert sands."
“Oh,” Meng Ziqiu had really changed, choosing to believe without even questioning, but then another problem arose, “The Desert Crossing is in Bottle City, and by plane… it only takes two hours to get there, but you…” You’re an unregistered resident!
“So,” Xu Qian shrugged, “it’s up to you now.” This was one of the reasons Xu Qian had chosen him. Meng Ziqiu lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked up and said, “I understand. Don’t worry, leave it to me.”
"Mmm." Xu Qian nodded and couldn't help but yawn; he was still quite sleepy.
After a while, the minibus from the village to the town finally arrived, and the two of them boarded the minibus one after the other.
Although it was the first bus of the morning, there were quite a few people on board. At a glance, there were only two seats left, one at the very front and one in a corner.
Meng Ziqiu went straight to the corner, since the front seats were more spacious. Seeing him go to the back, Xu Qian sat down at the front as well.
There was a man with a big beard sitting next to me in the seat in front of me. He was very thin and his eyes were always half-closed, so it was impossible to tell whether they were open or closed.
Xu Qian glanced at the bearded man, smiled slightly, and said nothing.
[Name: Shirakawa (fake)]
[Guild: None]
[Faction: None]
[Affection: Annoying (-20)]
"Grandpa, squeeze in," Xu Qian said, pulling down his hat and sitting down to occupy most of the space. "I have a big butt, please forgive me."
The old man's lips twitched, and he actually made room for him.
"Hey, thanks~" Xu Qian acted like he didn't know what was good for him. As soon as he was given a chance, he immediately spread his hands and feet, truly the image of a brat.
"..." = = #
Xu Qian glanced at the man's favorability rating again, and sure enough, it had dropped by another 20. He chuckled, like a cat that had just stolen some cream, twisted his neck, and leaned back in his chair to doze off.
The journey out was relatively smooth, except that the experience of catching up on sleep was a bit less than ideal, but it wasn't a big problem.
After getting off the minibus, the two took a taxi to the bus station to catch a bus, which would take about a day.
Coincidentally, on the bus to Bottle City, Xu Qian ran into the bearded man again. He even greeted him, but the bearded man ignored him, which made Xu Qian a little disappointed. Goodness, he doesn't even talk to people.
If you ignore me, I'll ignore you too.
Xu Qian sat down next to Meng Ziqiu, who didn't notice his little actions and was busy contacting the team to cross the desert. However, it was the windy season, and not many people were willing to go. Just then, one of his friends gave him some good news.
[Old and ill, Fifth Master is also calling for people to cross the sand. Why don't you ask him?]
Meng Ziqiu then contacted Fifth Master, and soon Fifth Master replied.
[Hey kid, where did you hear that? Let me tell you, this shipment is no ordinary one. You'd better stay in Weicheng and work on it, or your old man will come running over with his complaints again.]
[No, Fifth Master, I really have important business to attend to in the desert this time. Don't you trust my skills?]
[Hey, that's true. I happen to be short a few people on my end. Are you alone?]
Meng Ziqiu glanced at Xu Qian beside him and replied.
[There was another guy with me, the two of us went together.]
Meng Ziqiu quickly finalized the plan to enter the desert and was about to close his eyes for a nap when Xu Qian spoke up.
"Is your skill level considered good? In the eyes of ordinary people?"
Meng Ziqiu suddenly felt a little hurt, but also a little helpless. "Seriously, that time was purely an accident. I was rushing back and didn't prepare many things, which is why I crashed." In other words, he is actually quite skilled, among ordinary people.
"Oh, okay." His response was ambiguous, leaving it unclear whether he believed or not.
"..." Meng Ziqiu felt very aggrieved, but he dared not say it.
The bus stopped for a rest during the journey, and everyone got off to take care of personal matters.
When Meng Ziqiu returned from the restroom, he saw that his adorable little darling had already finished three bowls of instant noodles. Looking at his fair and tender young appearance and then at the three empty bowls on the table, Meng Ziqiu was momentarily at a loss for words.
“Brother, once we get to Pingcheng, we’ll go have a big meal. I know a restaurant that makes really good spicy crab,” Meng Ziqiu said in a tone that couldn’t be more sincere.
"Sure, sure..." Xu Qian gulped down a mouthful of instant noodle soup. As a former homebody who wasn't particularly particular about food, Xu Qian was still more interested in his old friend, instant noodles. They were his spiritual sustenance in the past. Nothing, not even shrimp or crab, could sway his loyalty. But since the younger generation had said so, he couldn't stop them from showing their filial piety.
Seeing that he was enjoying his meal, Meng Ziqiu also felt a bit craving instant noodles. That's how it is with instant noodles; you crave them after a while if you don't eat them. So he slipped away to a small supermarket and bought two boxes of instant noodles, beginning the long wait.
After a full day and night, the bus from Weicheng to Pingcheng finally arrived at its destination.
The first thing Xu Qian did upon arriving at the camp was to take the card Meng Ziqiu had given him and go on a shopping spree at the supermarket. How could he possibly get by in a place like the desert without having prepared some supplies?
At the same time, Meng Ziqiu also went to Fifth Master's camp to discuss entering the desert. The division of labor between the two sides was very clear, and neither side delayed the other.
Xu Qian returned early, while Meng Ziqiu hadn't come back yet. He piled the items together and put them all into his backpack. Then he opened the large map. At this point, Bottle City was unlocked, but the Desert Crossing was still pending unlocking.
On the large map of Bottle City, Xu Qian finally spotted Yan Jiudu's whereabouts.
Unfortunately, the desert map wasn't unlocked, so Xu Qian couldn't see the details inside. Actually, he had considered going into the desert to find people himself, but Xu Qian had suffered a lot from invisible walls in the past, and given that unexpected things could easily happen in a place like the desert, Xu Qian decided to go with Meng Ziqiu for the sake of caution.
There are now four full days left until the bounty expires.
If there's really no time left, he'll just put up another bounty. Anyway, he absolutely has to find the Crimson Lotus!
Thinking of this, Xu Qian rummaged through his backpack and saw a pitiful string of numbers hanging on it.
[147 gold, 32 silver, 6 bronze]
Xu Qian: ...
He immediately switched to his Flower Brother account, which still yielded over 100 gold. He then switched to other accounts, switching to each of the remaining seven accounts, and in total, he amassed 2016 gold, 59 silver, and 14 bronze.
Tragic, so tragic...
Xu Qian could hardly bear to look at his backpack. He simply couldn't believe that he had spent a third of his wealth on a tomb raider.
My God, a daughter! Unbelievable!
Xu Qian calmed down a bit, took out a hundred-yuan note, put it in his backpack, and silently recited the exchange instructions. Soon, his backpack contained... eighty-eight silver coins. That's right, eighty-eight silver coins!
One hundred silver coins equal one gold coin, which means one thousand gold coins equals... 113,636 coins!!!
Damn! What a huge loss!
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