Renee Kane scrolled through the trade listings as usual.
Due to the recent discussions, the price of water had dropped a bit, but the prices for salt and various electrolyte drinks had skyrocketed.
She tentatively listed five sports drinks, pricing them at 30 Life Value each.
Unexpectedly, they were all snapped up in less than a minute.
So, she listed another five.
People still bought them all, albeit while cursing and grumbling.
"Damn profiteer, selling them for so much! I've memorized your ID. Next time I sell something, I'm jacking up the price for you!"
"Fuck, I worked my ass off all day, and all the Life Value I scraped together went straight into this guy's pocket."
"Boycott the profiteer! Everyone desperately needs Electrolyte Water right now. If you have extra, you should be helping others out! Nobody buy his stuff!"
Someone else retorted, "Who's forcing you to buy it? Anyone with Electrolyte Water right now is hoarding it for themselves. Go on, try and find someone else selling this stuff."
"If you don't want it, give it to me. I was too slow and missed out."
...
Renee Kane had absolutely no patience for people like that.
Brute Force: "Don't worry, I've already blocked everyone who was running their mouth up there. Now your mommies won't have to worry about me scamming your Life Value anymore."
As soon as she posted that, those few people panicked. They started spamming messages, some even flying into a rage and threatening Renee Kane, telling her "don't you dare let me find you."
After blocking them, Renee Kane ignored their powerless rage. She was busy deciding what to have for dinner.
She had just taken out a chilled seafood salad and a cold beer when she suddenly received a message from Spinning Top.
Spinning Top: "I got a new Skill Card. Want to trade it for some Electrolyte Water and food."
The seafood in Renee Kane's mouth suddenly lost its flavor.
'In my last life, I spent seven whole days digging until I nearly hollowed out the mountain, and I never saw a single Skill Card.'
'To be precise, just finding a Silver Box made me feel like it was a lucky day. If I found a Gold Box, my luck would have been off the charts.'
'But it's only been one day, and Spinning Top has already gotten two Skill Cards from Diamond Boxes, plus a prop card that comes from a Gold Box at minimum?!'
'Is that even fair?'
'Just who is the real P2W player here?!'
Renee Kane took a vicious bite of the sweet, juicy Brittany blue lobster and replied expressionlessly, "With luck like yours at opening boxes, how could you be short on supplies?"
Spinning Top: "..."
Spinning Top: "Because everything I get is prop cards. I can't eat them."
Renee Kane instantly felt a bit better about the situation.
Remembering what Miss Black Tights had said about Spinning Top's heaven-defying luck, an idea sparked in Renee Kane's mind. "I can trade you food. From now on, come to me first with any prop cards and Skill Cards like this."
"If you get any fragments or things you don't know the use for, you can ask me first, too. All my boxes are full of supplies and medicine."
Spinning Top: "OK."
He was a straightforward guy and immediately sent a trade request without another word.
Renee Kane thought for a moment. 'If we're going to have a long-term partnership, I should show some good faith.'
For the last Skill Card, she had given Spinning Top a very practical set of sun-protective clothing and some ice water. The value of this trade couldn't be too different.
So, she placed five bottles of mineral water, two bottles of Electrolyte Water, and five packs of instant noodles into the trade circle.
Spinning Top confirmed the trade at lightning speed. It was clear he was really short on food.
Spinning Top: "Do you have any heatstroke medicine?"
Renee Kane raised an eyebrow. "What are you offering in return?"
Spinning Top: "How about this? I saw you were looking for Manufacturing Platform Fragments earlier."
[Spinning Top has initiated a trade request: Desert Eagle Manufacturing Drawings.]
'Weapon drawings, huh.'
Renee Kane was somewhat interested, but hearing Spinning Top specifically mention the Manufacturing Platform Fragments made her frown, and her tone cooled slightly. "Manufacturing Platform Fragments are too hard to collect. Besides, even if I managed to build the platform, I'd still need the right materials and matching bullets to make this... It's not that useful to me."
Renee Kane truly wasn't in a hurry. With her stockpile, she wouldn't be lacking weapons for a long time.
Besides, just as she'd said, having only the drawings was useless. Even if she assembled a Manufacturing Platform, gathered the materials, and created a Desert Eagle, it would be useless without bullets.
You could get firearms from Gold Boxes in the game, but they were usually revolvers or shotguns, and they only came with a single magazine. Once you used it up, that was it.
Later on, after everyone had cleared two or three dungeons, they would have opened enough boxes to find a decent variety of weapons.
But bullets were the truly scarce commodity.
If it were manufacturing drawings for different types of ammunition, Renee Kane would have paid a premium in supplies to get them. But a Desert Eagle... it was a bit lacking.
The main thing was, she didn't want Spinning Top to think he could easily get a handle on her.
Spinning Top probably guessed her reaction and could only reply sullenly, "Alright..."
She thought that would be the end of it, but half a minute later, Spinning Top, not giving up, sent another message.
Spinning Top: "Are you sure you don't want it? What if it comes in handy later? I can tell you're powerful and not short on supplies. Even if you just keep the drawings to trade for something else later, it would be worth it."
Seeing his sudden eagerness, Renee Kane grew wary and probed, "What's with the hard sell? Are you having a heatstroke?"
Perhaps because Renee Kane had traded him quite a few useful supplies, Spinning Top was surprisingly honest. "I've been digging for boxes all day, and this is all I found. My head hurts a little now, and I'm worried I won't make it through tomorrow."
'What? He's been digging all day?'
'He's a hardcore one, alright. No wonder he's so desperate to offload these things that will be so useful later on.'
Renee Kane suddenly felt a pang of regret—she would have gladly traded all the supply boxes she'd dug up today for a Skill Card or a prop card!
However, a question suddenly occurred to her.
She had originally assumed that in her past life, Spinning Top had died at the hands of Miss Black Tights. But thinking about it now, it was more likely related to Vincent Sherman.
Miss Black Tights must have run into Vincent Sherman's group first, exposing Spinning Top and his insane luck with boxes.
Knowing Vincent Sherman, a person like Spinning Top would either be recruited or killed.
But Spinning Top still ended up dead. What exactly happened in between, only the Vincent Sherman from her past life would know.
Brute Force: "Well, I do have two bottles of heatstroke medicine, but I was planning on keeping them for myself..."
The implication was clear, and she hoped Spinning Top would get the hint.
[Spinning Top has initiated a trade request: Desert Eagle Manufacturing Drawings, Manufacturing Platform Fragment x2.]
Renee Kane was very satisfied with how savvy Spinning Top was.
This comparison only made her feel like her previous trade with Whirlwind was a complete ripoff!
'Heatstroke medicine's value in this dungeon will only become more apparent later on. And I just casually gave two vials of something so important to Whirlwind!'
'No, I have to find a way to make back that loss!'
Renee Kane took a fierce gulp of her cold beer and opened the new Skill Card she had just acquired.
She took one look and realized this Skill Card seemed a little different.