Chapter 76
In her past life, Yu Xunhuan had no idea why, at the end of March, she suddenly decided to travel to J Province with Su Yitong. Who could fathom why these two would venture out for a trip after the game invasion? One day, while wandering the streets, she stumbled upon a distraught vendor whose red ginseng had failed to sell. In a moment of serendipity, she bought the two thousand pounds of red ginseng slices he had hoarded in his warehouse for a pittance.
The price of ginseng extract was more than double that of a basic healing potion, at five silver coins per serving. Yet, the cost to produce it was merely half a bottle of basic healing potion and 100 grams of red ginseng, the latter practically a steal. Compared to the basic healing potion that vanished after a single sip, the ginseng extract, though pricier, offered remarkable value. Once it hit the market, demand skyrocketed.
In her previous life, Yu Xunhuan and the Su family had participated in the beta test early on, so they were never short of basic healing potions. With a single bottle in her hands, she could turn a profit of over four times, allowing her and the Su family to rake in substantial earnings. Not only did they amass a fortune, but they also attracted many casual players.
Even when the Special Affairs Bureau quickly developed the formula for ginseng extract, it was still two weeks later. During that time, Yu Xunhuan had nearly cornered the market on all the red ginseng she could find, making a killing.
With one thousand pounds of red ginseng, she could produce fifty thousand servings of ginseng extract, costing only twenty-five thousand bottles of basic healing potions. Even if she bought them directly from Zelan Star, it would only set her back 250 gold coins. However, selling those fifty thousand servings at five silver coins each would net her 2,500 gold coins, leaving her with a profit of at least 2,250 gold coins after costs!
Yu Xunhuan currently had just over 25,000 gold coins in her pocket. With one thousand pounds of red ginseng, she could make 2,250 gold coins—why wouldn’t she seize the opportunity?!
Not only did she want to profit, but she also aimed to buy as much red ginseng as possible, just like Yu Xunhuan.
She decided not to collaborate with the Special Affairs Bureau on this venture. If she was going to rely on them for everything, she might as well join them; she owed them nothing.
During her half-month stay in JL, she spent her disguise time negotiating with various vendors, opting for gold transactions to leave no trace.
She had privately tested the ginseng herself and confirmed that the age of the ginseng indeed affected the extract's efficacy. The top-grade red ginseng, aged over 30 years, was particularly impressive, instantly restoring 120 health points and subsequently regenerating 1% health per second for 15 minutes. It was the perfect partner for a thief.
Though such premium ginseng was both expensive and scarce, she bought all the genuine goods she could find because of her Food God talent. With a threefold critical hit on the ginseng extract, it was only natural she would keep the high-end stuff for herself.
As for the ginseng meant for profit, she opted for mid-range varieties, the kind that sold for 400 coins per pound before the game invasion.
Yu Xunhuan was determined to acquire as much as possible, especially since everyone was clamoring for health products. Red ginseng was practically unsellable, allowing her to trade one pound of gold for a thousand pounds of red ginseng.
Over the past half month, Yu Xunhuan had purchased seventy thousand pounds of ordinary red ginseng and 15 pounds of top-grade ginseng aged over 30 years. If she turned all the ordinary ginseng into extract and sold it, even after deducting the 1% auction house fee, she could round up a profit of 15,500 gold coins.
During this time, she had not only experimented with dozens of expensive herbs but also brought many samples to Hufflepuff, yet she hadn’t managed to create anything new. Frustrated, she thought that if Yu Xunhuan could still invent something good under such circumstances, she might as well chop off his hands.
All the red ginseng was packed into large boxes and stacked in her game backpack.
She didn’t plan to make the basic healing potions herself. Although she could brew a bottle in just a minute, making over thirty thousand bottles… how long would that take?
She intended to stay home for the next half month to produce ginseng extract, waiting for players to have money next month before putting it on the market.
As Yu Xunhuan was contemplating this, planning to gather information about the Liang and Su families after her conversation with Zhao Shuying, the doorbell rang. She opened the door to let Zhao Shuying in, along with Wu Qingbai.
This time, Zhao Shuying not only brought the skill crystal exchange booklet but also came to sign a contract with Yu Xunhuan and discuss how to establish a direct passage, ensuring that dungeon runners wouldn’t disrupt Yu Xunhuan’s life. The Special Affairs Bureau was the expert in this area.
After preparing drinks for the two, the trio headed upstairs, sipping their beverages while chatting.
Upon seeing the light curtain blocked by the wooden rack, Zhao Shuying quickly began to devise a plan for where to open the teleportation passage. She pointed at the rack filled with potted plants and said, “The door can be right behind this. Is that feasible?”
Yu Xunhuan had modest requirements: “As long as you don’t go downstairs, that’s fine.” After a moment’s thought, she added, “Don’t touch this half; I’ll put a food cabinet there for some dishes I make.”
Wu Qingbai frowned and interrupted, “That won’t do! We can’t take advantage of the people!”
Zhao Shuying shot him a strange look.
Yu Xunhuan’s expression was even more peculiar. She suspected Wu Qingbai was deliberately cutting her off, making it hard for her to finish her sentence. She held back for a moment but couldn’t resist missing out on a money-making opportunity: “If everyone wants to eat, they can pay to buy…”
Wu Qingbai paused for two seconds, then nodded in approval, “Not bad.”
Zhao Shuying bit her lip, looking elsewhere to suppress her laughter.
Yu Xunhuan pointed to another corner, “I’ll set up tables and chairs over there for you to rest. It’ll be free, and I’ll provide whatever I can. Just one request: no going downstairs and no using any skills to pry into my privacy.”
After confirming that the dungeon was indeed a level 3 dungeon, Zhao Shuying handed Yu Xunhuan a skill crystal, “Here, you can enclose the area below the second floor. This is a benefit all friends renting dungeons from our Special Affairs Bureau receive; you’ll get one for free every month.”
【Water Screen Barrier】: Designate an area to be placed under a water screen, rendering it unobservable. Anyone who enters the water screen without the user’s consent will be marked, and their location will be displayed on the user’s game map for 24 hours. Using this skill consumes 10% of mana, and the water screen lasts for 30 natural days.
Upon reading the information about the water barrier, Yu Xunhuan maintained a neutral expression, but inside, she felt a sinking sensation. In her past life, she had never encountered the water screen at the Su family’s, but given how many times the Su family had been robbed this time, and with the young lady of the Su family having her ear cut off, it was likely they would implement similar precautions. She needed to be careful… and the Liang family too.
**Chapter 99: The Vending Machine**
After listening to Zhao Shuying explain how to use it, Yu Xunhuan immediately crushed the skill crystal. Soon, she could clearly sense her villa and a two-meter radius around it, covered by a light blue water screen. She could adjust the height and width of the screen at will.
She didn’t set the water screen too large, instead enclosing the first and second floors along with the backyard, making it look like a rectangular prism topped with a quarter circle.
After defining this area, she inputted 10% of her mana. Almost immediately, she heard a gentle sound of rain. When she opened her eyes, she saw it was raining outside, but the raindrops vanished upon hitting the ground, leaving it dry. The sound of rain was soothing, almost like white noise, calming her heart.
The Special Affairs Bureau was straightforward in their dealings. After signing the contract, before they even began running dungeons, they let Yu Xunhuan choose the rent for the first month.
Yu Xunhuan initially considered selecting a divination skill or a disguise skill, but when she spotted a skill stone named 【Hello, I’m a Student】, she didn’t hesitate to pick five of those!
【Hello, I’m a Student】: Any transaction, regardless of time, place, or currency, receives a 10% discount.
For someone like her, who often dealt with transactions in the thousands of gold coins, this skill was essential!
She then chose two of the 【Why is it Overweight Again】 skill stones, which could increase the slots in her game backpack. Each backpack could only use this once, and Yu Xunhuan’s current backpack had 35 slots, the maximum available on Zelan Star. Only a master-level tailor could craft a 35-slot backpack.
Only a skill as unreasonable as the God-given talent could expand the number of backpack slots.
After finalizing the rental of the dungeon, Yu Xunhuan invited Zhao Shuying and Wu Qingbai to a meal before sending them off. Then, she used her intermediate engineering skills to create an automatic vending machine. Although the materials cost her 21 gold coins, the dungeon upstairs would surely be bustling for at least half a year, allowing her to recoup her investment.
Not only would she sell food, but she also planned to sell the low-level gear she had acquired and some lesser-known alchemical potions and engineering creations.
Silence potions, rage potions, invisibility potions, visibility potions, agility potions, mechanical eyeballs, scouting robots, and more…
Just like a craftsman eager to showcase their work, she had studied two major fields in her life and couldn’t help but want to display her creations.
Moreover, these items weren’t so rare that they would incite theft.
After setting up a resting area with tables, chairs, a coffee machine, a water dispenser, and disposable cups, Yu Xunhuan went to Zelan Star to buy a batch of basic healing potions before returning home to start making ginseng extract.
Ginseng extract wasn’t as intricate as alchemical potions; once the proportions were right, she could brew a whole pot at once and then bottle it.
For containers, she used small glass bottles meant for alchemical potions, which could be bought for 1 copper coin for 100. She could make them through engineering, but she didn’t want to waste time and opted to buy them instead.
In an hour, she could brew 2,000 bottles, with most of the time spent on bottling.
Unfortunately, this task wasn’t something she could easily outsource, so Yu Xunhuan had to do it herself…
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