Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

Qu Jianlei withdrew his hand upon hearing this, and to be honest, he really wasn’t used to leaving things unfinished.

Though the Nutrient Injection was backed by someone, it was indeed difficult to end well after killing a Supreme in public.

He snorted coldly, stepped forward, and kicked the woman’s head hard. "You’re lucky!"

With the Rock Armor for protection, the woman’s head wasn’t damaged, but the insult was very real.

Seeing him about to turn and leave, Buckingham spoke up, "Hey, friend, you should leave quickly."

Qu Jianlei glanced at him lightly, "She struck first. I only retaliated. I didn’t even steal her Storage Talisman!"

"Why not steal?" Big Head Butterfly rotated in his mind, "Counting on someone to appreciate your virtue?"

"One must pay attention to appearances," Qu Jianlei replied silently, "Do I not care about my reputation?"

Buckingham heard this and chuckled wryly, "They are..."

He paused, then crouched down and retrieved a Storage Talisman from the woman, pulling out some Silver Notes.

After counting, he found it was just over a hundred million, so he also took some other items.

Then he stood up and addressed the unconscious woman, "Debt... cleared!"

He then glanced around to see that the onlookers were stunned, and the one who acted earlier had disappeared with companions.

"This person..." He hesitated, shook his head with a bitter smile, "Forget it, it’s good I didn’t ask for a name; I owe him a favor."

If he had exchanged pleasantries, and accidentally found out the other party’s background, wouldn’t that cause trouble?

Then he flicked his body and disappeared.

But this fight quickly spread across Kunhai Star.

People rarely saw a Supreme, and a Supreme brawling in the streets with someone taking the opportunity to steal was indeed eye-opening.

So the next day, the Nutrient Injection informed Qu Jianlei, "The auction venue has changed; it’s now in the Giant Wave Star Realm."

Giant Wave Star Realm is situated between the inner and outer circles, yet it has only two Habitable Stars, making its status somewhat similar to the Edge Star Realm.

The main reason is that this star realm has many unusual celestial phenomena, and the environment is extremely violent, leading to very poor stability.

The two Habitable Stars are not small, but the total population barely reaches three hundred million, also typically sparsely populated.

However, due to complex celestial phenomena, some Star Bodies contain rare minerals, so despite the high danger, many forces venture to mine.

Those who dare to mine are mostly of a daredevil nature, and high profits easily attract coveting.

Thus the chaos level of the Giant Wave Star Realm is even worse than the Asteroid Belt of the Celestial Hook.

After all, in the Asteroid Belt, large forces divide the area and can mine stably.

But in the Giant Wave Star Realm, even the natural environment isn’t stable, making mining extremely dangerous.

Qu Jianlei was not surprised by this change at all, "I knew it wouldn’t be possible to auction at Bright Pearl."

He had always doubted this, though the auction of Divine Text Treasures was too sensitive.

Even if several of the Supreme had enough reputation, didn’t the Imperial care about its own face? Letting them make it known to everyone?

The Nutrient Injection nodded helplessly, "In the past, all auctions were held in the Edge Star Realm. They said they wanted to expand the influence."

Qu Jianlei shook his head, "No one would think that just because of this brawl, the venue changed, right?"

"The organizers can certainly interpret it this way," the Nutrient Injection understood clearly, "In doing so, it can be considered as giving the Imperial face."

Qu Jianlei curiously asked, "So, I might very well become their excuse?"

He didn’t mind taking the blame, as he wasn’t afraid of trouble, but he was curious about the situation above the Supreme.

"Who can be sure?" the Nutrient Injection replied indifferently, "However, it’s not important anyway."

Interestingly, when they planned the transfer, there were restrictions on flights to the Giant Wave.

The Nutrient Injection had vast Divine Techniques and secured the tickets. Judging by the aura on this Starship, there were at least six Supremes.

Though there were many Supremes, there were also many ordinary people, but the Supremes rarely communicate with each other.

Seven days later, the Starship arrived at the Giant Wave Star Realm, targeting one of the Habitable Stars, Dream Star.

At first glance, the starry sky around Dream Star seemed brilliant and tranquil, looking peaceful and not at all like a dangerous star realm.

Around the planet, there were many small ships, reportedly observing unusual celestial phenomena.

But judging from other passengers’ reactions, Qu Jianlei learned that many of these small ships weren’t very disciplined.

More than one passenger was surprised, "They don’t intercept anyone approaching?"

The Nutrient Injection noticed his curiosity and took the initiative to explain.

"Some Starships are probing for various intelligence, but now... it seems someone has issued a warning."

The Passenger Starship landed safely without any incidents.

Qu Jianlei and the Nutrient Injection relied on their proof, left the Star Port without inspection, as did the other five Supremes.

At the accommodation place, identity checks were still unnecessary.

After checking in, the Nutrient Injection went out for a walk and returned to inform Qu Jianlei.

"The auction has been moved to ten days later, during this period, Wanbao Square can hold independent stalls."

Wanbao Square is located on the outskirts of the city, covering over four square kilometers, mostly consisting of simple stalls with just rain shelters.

When Qu Jianlei and his companion entered, they were surprised to find there were nearly a thousand stalls selling items, mostly managed by regular folks.

The two casually looked at some stalls, and honestly, they were somewhat disappointed.

Each stall had some odd and eclectic items, but really nothing impressive.

Qu Jianlei even spotted a booklet titled "Array Introduction," reminding him of the fake he once bought.

However, the fakes here seemed relatively more authentic, carrying a bit of an ancient or worn-out feel.

But a quick sweep with his Divine Sense revealed slight inconsistencies within.

Interestingly, the folks running these stalls were quite straightforward and did not forbid outsiders from casually browsing.

Qu Jianlei suspected these people had heard about the auction and were cautious not to offend the possible Supreme attendees.

After visiting over two hundred stalls, he shook his head in disappointment, "What a bunch of nonsense, is this what you wanted me to see?"

"Hoping for a lucky find from these stalls is impossible," Nutrient Injection replied casually.

"If there was anything good, it would have been taken away by other Supremes... ’Better buy mistakenly than miss out altogether.’"

Qu Jianlei nodded at this, "Supremes certainly aren’t short on money, but here, there doesn’t seem to be much to browse."

"There’s certainly not much good stuff at these stalls," Nutrient Injection commented, "You’ll have better luck online."

"Online transactions?" Qu Jianlei shot him a quirky look, "Then why are we here?"

"You can inspect goods on-site," Nutrient Injection replied offhandedly, "especially at those independent stalls."

Independent stalls were different from the small ones, located inside separate buildings, with even the doors closed tightly.

Upon hearing this, Qu Jianlei spread his hands, "I’m out of luck, my identity is inconvenient for online access."

"Use this," Nutrient Injection handed over the Pioneer Terminal, "Feel free to use my account."

Qu Jianlei opened the terminal, letting Little Lake search to check if there were any rare treasures online.

Soon enough, Big Head Butterfly provided an answer, "There are plenty of unknown-origin treasures; their authenticity is hard to ascertain."

"I suggest you pick something to buy; the key point is... you should tip a little here."

Qu Jianlei had barely visited three independent stalls when he found something that intrigued him.

Three rusty copper coins, one of which he identified as "Kaiyuan Tongbao."

The item itself wasn’t particularly interesting; he was more curious about where it was discovered.

If they withheld the item, it didn’t matter, so he didn’t hide his interest and summoned the administrator.

The administrator contacted the stall owner and then looked at Qu Jianlei apologetically, "The owner said you need to verify funds before seeing the item."

Verification of funds... Qu Jianlei was taken aback, "Selling junk requires fund verification, who do they think they are?"

His words were quite crude, but it was hard to blame him—for those with little value, they expected him to verify funds?

The administrator responded with a forced smile, "Verification might just be a threshold; the real aim might be to filter out lower-end folks."

This reason was quite potent, and Qu Jianlei thought for a moment before nodding, "Alright, is thirty million enough?"

The administrator replied straightforwardly, "Our apologies, sir; the other side means to start at one billion."

"Underestimating someone?" Qu Jianlei chuckled dismissively, then suddenly changed his tune, "Then I won’t verify funds!"

The administrator was taken aback, "Sir, you..."

Being the administrator of Wanbao Square, he was aware of potential surprises lately, and the person before him was likely one of them.

Yet, such a prominent person saying, "I won’t verify funds," was indeed a challenging situation.

"I’m not asking about this one," Qu Jianlei replied indifferently, "Consider me poor then."

However, how could the administrator not recognize such sarcasm?

He responded with a smile, "Sir, you must be joking; how could you lack such funds?"

"Such funds?" Qu Jianlei didn’t even look at him, merely snorted, "I’m curious, how many years would it take you to earn that?"

The remark was unfriendly but he wasn’t worried about offense—a mere worker couldn’t save up a billion in ten lifetimes.

All the administrator could do was chuckle wryly, "Sir, that stall owner is just like you, also a Supreme!"

Indeed, he couldn’t afford to offend either side, no exaggeration.

"Hm, understood," Qu Jianlei grunted heavily, "Acting like nobody’s a Supreme."

The administrator dared not speak further, gave a polite apology, and turned to leave.

"How baffling," Qu Jianlei rubbed his forehead, "These independent stalls sure aren’t friendly."

"After all, Supremes run the stalls," Nutrient Injection chuckled, "Average folks can’t even meet them; there’s always a need for some decorum."

Just then, a shout came from behind, "You two, stop right there! Are you just asking prices but not buying anything?"

(It’s the end of the month, requesting monthly tickets for the last three hours, there’s an extra update at midnight as usual, scheduled for next month’s guaranteed monthly tickets.)