Chapter 82: Autumn Has Passed, Winter Draws Near

At the sound of Brother Yuan’s call, a sturdy, youthful man with a tigerish face emerged from the shop. He began to tally and inspect the appliances that Xiao Yuan had brought. This young man was Brother Yuan’s distant cousin, who had been working here for several years. Back when Xiao Yuan was little, he hadn’t yet arrived, so they weren’t very familiar with each other.

“Brother Yuan, don’t joke around. I’m a good kid—never cheat anyone. Let’s stick to this price. I trust you.” Without even looking at the price list, Xiao Yuan waved her hand with a bold flourish. In truth, she was almost as familiar with the value of these items as Brother Yuan. In her childhood, she’d spent the most time in this very secondhand appliance shop, which back then was run by Brother Yuan’s parents.

“Well, that’s unlike you. You actually accepted it straight away. All right, the total comes to eighty-seven thousand and forty-five. I’ll round it up for you—eighty-seven thousand and fifty, then. Xiao Yuan, tell me honestly: how much did you pay for this whole batch?” After checking the appliances, Brother Yuan whipped out his calculator and tapped away furiously, displaying a string of five digits. He leaned in and asked Xiao Yuan quietly.

“Heh, this number,” Xiao Yuan grinned, holding up four fingers on her right hand.

“Forty thousand? You really made a killing!” Brother Yuan’s eyes widened in surprise at the gesture, realizing she’d doubled her money. It was just as expected of the ‘Little Overlord’ of South Street.

“Nope, four thousand,” Xiao Yuan shook her head, correcting his guess with an air of pride.

“Damn, who was unlucky enough to get fleeced by you?” Brother Yuan’s first reaction was that whoever had tried to trick Xiao Yuan ended up getting tricked themselves.

“Tsk, you can mess around with food, but not with words. I do honest business—I’d never cheat anyone. My buying price was already generous, okay? The fact I can sell for so much is all my own skill. Anyway, not talking to you anymore. Put the money in my account, I’m heading back; the market’ll close soon. See you tomorrow, Brother Yuan.”

She slapped Brother Yuan’s back to show her displeasure, rebuffing his accusation. Glancing at the setting sun, she realized it was getting late, so she didn’t linger. She waved goodbye and quickly hopped onto her electric scooter, turned around, and sped off.

“Take care on the road!” Watching Xiao Yuan leave in a hurry, Brother Yuan could only wave and call out, “Hammerhead, let’s move all this inside. There’s been a lot going on lately; these items should sell quickly.”

After hastily driving to the market, Xiao Yuan increased her dorm kitchen’s food reserve from enough for three days to half a month. Only then did she cook herself a simple dinner. Though it wasn’t nearly as delicious as Erina Nakiri’s, and fell far short by a long stretch, with each attempt her culinary skills grew steadily.

After eating, she soaked in a bath, browsed posts on Longkong.net, and finally lay down to begin cultivating her divine power. With her improvement in potential, Xiao Yuan’s training speed had increased significantly. Watching the divine power within her body grow bit by bit was a fascinating sensation.

The next morning, guided by her internal clock, Xiao Yuan got up right on time. In her previous life, she loved to sleep in, needing three or four alarms at her bedside to wake up. She never imagined that, upon arriving in this world, she’d be completely unable to indulge in lazy mornings.

After getting up and washing, she reheated the breakfast she’d prepared the night before, ate, and once again set out. Today, she continued to roam the residential district, collecting used appliances, but this time she switched to the neighboring street rather than yesterday’s.

The morning’s haul was just as abundant. At noon, returning to her dorm, she found Uncle Feng hadn’t come by, likely held up by something. Xiao Yuan cooked herself a nutritious lunch and then began using her Divine Descent transformation to repair damaged appliances.

The second day wasn’t as smooth as the first. During repairs, she found a few appliances so aged they were beyond salvation. After all, this character card wasn’t specialized in appliance repair—it was a combat card. She dismantled the irreparable devices, salvaging usable electronic components and discarding the rest.

The afternoon was spent repairing the morning’s acquisitions. Before sunset, she headed to South Street again to sell the day’s haul. Today’s earnings were a bit less, just over seventy thousand, and with Brother Yuan gazing up at her in awe, Xiao Yuan waved him off, leaving without so much as a penny’s worth of change.

The following days passed in peace, as always in Maple City. Xiao Yuan’s routine of collecting and reselling appliances continued, and as the half-month deadline approached, the numbers in her electronic account soared. The fee-post she’d put up on Longkong.net also steadily gained hits, with all payments funneling into her account. But with only a handful of remaining weapons factories and research institutes, the blueprints’ fee-post had all but reached its peak.

With autumn fading and winter on the horizon, nearly half a month of repairing and reselling secondhand appliances had brought the business to its natural end. She’d essentially collected all the private appliances in the residential area, and Brother Yuan’s secondhand appliance market was nearing its purchase limit. He’d warned her that if she kept at it, prices would drop, as the business was approaching saturation.

Recent accidents had caused some damage and boosted demand for appliances, giving Brother Yuan a chance to make several tidy profits thanks to Xiao Yuan’s supply. But now, everyone who needed to buy had done so, and any further acquisitions would only clog up his inventory.

For all these reasons, Xiao Yuan finally put her money-making plan on hold. It was about time, anyway; the past few days’ transactions had netted her enough wealth to last for quite a while—the numbers in her account had climbed into seven figures.

So, on this day, Xiao Yuan also rose early, but didn’t go out. After transforming into Erina Nakiri to prepare breakfast, she brought it back to her room. On such a rare day off, she intended to treat herself well. Though her own cooking had improved considerably, it was still far from Erina’s level.

Eating a delicious omelette, she scrolled through various news on Fengkong.net, while also responding to numerous private messages.