Chapter 42: The Little Brat in Split-Pants

Yun Qimu, who was a step behind the others, didn’t rush out blindly to search as soon as she left the village. Instead, she chose to stay put and bargain with the main system.

“20 spirit coins for E-rank, 25 for D-rank, 30 for C-rank, 45 for B-rank, 60 for A-rank, 80 for S-rank, and 100 for SS-rank. Deal?”

The main system, who had been lounging with its legs crossed and happily waiting for its energy reserves to grow, immediately jumped up, rolled up its nonexistent sleeves, and got ready for a fight: [E-rank, 5 spirit coins; D-rank, 15; C-rank, 20; B-rank, 25; A-rank, 45; S-rank, 65; SS-rank, 75.]

Yun Qimu’s elegant brows furrowed slightly, her face—now tinged with a bit more color—turning serious. “E-rank, 19 spirit coins; D-rank, 24; C-rank, 29; B-rank, 44; A-rank, 59; S-rank, 79; SS-rank, 99.”

The main system’s matchstick head practically burst into flames. Good grief, she only lowered each price by one! As expected of its host—so stingy and yet so righteous about it.

But now the main system had plenty of helpers. It wasn’t afraid anymore.

Thinking of this, it conjured a long matchstick and two short ones, piecing them together into a bench. It leisurely lay down and huffed, [It’s fine if you don’t want to use my prices. There are plenty of people doing tasks now—I don’t need you.]

Yun Qimu’s face darkened. This damn main system was getting harder and harder to deal with.

But she refused to back down when it came to spirit coins. “If you go with my prices, I can double the population of Earth Village in fifteen days and add another building. Otherwise, as village chief, I’ll just slack off. Anyway, the village is doing fine now, so I’m in no rush to expand.”

Main system: …But it is in a rush!!!

It rolled off the bench and pounded the ground, hating its host for being so ruthless with her price hikes.

But for the bright future of Earth Village, it could only compromise with tears in its eyes. “Fine, deal.”

Yun Qimu smiled in satisfaction. “Excellent.”

Then, out of nowhere, she pulled out a big white megaphone and started shouting, “Everyone quiet down, listen up! I’m buying corpses for personal collection: 6 spirit coins for E-rank, 16 for D-rank, 21 for C-rank, 26 for B-rank, 46 for A-rank, 66 for S-rank, and 76 for SS-rank. If you want to sell, pile up your corpses and raise your hand for me to come over and trade.”

“Hey, that’s one more spirit coin than the system’s price!”

“Let’s do it!”

Everyone responded enthusiastically, cheering with excitement.

Pei Yu’s hands trembled, his peach blossom eyes wide. One extra coin per corpse—two corpses, two coins. If he found a thousand, ten thousand… that’d be a thousand, ten thousand more coins!

He’d come here to die, barely carrying any energy coins—so poor he had to pinch every penny just to buy a bottle of red potion. Now, Pei Yu was over the moon.

Without hesitation, he broke off his transaction with the system.

Thinking quickly, he immediately pulled out a wooden sign from his storage, scribbled “Temporary Corpse Storage—Property of Pei Yu” in bold strokes, and staked it into the ground. This was his turf now.

Hahaha… Picking up corpses, picking up corpses—he was going to strike it rich!

Yun Xiaoyu’s little brows scrunched up like caterpillars, his small face all wrinkled.

How did Dumb Mu manage that? Why couldn’t he bargain like that?

Sigh!

Today, this six-year-old boy was once again troubled by his inability to haggle for more.

“General, General! If we sell the corpses to the village chief, we get one more spirit coin. Let’s hurry and find some!” Little Zhu Zhu was especially anxious, munching on a sweet Danmu fruit for energy as she dashed off on her short legs. For spirit coins—charge!

“Charge!” Yun Xiaoyu clenched his little fists, full of fighting spirit, his worries forgotten.

Even Mo Xie, usually so cold, couldn’t help but let the corners of his mouth twitch upward. Not to mention the nearly penniless Tang father and son and the local villagers—one after another, they staked out their own signs, claimed their turf, and dashed off, all hoping to be the best of the bunch.

Only the main system let out a wail, nearly spraying out a waterfall.

This damned host was getting more and more devious! All that energy, wasted!

Yun Qimu sensed trouble and quickly tried to soothe it. “Calm down, calm down. You have to give to get. Didn’t I say before? The blood you shed today will be repaid many times over in the future. Once I help you grow the village population, you won’t have to worry about spirit coins! There’ll be banks, auction houses, and plenty of energy…”

[Really?]

“Really.”

So, after Yun Qimu’s gentle reassurance, her grand promises, and even setting up penalties for herself if she failed, the main system finally tearfully agreed to a truce. Their plastic partnership survived another day.

With plenty of helpers now, and a nice profit margin in between, Yun Qimu couldn’t be bothered to run around collecting corpses herself. She simply conjured a chair, sat down, and started munching on a cucumber.

Her leisurely, carefree posture made the main system fume, especially when she sighed, “If only I had a lounge chair, this would be perfect.”

The main system was furious. With a pop, its little matchstick avatar vanished, expressing its anger by refusing to look at her.

Pei Yu, meanwhile, stole a glance her way, eyes full of envy, jealousy, and resentment. He wanted to sit and eat comfortably too, but… he had no money.

Such a sad reality.

“Ow!” Lost in his sneaky glances, Pei Yu accidentally stumbled into a corner, tripped over something, and fell flat on his face.

“Ugh, ptooey, ptooey…” He scrambled up, cursing, “What the hell tripped me? Don’t you know this face is worth millions and adored by countless noble ladies? If I ruin it, what’ll I do…”

He quickly pulled out a small mirror to check. Seeing that his face was unscathed—just a bit muddy—he let out a sigh of relief.

He wiped himself clean with a handkerchief, restored his handsome image, and finally turned to see what had tripped him.

One look, and he was startled. Good grief—it wasn’t a berserk beast’s corpse, but a poor soul.

The unlucky guy was lying face-down, dressed in a black combat suit—looked just as high-end as his cousin’s, though now it was a mess.

His back was slashed open in several places, caked with filthy mud and smeared with blood, making him look like a pitch-black mudman.

Even the half of his face that was exposed was plastered with mud, only his long eyelashes, stuck with dirt, trembling in the wind."