Chapter Eighty-Three True Nobility

  "2,300? You're shortchanging me again?" After a quick calculation of the exchanged high-energy crystals, Jiǔ Mìng slightly raised an eyebrow. Although he thought it was no big deal to take a small loss, being treated as a pushover was another matter...

  "Things haven't been going smoothly lately, so the exchange rate has naturally dropped." The scar-faced big man continued to chew his gum as usual, "Let's just say that you know about those spore events?"

  The scar-faced big man who didn't want to lose his nine lives brought the nine lives to a private room and explained.

  "Didn't you say it's already under control?"

  "Are you reading the newspaper?" The scar-faced big man had a strange expression on his face, how could someone who could take out high-level energy crystals not know any inside information?

  "Although suppressed, it's far from over; these spores can only be a harbinger."

  "Omen?"

  "This year may have a beast tide." The scar-faced big man also stopped selling the gimmick and directly stated that every time it was at this time, high-energy crystals as important strategic materials would have a large exchange ratio difference, even if you went to a regular place to exchange them, they wouldn't be too high.

  "Hmm, I see. Is there a small ignition device around here?"

  "What's the point of asking this?" The scar-faced big man flashed a strange expression on his face, staring at Jiǔ Mìng in an inexplicable manner, "I've been hearing that someone has been inquiring about this contraband on the black market all this time... What size do you need?"

  "Is there really something here?" Jiǔ Mìng still thought this was a black market for exchanging high-energy crystals.

  "It depends on how big you need it." The scar-faced man shrugged and his eyes wandered, seemingly lost in thought.

  "Do you have the smallest size?"

  "No! I've had none here for a long time!" The scar-faced big man shook his head without thinking, the smallest specification? The smaller the specification, the more advanced it means, and the smallest one is the latest product, absolutely the most forbidden among the forbidden goods.

  The scar-faced big man made a phone call, and soon someone walked in with a large tray, a pile of various sizes of ignition devices... molds, wooden?

  Nine lives picked up a weighing scale, light to the point of death, and they were all mini versions, with the original size specifications written on them. These things had different shapes, round, triangular, hexagonal, square, etc. "I feel that what you have here is enough to make you collapse and ask questions several times."

  "The law doesn't say that collecting molds is also against the law." The scar-faced big man wasn't afraid at all, "Is there a suitable one or not?"

  "How much does it cost?"

  "We'll talk after you've made your choice."

  "That's okay too."

  Jiǔ Mìng nodded and took a closer look. First of all, the ignition device that was over 10 cm in both length and width could be completely ignored, it was too big... Although none of these specifications were less than 20 cm, the smaller the ignition device, the more difficult the manufacturing process would be. Moreover, the high-energy crystal itself also had a volume, although not large, with a diameter and height roughly between that of a five-cent coin and a one-yuan coin, a hexagonal prism.

  After all, while carrying high-energy crystals, other components also have to be squeezed into a very small area, making it more difficult.

  After ruling out some unsuitable and oversized ones, there were only a few molds left in front of Jiǔ Mìng. A cylindrical ignition device with a length of 20 cm and a diameter of 7 cm made Jiǔ Mìng feel a little sorry. This length was acceptable, but the diameter was a bit too large. If it could be reduced by two centimeters, it would be perfect.

  Look at another rectangle, the width is also seven centimeters... stuck to death, damn it, one less centimeter would be enough!

  "Alright...this one is fine." He let out a long sigh, and the Nine Lives pointed at the last of the three-pronged pillars, which was 20 cm in length and 6.8 cm in width. Due to its shape, this could be said to be the smallest among the three miniature ignition devices.

  It's just a bit wider, and the triangular one is still acceptable. It's nothing more than saying that the gun body should be made a bit bigger.

  "Wow!" The scar-faced big man's eyes flashed with excitement, and he couldn't help but whistle. "Good taste, this is probably the best one inside, and it just so happens that there's still a little stock left, but it won't last long."

  Just by looking at the specifications, you can tell that even if the volume of a small ignition device is reduced by 1%, its price will increase by more than 1%.

  "Take these four high-grade energy crystals."

  "......" Jiǔ Mìng's mouth twitched at the corner, he had expected it to be expensive, but didn't think it would be this pricey!?

  Take the energy conversion furnace used in his home as an example. The specifications of the built-in ignition device that was disassembled are estimated to be around 40 centimeters in length, width and height... It doesn't seem like this mold in hand, only the length exceeds two digits.

  "Cheaper, three bucks." Jiǔ Mìng let out a long sigh, missed the opportunity, and estimated that it would be hard to meet again in the future.

  "For three pieces, you can choose either of these two." The scar-faced big man pointed to the cylindrical and rectangular ones. Although Jiǔ Mìng had never haggled over prices before, this price that made him feel painful... he actually haggled!

  The final price is three and a half high-grade high-energy crystals.

  As for money? Well, although it's very important, that kind of thing is roughly the main currency circulating among ordinary people. For ability users, this stuff is still hard currency.

  Left a high-grade crystal as a deposit, the time for picking up the goods was three days later. After all, this thing can't be stored with Scarface, in case one day the wind is not right and the nest is destroyed, it would be a big loss!

  Well, I've got the main parts now, need to work hard on some other things, homemade Gauss gun?

  Nine lives have less interest in that kind of practical projectile weapon, at least not as high-end as the high-energy beam gun, which feels high-end just by listening to it. The necessary trigger device is already available, and the rest is easy to say.

  Threw away the last high-energy crystal left in his hand, Jiǔ Mìng let out a soft sigh, thinking to himself that he was just wasting money for no reason. He even felt like he was being extravagant, what should he do?

  Cut off hands?

  Forget it, even if you cut it, it may not break.

  "Here you go." The customized pizza was handed over to C.C., and the nine-tailed one sat down on one side, hugging a thick book and starting to read.

  Putting down the pizza in her hand, C.C. opened the Nine Lives and handed it to her bag along with the pizza, a pink nightgown.

  She twitched the corner of her mouth and said nothing, casually putting the bag with pajamas to one side, glanced at it and focused on the book in her hand, C.C opened the pizza box, slightly moved her nose tip, and a hint of a satisfied smile appeared on her calm face.

  Neither of them mentioned what had happened before.

  "Hmm... I knew it, a bit disappointing." He took some time off to visit Hoshi's house, where Kurenai was holding a catnip toy and gently swinging it in front of Akira. He came here to ask Hoshi to prove something.

  The feasibility of making that gun... The result is clearly disappointing, and even if it were made by a professional research team, the success rate might be slightly higher... But still not perfect.

  The production process inside is not fake, but after being identified by Akira, it belongs to imperfect.

  Putting it in Kaito's hands would result in a 0% success rate, of course, he could make an empty frame... With Hana's help, at least the incomplete product can be made.

  "What's this?" Jiǔ Mìng saw that in Yǒu Xǐ's palm, there was an additional small black lump.

  "Locator, with certain audio recording and listening functions."

  “Wtf！？”

  Jiu Ming wasn't stupid, and when he saw the locator that Xi had pulled out of this book, he could more or less guess what was going on. "Alright, looks like the owner of that bookstore isn't simple either."

  "Go die!!!"

  Kokonotsu was still holding the catnip, teasing him, when Akane Sasanuma suddenly exploded in anger, pulling out a knife from somewhere and cleanly cutting off the catnip in Kokonotsu's hand before slashing down along his fingers.

  The knife flew out of his hand.

  Akira Sakurazaka flipped over on the ground and rolled around, complaining about how unfair it was.

  "Never mind, everything is ready anyway, let's just give it a try."

  On the day of delivery, Jiǔ Mìng successfully obtained what he wanted. This small device weighed over 20 pounds, with most of its weight coming from the outer casing. The internal compartment for storing high-energy crystals was even heavier!

  He scratched his head, and the scar-faced big man looked at a red dot on a screen that suddenly disappeared without much disappointment. He thought of his "space" ability, which made it disappear, and the built-in locator couldn't emit signals, so it couldn't be monitored.

  "Have you recently become interested in animals?" C.C., who was holding Cheese-kun and always seemed quite laid-back, tilted her head to ask Kamine.

  "Ugh... I almost went bankrupt with a moment of impulsiveness, now I'm looking for ways to make money."

  "I doubt it." C.C picked up the newspaper beside her and waved it, she had never seen Nine work so diligently to sell newspapers every day.

  "Hmm..." Jiǔ Mìng had just thought of something, when the silent mobile phone suddenly rang, "Strange, who could be contacting me at this time?"

  The phone number is now a jumbled mess, and except for the other party being contacted by the nine-digit owner, there's no way to find out his phone number, not even if you re-enter those jumbled digits.

  A distress message, still from Wang Hai. Jiuzi carefully looked at the content of the message. His relationship with Wang Hai was still okay, so if he asked for help, he could help him out too. The content of the message was very brief, except for the information asking for help, the rest was their approximate location. This is troublesome... Does one think they are Superman? Can they fly over directly?

  "Brother Wang, is sending a text message useful in a place with no signal? If someone can really escape from here, I'd be willing to lose ten years of my life." In a valley, over a dozen disheveled people were chatting, one of whom was teasing Wang Hai, who was holding his phone and sending a text message. This wasn't a battle against humans, so it didn't matter if he brought this thing along, but generally not many people would bring it, after all, once you start fighting with a monster, the chances of it getting destroyed are very high.

  Upon hearing this person's words, others also chimed in and started joking around.