Chapter 45: The Deal

“You think about it—the guy upstairs is powerful, and we can’t beat him. If there are good things in that box, we won’t get a share.” Zhang Qiang analyzed. “But if we use the information about this box to trade for some things he doesn’t want, he might just agree!”

“What if he doesn’t want to trade and also doesn’t want to share anything with us?” Sun Liang suddenly said. “What if he captures us, tortures us—can we really keep this secret?”

Everyone froze for a moment and fell silent.

“I don’t think that person is like that,” Li Min suddenly said. “Besides, we only want some trash equipment he doesn’t need. I don’t think he would be so stingy.”

“This is a gamble. Should we take it? Let’s decide: do we hide this information and come back later to open the box, or do we trade with that guy? Let’s vote,” Ma Wei suddenly proposed.

“Alright, let’s vote! I vote to tell that guy!” Zhang Qiang was the first to speak up.

“Then… I’ll abstain,” Sun Liang said quietly.

“You coward—you can’t abstain! There are five of us. Without you, if it ends up two against two, what then? Speak up: are you choosing to trade with that person or to secretly hide the information?” Zhang Qiang glared at Sun Liang, startling him.

“Then… I’ll choose to trade with him too.”

Quickly, they made their final decision: use this information to trade with Xu Feng for some things.

…

Xu Feng had returned to the Resort very early. He sat on the sofa, frowning as he thought about the ink-black shadow he had seen in the Resort Lake that day.

“What exactly was that thing? Just looking at it, I couldn’t help but feel a warning in my heart to stay away. It must be a very terrifying monster,” Xu Feng thought to himself.

While he was still pondering about the lake monster, Xu Feng suddenly looked up and saw the same group from yesterday standing timidly at the doorway, looking as if they wanted to come in but didn’t dare.

Toward humans, Xu Feng always held the utmost caution. In his previous life, the ones who had hurt him the most weren’t the alien invaders but fellow humans like himself.

Since the end of the world, the old laws had been trampled underfoot by humans who gained Strength. The apocalypse was a pure law of the jungle—the strong preyed on the weak. With the last shred of pretense torn away, humans became even more unrestrained.

Even Xu Feng’s final death was because a group of people forced him into a chasm without supplies, and he was finally killed by a Bloodthirsty Insectoid.

“What do you want?” Xu Feng glanced at the doorway and said calmly.

“It’s… it’s like this,” Ma Wei was pushed forward and said nervously, “We have a piece of information about a golden box. We want to trade it with you for some things.”

“You found a golden box?” Xu Feng looked up in surprise and asked.

“Yes, yes. We accidentally came across a golden box today. We want to trade with you for some… trash items you don’t need…” Ma Wei quickly explained.

Xu Feng thought for a moment, then a faint smile appeared on his face.

“It was found on the mountain behind here, right?” Xu Feng said calmly.

“H-how did you know?” Ma Wei exclaimed in shock, and the people behind him became flustered.

“That box is locked, isn’t it?” Xu Feng’s words made Ma Wei and the others turn pale.

They had originally planned to hide the fact that the box was locked, hoping to get something more valuable in exchange. But Xu Feng had guessed it.

“Hmph, if it weren’t locked, you would’ve taken everything in the box already. Why would you come back to tell me?” Xu Feng sneered.

Such simple reasoning, yet these people didn’t think of it and still tried to trick him with a locked golden box.

“W-we just thought since you’re so powerful, you must have a way to open it…” Ma Wei said awkwardly.

Their plan exposed, Ma Wei had to tell the truth.

“What do you want in exchange?” Xu Feng asked calmly, but inside he was delighted. There was definitely at least one piece of golden equipment inside a golden box—maybe even something higher like Dark Gold Equipment.

“You… you’re willing to trade with us?” Ma Wei said with pleasant surprise, having almost given up hope.

“Tell me, where is the golden box, and what do you want?” Xu Feng asked.

“We… we want some things related to professions and skills,” Ma Wei asked nervously.

“Professions? Skills? Hah, if I had such good stuff, I’d want it too,” Xu Feng scoffed. Although he was a step ahead of most people, he hadn’t reached the point where he had so many Profession Cards or Skill Cards that they were overflowing.

“Forget about those things. I haven’t even gotten them myself—how could I give them to you? I have a Black Iron Grade Short Blade. I’ll trade it for your information. How’s that?” Xu Feng took out a Short Blade from his ring and said.

This Short Blade was also something he had gotten from a box by the Resort Lake. Its quality was average, so he had kept it.

Ma Wei looked back at the others. Everyone hesitated, wanting to exchange for more.

“There are five of us. How can we share just one weapon?” Ma Wei said hesitantly.

“Hah, you want five? Do you take me for a fool?” Xu Feng snorted coldly, put away the Short Blade, and said, “That box is just on the mountain behind here—it’s not going to run away. I can go find it myself later. You’re only saving me a little time, and you want five Black Iron Grade weapons? Dream on.”

Just as Xu Feng said, if he hadn’t known, that would be one thing. But now that he knew the general location of the box, it would only take a little time to find it himself.

Besides, it was just a piece of information. Right now, a Black Iron Grade weapon was worth quite a bit.

And the golden box was locked. Even if others knew about it, they couldn’t open it anytime soon. Probably only Xu Feng in the whole world could open that box right now.

“Take it or leave it. If you don’t want to trade, then leave. Don’t bother me while I rest!” Xu Feng gave Ma Wei a cool glance and closed his eyes to rest.

Ma Wei had no choice but to retreat.

They returned to their room on the first floor to discuss.

“What should we do? Trade or not?”

“Don’t trade. Just one weapon is too little for a golden box.”

“Let’s trade. We can’t open that box anyway, and like that guy said, he can find it himself with just a little time.”

“Hmph, I don’t believe it. That box is hidden behind a rock, so well hidden—ordinary people would never find it.”

…

After discussing for a long time, they finally decided to trade with Xu Feng. The group went back upstairs to the third floor together.