Chapter 164

"You mean... it could threaten people's most basic physiological needs? Something even more basic than eating?" Lin Tu braced herself against the front desk, staring in disbelief at Dong Huadan behind it.

Having heard that Lin Tu would be entering the [God's Nightmare Space] in a few days, Dong Huadan had immediately closed up shop. Scolding her for being reckless, she'd hauled over a stack of photocopied materials and was now flipping through them behind the counter.

Lin Tu hadn't wanted to disturb her business, but Zhang Zisheng wasn't around today—she'd be forced into a B+ grade disaster in a few days and was spending all her time in special training. Besides, as Dong Huadan put it, with so many people buying lately, her most basic items were sold out anyway, so even if customers came, she couldn't do business.

"Don't bring these snacks anymore." Dong Huadan pushed the fragrant steamed buns aside when Lin Tu mentioned eating. "It's not that I don't appreciate the gesture—it's that prices have gone up so much lately, buying these isn't worth it. Your money is money too. I'd feel bad."

"I have other channels." Lin Tu shook her head. Seeing Dong Huadan look up skeptically, she said firmly, "Really! I considered reselling before, but [Infinite Calamity] automatically taxes anything brought into the town, so I couldn't make enough profit to bother. Now that prices are high, the tax doesn't change—I could still buy cheap..."

She paused mid-sentence.

—Right. Prices in Doomsday Town had gone up, but the tax on items entering the town hadn't changed. She could actually make money reselling things.

The value of these items wasn't high to begin with. Take the photocopied materials in Dong Huadan's hands—a thick stack like that would cost at most a hundred yuan at the priciest print shop. Paper, ink, and electricity were cheap; most of the cost went to labor and rent.

But in Doomsday Town, where was there a print shop?

Especially now that low-grade disasters were rapidly dwindling—everyone was too busy surviving to go out of their way to photocopy materials in disaster worlds. So things that once cost a few yuan had inflated to unbelievable prices.

"If I supply a large amount of goods, would you be willing to pay with items?" Lin Tu asked.

"How much?" Dong Huadan smiled.

"A very, very large amount. Enough to supply nearly half of Doomsday Town."

"You're serious?" Dong Huadan looked up at Lin Tu, confirming she wasn't joking. Realizing this was a sudden, low-risk golden opportunity, she nodded immediately. "I can do it."

She continued flipping through the materials. "But before that, let's deal with your next disaster first."

What physiological need was even more basic than food, clothing, shelter, and transportation?

Lin Tu thought of the disaster's name—[Demon's Suffocating Ship]—and the answer came to her. Perhaps—

Oxygen.

After leaving Dong Huadan's place, Lin Tu went to see Professor Lü.

Speaking of this morning, Professor Lü had returned and specifically messaged Lin Tu, saying he'd left in a hurry and forgotten to warn her about the barbed wire, asking if she'd run into any trouble. He'd also apologized on behalf of the Black Factory.

His tone suggested he knew nothing of Zhang Bao's actions. Even Zhang Bao's death, he assumed, was the work of enemies seeking revenge.

Since Professor Lü was her angel investor, Lin Tu told him everything—how Zhang Bao had deliberately withheld the suppressant for the bloodthirsty barbed wire and hired assassins at the church to kill her.

Professor Lü expressed disbelief. When he apologized again, Lin Tu graciously said it was no trouble, then smoothly pivoted to the subject of upgrading the barbed wire. She said she could maintain it, and asked whether he knew of any plant-type special items that, like the barbed wire, were powerful but cheap because of their obvious drawbacks. Her current items were running short.

Wasn't she just eyeing the plant items in Professor Lü's courtyard? Lin Tu's scheme was so transparent that Professor Lü could hear it clearly through the phone screen.

Still, he didn't hold her scheming against her—because right now, he was far more concerned about what she'd called an "upgrade."

"Are you sure it upgraded, and not something else?" Professor Lü asked with unusual gravity. If it had truly upgraded, she could scheme after whatever she wanted, even his courtyard's items!

"It really did upgrade." Lin Tu assured him repeatedly, then explained how the plants had grown larger and their effects had improved. Professor Lü immediately told her to bring the items over.

That was why, after leaving Dong Huadan's shop, Lin Tu headed straight for Professor Lü's courtyard.

"I'm truly sorry. I never imagined he would do something like this..." Professor Lü sighed upon seeing Lin Tu. "I'm old. I wanted someone to take over, and I'd been grooming him as my successor all along. I suppose it was because I'd taken a liking to taking you on as a student that drove him to do such things."

He sighed again, apologizing for his failure in oversight. Zhang Bao was an orphan who'd grown up in the Black Factory with few friends. He'd worked for Professor Lü since adulthood, which made the professor the one who knew him best.

When Professor Lü went digging for information, he'd found nothing. The Black Factory's people had already taken all of Zhang Bao's belongings during their investigation, leaving nothing to go through.

As for the church, Professor Lü frowned. "I don't believe in religion. I advised him not to either, but he wouldn't listen. This morning I went to the church and tested whether they'd hold a requiem mass. They said that since Zhang Bao was murdered for committing a crime, they could only do it once the murderer was found. It seems..."

"The murderer probably has something to do with the Temple."

Lin Tu pricked up her ears, thoughtful.

Professor Lü was only guessing, but from her perspective, she was certain the Temple had done it. They'd killed someone themselves, then demanded the murderer be found before holding a requiem mass—clearly a probe to see whether the Black Factory had found any leads. Vicious, to say the least.

"I never thought they'd still be doing paid killings..." Professor Lü said he'd pass the clues to trustworthy people in the Black Factory and investigate further.

Lin Tu handed over the upgraded corn and barbed wire. Professor Lü took them, and was immediately shocked by the barbed wire's excellent condition.

After all, that wire had needed to drink blood every night. It had even burst out before, injuring a customer who came to view an item.

"How is this possible?" Professor Lü turned the barbed wire over in his hands, then opened his phone and saw the words "planting satisfaction" and "quality slightly improved." He couldn't believe it, muttering repeatedly, "How... this has never happened before. No, wait—it has happened before..."

He looked up, holding the wire. "Do you know Senior Lin Zhihai?"

Lin Tu: "?"

"Never mind, I'm overthinking it," Professor Lü waved a hand. "You just happen to share the same surname—how would you know him? That was so many years ago. But in all these years, he was the only one who could steadily cultivate special plant items with nearly perfect planting satisfaction and improved quality. Just like you."

"Are you thinking of selling me these items and buying something higher-grade?" Professor Lü smiled at Lin Tu. When she nodded, he continued, "Grandpa Lin had a theory that plant items could keep upgrading, all the way to S-grade, or even S+ grade. Unfortunately, he disappeared not long after proposing it, leaving only a research outline. We younger researchers kept at it and finally developed a reagent—[Plant Evolution Liquid]."

Professor Lü took out a tube of liquid. It was murky and mixed, with a disgusting feel to it.

"This is made by extracting the essence of many plant items. Pour it on an item, and it might prompt an upgrade."

"Might?" Lin Tu caught the key word. "Then why not test it?"

"As I said, this was developed based on Senior Lin Zhihai's research. The premise of his research was experimenting on plants cultivated with nearly perfect planting satisfaction and improved quality. But no one could cultivate those except him—until you came along." Professor Lü looked at Lin Tu, almost goading her. "Want to try?"

Lin Tu pointed at herself, then at the corn and barbed wire in front of her. "You mean..."

Use these two for the experiment?

"I could buy your plants, but I won't hide this from you—if it successfully upgrades after use, its price will more than double."

"No need to buy them. Just run the experiment." Lin Tu took a step back, showing her full trust. After all, it wasn't Professor Lü she trusted—it was her own grandfather.

"Alright."

Professor Lü nodded, opened the [Plant Evolution Liquid], and dripped two drops onto the corn's roots, then five or six drops onto the barbed wire.