Chapter 60: Itinerant Merchant of the Myriad Realms

Seeing the crowd rapidly closing in around him, Lu Li reached toward his spatial ring, preparing to summon the Blade Servant.

The atmosphere grew intensely tense!

Yet at that very moment, a crisp sound of bells suddenly echoed in everyone's ears.

It was not loud, but exceptionally piercing.

Everyone was momentarily stunned, subconsciously looking in the direction of the sound.

At the end of the street, two massive bundles appeared.

To be precise, it was an elk, carrying two enormous bundles several times its own size.

"It's actually the [Wandering Merchant of All Realms]!"

A shock ran through Lu Li's heart as he instantly recognized the emaciated, skin-and-bones elk.

His gaze swept over the elk, finally landing right between the two bundles.

A red-robed figure was there.

"Why is it the Red-Robed Wandering Merchant?!"

Lu Li frowned, momentarily unsure whether to consider himself extremely lucky or utterly unlucky.

The [Wandering Merchant of All Realms] was the only NPC character that appeared after the apocalyptic game descended, wearing clothing in one of three colors: red, yellow, or blue.

Among them, the Blue-Robed Merchant had a gentle and cowardly personality;
The Yellow-Robed Merchant was cunning and unpredictable;
And the Red-Robed Merchant had a fierce, violent, and battle-hungry disposition.

Their time and place of appearance were completely random, following no discernible pattern.

The goods they carried were also completely unfixed.

They might be worthless junk found on the streets, or they might be exceptionally precious items and equipment.

In his previous life, Lu Li had the good fortune to encounter the [Wandering Merchant of All Realms] once—it had been the cowardly blue-robed merchant.

It was precisely that transaction which had brought Lu Li immense benefits, propelling him straight into the global top ten combat power rankings!

Now that the wandering merchant had appeared once more, Lu Li could not possibly let go of this trading opportunity.

The only variable was that this time, it was the red-robed merchant.

If Lu Li were to start a conflict with Song Siming and the others right now, the battle-hungry red-robed merchant would undoubtedly join the fray.

By then, forget about trading—getting left with an intact corpse would be a blessing.

"I need to pacify these survivors first."

Thinking this, Lu Li raised both hands above his head and forced an awkward laugh:

"Hahaha, if you've provoked me, you must feel like you've grabbed a soft persimmon..."

Song Siming: "Brothers, fuck him—huh? What did you say???"

Lu Li put on a completely harmless expression: "I said we surrender!"

The survivors wore universal question-mark faces: "???"

What was going on?

They were surrendering just like that?

Were they really this spineless?!

Song Siming wore a suspicious look and probed:

"Then hand over all your supplies?"

"Take it, take it."

Without a moment's hesitation, Lu Li slipped off his spatial ring and held it out toward Song Siming.

Song Siming had never expected Lu Li to become so cooperative, and consequently hesitated to take it.

"We also want to play with your woman! The kind where we take turns!"

One of the survivors shouted out.

"Have your way with her! Enjoy yourselves thoroughly!"

Lu Li stepped aside and pushed Alisha forward.

Poor Alisha wore a bewildered expression.

Her master had just sold her out like this?

Clearly, the players before them were all very weak!

Alisha even felt she had the strength to take them all on by herself.

Why did her master suddenly surrender?

Could it be that he was tired?

"Master, why don't you rest and let me handle them?"

Alisha asked back uncertainly.

To her surprise, upon hearing this, Lu Li shook his head frantically like a rattle-drum:

"No, no, no, absolutely do not resist, don't get into a conflict with them."

"Ah?" Alisha was utterly confused.

However, she soon noticed the glance Lu Li cast toward the wandering merchant.

The [Wandering Merchant of All Realms]?

This mysterious NPC had also once appeared on the planet Palu.

"Wait, it's the bellicose red-robed merchant..."

Alisha instantly understood Lu Li's intention.

She immediately became docile and played along with Lu Li, saying:

"Ah, yes, yes, yes, go ahead and play with me, have a blast! Just please don't hurt my master~~~"

The survivors were dumbfounded.

Especially the man who had shouted about taking turns; at that moment, he felt as though he were dreaming.

This plot twist felt so completely unreal...

Seeing that everyone was frozen in place and the atmosphere was awkward, Lu Li had no choice but to steer the conversation:

"Did you see the elk over there?"

Song Siming was startled, then quickly reacted:

"I saw it. What kind of powerful monster is that?"

"It's the [Wandering Merchant of All Realms]!" Lu Li quickly explained. "We can trade with him to obtain precious items."

"The probability of a wandering merchant appearing is extremely low. If we miss this chance, who knows how long we'll have to wait for the next one!"

"Precious items?" Song Siming turned his gaze toward the elk.

The two oversized bundles seemed to corroborate Lu Li's words, making his eyes burn with desire.

However, Song Siming did not blindly trust Lu Li, nor did he impulsively send anyone up to make contact.

Pondering for a moment, he spoke:

"Since it's a wandering merchant and you can trade for precious items, you go and trade first to show me!"

"If you dare pull any tricks, I'll carve up your little beauty with a single slash!"

As he spoke, Song Siming reached out and directly yanked Alisha over to his side.

Lu Li readily agreed.

He was actually terrified that Song Siming would go and approach the merchant himself.

That was the fiercely violent red-robed merchant.

If they provoked the other party, even their ashes would be scattered to the winds!

Noticing someone approaching, the elk snorted and stopped in its tracks.

Before Lu Li could speak, the red-robed merchant spoke up first:

"Rare treasures of all realms, honest business, fair prices, no deception to young or old!"

"I wonder if this guest wishes to buy or to sell?"

The standard opening line of the [Wandering Merchant of All Realms].

Lu Li responded with practiced familiarity:

"I'm buying. May I inspect the goods first?"

"Very well," the red-robed merchant replied indifferently.

With a flip of its body, it jumped down from the elk's back.

The two massive bundles unrolled simultaneously, spreading out on the ground to reveal the merchandise inside.

Song Siming, standing in the distance, only needed a single glance for his heart to beat wildly!

All kinds of weapons and armor, elemental crystals and medicinal herbs, skill books, domain entrance tickets...

There was even a giant egg the size of a watermelon!

Lu Li hadn't lied.

The wandering merchant really had nothing but good stuff!

Song Siming, standing not far away, saw it all just as clearly.

"So many good things. If I could buy all of them, I'd become the ceiling of combat power in Yongcheng..."

"No, I might even directly become the ceiling of global combat power!"

"I just wonder what the currency of the [Wandering Merchant of All Realms] is..."

While indulging in these fantasies, Song Siming continued to watch.

He saw Lu Li exchange a few words with the merchant and then open his chat interface to operate it.

Shortly after, a large quantity of golden bricks appeared out of thin air, tumbling down to blanket the ground with a clatter.

"Trading with gold?"

Song Siming was enlightened, yet somewhat puzzled.

Logically speaking, now that the apocalypse had erupted, precious metals like gold should no longer hold any value.

A single bag of edible rice was more useful than a ton of metal lumps.

Yet how was Lu Li still able to use gold to purchase precious items?

Could it be that gold possessed some unknown, hidden function?

Or if one didn't have gold on hand, would they be unable to trade at all?

A storm of chaotic thoughts raced through his mind, wearing down Song Siming's already meager patience.

Seeing that Lu Li's trade with the merchant was proceeding smoothly and without danger, Song Siming simply shoved Alisha aside and led his group forward toward the wandering merchant.

He had a bold idea.

An idea to acquire all the goods without paying any gold at all!

Seeing more people approaching, the red-robed merchant spoke in an aloof tone:

"Guests wishing to trade please wait a moment; business must be conducted one transaction at a time."

"Wait for your mother's corpse!"

Song Siming drew his blade directly and cursed aloud: "I'm here to rob the place! Hand over all the goods!"

The red-robed merchant: "???"

Lu Li: "..."

"Are you certain you wish to rob me?" The red-robed merchant raised its head, looking at Song Siming with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.