Chapter Seventy-four: The Exploding Black Goods

  "Anyway, a man's words won't mind this kind of thing." The box containing Cheese-kun was pushed to one side, C.C. hugged Cheese-kun and looked at Kurenai calmly, "Is that so?"

  "Never mind, if you like it, just keep it." He waved his hand and Nine Lives tossed a high-energy crystal into his mouth, what flavor?

  If I had to describe it, it's like the feeling of flour that doesn't have any distinct taste. After eating it, the energy from 'digestion and decomposition' isn't like when he eats other things where the cost exceeds the gain, but instead has a surplus that brings him a certain degree of recovery.

  Stomachic and Digestive Tablets

  That's about it.

  She waved her hand and summoned a card album, Nine Lives flipped through the pages, pulled out a sealed card, found an empty space, pinched it to pieces, and suddenly various household appliances appeared in that empty space. C.C., sitting on the sofa with her legs curled up, had a look of "come what may" as she put down the cheese she was holding and approached with great interest.

  Jiǔ Mìng glanced at her and continued to move around, arranging the household appliances. Generally speaking, he didn't need these things, but... after buying a large quantity of goods due to the addition of a suspected long-term resident, Jiǔ Mìng unconsciously brought back so many household appliances...

  Let's just treat it as a decoration for everyday life.

  "Why put it here? It would be better somewhere else."

  "...Following C.C.'s pointing direction, Nine Lives looked at the TV placed randomly by himself, and it seemed to be true. Nono was satisfied."

  "Is the computer placed next to the TV? What do you think?"

  "The water dispenser is placed in such a remote location, who can find it......"

  "Whatever... I've had enough! After placing the water dispenser in a suitable location, Nine looked at C.C. with a helpless expression, fine, fine, you're right for now, so I'll just keep quiet."

  "What is this thing?" C.C. asked Jyunomiya, standing on a microwave-sized 'cuboid' that she had tried to move earlier but couldn't budge...

  "A small energy converter, even if it's a discarded product, is still a banned item among civilians. I got it from the black market."

  This thing is very expensive!!

  He spent over 200 high-energy crystals to complete the Nine Lives Set and threw it into the mysterious shop, but just this "iron box" alone cost him over 600 high-energy crystals! Now he only has 1,500 left... Oh, and he just ate two more himself.

  It's said that the popular ones nowadays are about three palm sizes, much smaller and lighter than this one, more convenient to carry, and with higher conversion efficiency. However, those things are even more forbidden among forbidden goods, no matter if you're an ordinary person or a special one... whoever you are, don't even think about it unless you have some very special connections!

  Once you have this idea in mind, be careful not to get caught cheating on your water meter.

  The ninth life has already been eliminated for several generations, and it was only because of this that the control was relaxed, and some such things were circulated on the black market.

  "What's the effect?"

  Squatting down, C.C. knocked on the casing of this small energy converter, wondering what alloy it was made of, and it felt quite solid.

  "Burn 'coal' to generate electricity." He put the prepared electrical wires aside, walked over, and easily flipped over the "iron box", opening a small square cover on top, entering the already initialized nine-digit password... 123456789!

  After decryption, the "iron box" turned out to be a container about the size of a large teacup. Through this container, you can still see a faint glow inside. Next to the iron box is a small screen that displays the remaining amount of internal energy... less than 1%, not even reaching the minimum limit, and waiting for a while until the internal energy is exhausted will be a problem when trying to start this thing.

  No longer hesitating, Jiǔ Mìng took out a large handful of high-energy crystals and stuffed them into the container. He obtained a new conversion object, and the iron box immediately started operating again. Jiǔ Mìng nodded, "En, if that buyer didn't cheat me, with this household appliance's power consumption, I estimate it won't need to be touched for one or two months."

  This thing was originally a military product, and it's naturally very powerful for everyday use. If you switch to the new model, it can be used for a longer time.

  "Alright." With a satisfied pat on the iron box, Jiǔ Mìng nodded and decided to quickly arrange those wires.

  "Will it explode?"

  "...Nine's eyes widened slightly as he turned his head to look at C.C. in confusion, "What's with the question?"

  "Since it's a defective product, there must be some defect, right?" C.C. got up and moved to the edge of the sofa, hugging Cheese-kun while retreating further into the corner of the wall.

  "Hmm... indeed, it seems that this generation's small energy conversion furnace has strengthened its conversion power, resulting in a slightly inferior stability." Jiǔ Mìng took out an attached 'manual' and carefully read it, "So when using it, there is a certain possibility of overload explosion...... but the probability shouldn't happen to us, right?"

  Jiuming's eyes moved slightly, and he saw that the indicator light on the iron box, which was originally supposed to be green, was now flashing together with the red one, like a neon light!

  The lid on the container part where the high-energy crystal was installed is now rapidly turning red at a speed visible to the naked eye, and all nine of them can feel the high temperature emitted!

  "Hah! To actually believe in the credibility of a black market merchant... I'm such an idiot." In the instant that the entire iron box was deformed, Jiǔ Mìng, whose face had turned black, quickly moved to C.C.'s front. The next moment, a strong explosion mixed with scorching high temperatures rapidly spread and reverberated in this sealed room.

  The structure of high-energy crystals is very stable, so stable that even if you put it in a fire to roast, or use a hammer to smash it into powder to try and detonate it, it's just an illusion. The best way to detonate it is with the help of this energy conversion furnace... otherwise, it wouldn't be controlled so strictly.

  Because this high-energy crystal doesn't explode, it's already a big deal. Once it explodes, ordinary goods can produce the power of a hand grenade, let alone the power produced by exploding under the intense excitation of an energy conversion furnace, which is even more powerful in this state.

  In the explosion, C.C. clearly saw her hair ends and clothes rapidly curling up in the high temperature, this was nothing... wasn't it just a burn? She had experienced it before, what truly pained her was that Cheese-kun, which she had just gotten not long ago, seemed to be unsalvageable.

  It shouldn't be just this little bit of power from the explosion, right?

  Looking back, Jiǔ Mìng stood in front of her with one hand blocking the way. She didn't know if it was an illusion caused by the flames, but she saw that Jiǔ Mìng's transparent arm slowly emitted a flame-like transparent ripple, which firmly blocked the explosion that was pressing down on them from the outside. The high temperature she felt was just residual heat.

  The explosion didn't last long, and when its power began to wane, Jiǔ Mìng had already torn open the blast wave that was pressing in on him. After the explosion had completely dissipated, Jiǔ Mìng directly used the mysterious shop's authority, and the remaining high temperature quickly cooled down. The furniture industry, which had been destroyed, returned to normal, but not a single one of the home appliances that Jiǔ Mìng had purchased survived.

  In the mysterious shop, it was reset and restored to normal, but was treated as trash and cleared out completely.

  I'm so angry!

  The nine lives of Jue Ming broke out with a sinister smile, great! Grandpa remembered it!

  Now he's worried about the girl behind him, even though most of the explosive force was blocked by him, but that was already his limit, he wasn't a Law-sama... couldn't open a shield, so even if he had blocked the explosion, he couldn't block the penetrating high temperature, at that time he felt hot too, that girl behind him, hey, don't make me lose face... At this time, Nine Lives had already ignored C.C.'s top-notch immortality.

  Looking back, a sense of shame immediately came up. The girl's skin, which should have been delicate and tender, was now... Alas!

  All that could be seen was C.C. gently rubbing her arm like a person who didn't have a care in the world, and the burnt dead skin on it suddenly fell off, revealing the white tender skin unique to girls. Along with her movements, the carbonized clothes on her body also peeled off...

  "Wait! I'll go get some clothes!" Jiǔ Mìng was shocked!

  Looking around, the mysterious shop was intact with its own things, but all the other nine lives were declared scrapped and cleared away as trash. Fortunately, there was a bedroom, and Nine Lives quickly rushed into that room he had hardly ever entered, pulled out a bed sheet and ran out.

  After a while of effort, C.C. has returned to normal. Now she's staring at the charred remains on the ground with a disappointed look, which seems to be Cheese-kun's body...

  "Check a bit more!!!" It's good that you've recovered normally, but what about your clothes? Why didn't they also recover to normal along with you? Is it okay to just stand there so carelessly in front of me?!

  Jiǔ Mìng acknowledged that his heart had inexplicably become agitated, and with a whooshing sound, he covered the girl's body with the quilt in his hand before letting out a long sigh.

  Shaking her head, she pushed aside those lingering images that refused to be shaken off.

  She pulled down the quilt that was covering her head and wrapped it around her body, C.C didn't feel any embarrassment at all from being seen by outsiders, "Pure-hearted little devil? You're responsible."

  "Uh...alright, my mistake, I'll take responsibility." Jiǔ Mìng turned his head and scratched it.

  "Pay me back for my cheese."

  "What!?" Nine's head quickly turned around, and what he saw was C.C. with an overwhelmingly strong smile.

  "What's on your mind, you little devil? My loss?"

  "Don't call me little devil, I'm not small anymore." Jiǔ Mìng pointed to the bathroom, "Eh, you go take a bath first, I'll go out for a bit, when Nǎi Lào Jūn comes back I'll bring new ones for you."

  "There's also pizza."

  How obsessed you are with pizza, sighed, took out a sealed card and crushed it, and suddenly a large stack of pizzas appeared on the ground.

  C.C stared straight at the 'large' pizza, "I've decided to forgive you."

  "...how cheap is your forgiveness?"