Chapter 135

Chapter 135

The next day during class, Yan Bubu calculated the date - August 10th, just seven days away from Feng Chen's birthday. He began to think about preparing a birthday gift for him.

"Wang Suizi, do you know where the trading area is?" he asked Wang Suizi.

He had been living for free and planned to use the two hundred credit points he had saved to buy a birthday gift for Feng Chen.

Wang Suizi, busy with her homework and not looking up, replied, "What do you want to buy? There are shops in the residential area on the second floor selling daily necessities. If you want something else, you'll need to go to the trading area on the first floor."

Yan Bubu sat next to her, "My brother's birthday is coming up, and I want to buy him a gift."

"A birthday gift... Then you should go to the trading area on the first floor. You can't exactly buy him soap or toothpaste from those shops," pondered Wang Suizi.

"The trading area on the first floor? Okay, I'll go there."

Wang Suizi suggested, "How about going this afternoon? I also need to buy some stuff from the trading area. It's just a theory class in the afternoon, not a big deal if we miss it."

"Sure, but should we ask for leave from the instructor?"

Wang Suizi whispered in his ear, "So many people are missing from the class already, two less won't make a difference, the instructor won’t know."

The two quickly agreed and started packing their things.

Feng Chen had sentinel ability training in the afternoon, so the black lion was with him. Binu sat alone at the back of the classroom. When Yan Bubu quietly asked if it wanted to come to the first floor, it immediately jumped off its seat and followed.

"Where are you two going?" At the classroom door, they ran into Chen Wenchao, who was holding a cup of hot water and looked puzzled.

Wang Suizi hushed him, "We're going to the trading area on the first floor. Want to come with us?"

Chen Wenchao frowned, "What are you going to the trading area for?"

Yan Bubu leaned in and whispered, "It’s my brother’s birthday soon, I want to buy him a birthday gift at the trading area. Come on, let’s go together."

Chen Wenchao then put his cup back in the classroom and followed the two.

Leaving the academy, they had a long walk to the checkpoint for the first floor, and with no buses on this route, it took them a good twenty minutes just to reach the entrance of the welfare institute.

On the lawn, many children were playing, and Yan Bubu feared they would cry out, asking to be taken to the first floor. Fortunately, seeing that Yan Bubu and his companions were only three in number and without a vehicle, the children merely glanced at them and turned away.

Relieved, the trio stopped and stood outside the fence, watching the children play.

"They are so cute," Wang Suizi observed a curly-haired little boy, nudging Yan Bubu, "Look, that kid looks like you when you were little."

Upon hearing this, Binu kept staring at the little boy and then repeatedly looked up at Yan Bubu’s face.

When Yan Bubu saw the little boy looking at him, he smiled and waved at him.

The little boy responded by turning around and sticking out his bottom at Yan Bubu, even making a sound to accompany the gesture.

Chen Wenchao, who had been silent, immediately nodded in agreement upon seeing this, "That annoying mannerism is very similar indeed!"

Continuing their walk, Yan Bubu saw the little boy looking again and seized the opportunity to mimic him, sticking out his bottom and saying, "Pfft!"

The little boy, looking displeased, rolled his eyes, and Yan Bubu burst into laughter.

After leaving the welfare institute and walking for about forty minutes, the three people and one quantum beast finally reached the first floor and boarded a bus to the trading area.

The bus was still empty, with few pedestrians on the streets. Wang Suizi told Yan Bubu, "Each district has its own trading area. The one in District A is closest to us; let's go there."

When the bus reached its stop, Yan Bubu followed the two into a small street. After walking some distance, they saw the trading area.

The trading area was a large warehouse. Yan Bubu had expected it to be bustling, a place where he could spend the whole afternoon. To his surprise, it was quite empty, with only a few sparse stalls, much less lively than the trading hall in Haiyun City's underground settlement. Many lights were also out, making the hall dimly lit.

"Is this the trading area of the central city?" Yan Bubu was somewhat surprised.

Wang Suizi knew what he was thinking, "It's not even as busy as the trading hall in our Haiyun City underground settlement, right?"

"Yeah, it's so quiet," Yan Bubu said.

Chen Wenchao added indifferently, "How many years has it been since the earthquake? There's not much good stuff left to sell."

They wandered around the trading area, noticing the stalls mostly had items like enamel cups, fabrics, and blankets.

Unable to find a birthday gift, Yan Bubu felt disappointed. Wang Suizi then suggested, "Why don't we go to the trading area in District C? I heard it's much livelier there."

Just as Yan Bubu was about to respond, he heard someone nearby ask, "Want some Lishi stone? Only thirty credit points per gram."

The trio turned to see the speaker was the owner of an empty stall nearby.

The stall owner lowered his voice, "How could good stuff be displayed openly on a stall? But whatever you want, I can get it."

Chen Wenchao inquired, "You can get anything?"

The stall owner confidently replied, "I can't help you if you want cream cakes, but anything else available in the central city, I can get."

Yan Bubu's eyes lit up, and he quickly said, "Then show me what good stuff you have."

"To see the goods, sure, but do you have credit points?" the stall owner asked.

Yan Bubu showed his credit point balance. Reassured, the stall owner crouched down and pulled out a large travel bag from under the stall. The hall was dimly lit, and he hadn't seen clearly at first, but upon crouching down, he realized the three were in military uniforms and stood up in alarm, "You, you..."

"What's there to be afraid of? We're here to buy, not to catch black market traders," said Chen Wenchao impatiently.

Realizing the subtle differences between their military attire and that of formal soldiers, the stall owner calmed down, knowing they were students, "Oh, you're sentinel guides. You must have a good eye for quality. I truly have a wide range of goods. What do you want?"

Wang Suizi, pulling Yan Bubu along, said, "We'll look for ourselves."

The stall owner stepped aside, and Yan Bubu crouched down with Wang Suizi in front of the travel bag to select items, with Binu squeezing in beside them.

Indeed, the travel bag had a variety of items, from hard-to-find complete sets of tools like pliers and wrenches to jewelry like hairpins and necklaces.

"This hairpin is beautiful," Wang Suizi picked up a crystal hairpin and asked the stall owner, "How much for this one?"

"You're a sentinel guide, so I won't deceive you. This is quite expensive. You can't find these crystal hairpins in the central city anymore. It's a hundred credit points or a hundred E-coins."

"A hundred..." Wang Suizi hesitated.

The stall owner picked up a red hairpin nearby, "This one is only ten credit points. Why not consider this one? It looks very pretty on a young lady."

It was a red plastic hairpin with a yellow flower at the end. Wang Suizi shook her head, "This isn't for someone my age, it's for little girls under ten."

Yan Bubu rummaged through the bag, flipping through the miscellaneous small items, and finally pulled out a black leather cord with a diamond-shaped black metal pendant.

"What kind of necklace is this?" He found the material of the pendant somewhat familiar and lifted the necklace to ask the stall owner.

The stall owner glanced at it and shook his head, "You can't afford this, it's four hundred credit points."

"What item costs four hundred credit points?" Not just Wang Suizi, but even Chen Wenchao came over, bending down and frowning as he looked.

The stall owner looked around and lowered his voice, "This is a Jujin metal pendant."

Wang Suizi looked at the ground, surprised, "We're standing on Jujin metal, and you're charging four hundred credit points for this thing?"

The stall owner chuckled, "Can you turn Jujin metal into a necklace pendant?"

"Well..."

Jujin metal is extremely hard and can only be melted into Jujin fluid in special high-temperature furnaces to be cast into various shapes, such as Jujin metal plates or nets. Once it solidifies, only the military's specialized equipment can cut through it.

But the military would definitely not cut Jujin metal into such necklace pendants.

The stall owner showed a smug expression, "I'll tell you, this chain is not just expensive because of the Jujin metal pendant, but also because I can engrave any word you want on it."

"Engrave any word?" Yan Bubu asked.

"Yes, whatever word you want, but I can't do patterns. Not because it's impossible to engrave, but because I can't even draw, so patterns are out of the question."

Chen Wenchao scoffed, "You can engrave words on Jujin metal?"

Seeing his disbelief, the stall owner's tone became less friendly, "If I say I can engrave it, then I can. Why do you think this necklace is so expensive? Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it's not possible."

"What if you can't engrave it?" Chen Wenchao persisted.

The stall owner said, "If I can't engrave it, then I'll give you the necklace for free. But if I do engrave it, you have to buy it for four hundred credit points, not a point less."

Wang Suizi was about to pull Chen Wenchao away when he decisively agreed, "Fine, if you can engrave it, we'll buy it for four hundred credit points, not a point less."

"Deal."

The stall owner took back the necklace from Yan Bubu's hand and dragged out a wooden box from under the stall, beginning to search through it. Yan Bubu, feeling anxious, said to Chen Wenchao, "I don't have four hundred credit points."

Chen Wenchao confidently assured, "Don’t worry, he won’t be able to engrave it."

"But what if he can?"

"There's no 'what if.'"

Yan Bubu looked nervous, "But what if there is a 'what if'?"

Chen Wenchao then said, "I'll contribute two hundred for you."

"Really?"

"Do you actually believe he can do it?" Chen Wenchao shook his head disdainfully, "If he manages to do it, I’ll cover the remaining two hundred."

Yan Bubu's eyes brightened, "Deal."

The stall owner asked Yan Bubu, "What words do you want to engrave?"

Yan Bubu pondered for a moment, then said, "Engrave 'Happy Birthday to my dearest brother, we will always be together, never apart, and also Binu and Saskar.'"

The stall owner replied, "...I can only engrave up to three characters."

"Only three characters? I can't even fit 'happy' in there," Yan Bubu was a bit lost, "But how can three characters say everything?"

Wang Suizi suggested, "Why not engrave your brother’s name?"

"That’s only two characters, not worth it," Yan Bubu said.

"How about your name? Yan Bubu, three characters, that’s perfect."

Yan Bubu shook his head, "But 'Yan Bubu' doesn’t fully express my thoughts."

"Isn't giving him 'Yan Bubu' expressing your complete thoughts?"

Yan Bubu was still hesitating when Chen Wenchao said impatiently, "I love you."

Wang Suizi laughed, "That’s too corny... Better to go with 'Darling Bro'."

Yan Bubu didn’t respond, and the stall owner asked, "So, what will it be? 'I love you' or 'Darling Bro'?"

"It is a bit too corny," Yan Bubu's cheeks reddened, his eyes shimmering faintly, "Never mind, I can’t think of anything better. Let's just go with those three words."

"Darling Bro?" Wang Suizi asked in shock.

"No, not that, the 'I love you' one."

"…Ssss."

Having decided on the text, the stall owner didn’t engrave it right there but asked them to come back in half an hour to pick up the finished product, requesting a deposit of thirty credit points from Yan Bubu.

Chen Wenchao, not worried about the stall owner reneging, let Yan Bubu pay the deposit, saying with a sneer, "Fine, we'll go for a walk and come back in half an hour."

Before leaving, Wang Suizi finally bought the crystal hairpin and clipped it behind her ear. After Yan Bubu complimented her, he noticed Binu hadn’t followed them, standing still in front of the large bag.

"What's wrong?" Yan Bubu approached and asked softly, "Did you find something you like?"

Binu extended its paw, revealing two plastic hairpins - one with a red base and yellow flower, the other with a yellow base and green flower.

Yan Bubu picked up the two hairpins from its paw, feeling conflicted.

Originally, he had only two hundred credit points. If the stall owner managed to make the necklace, he would need Chen Wenchao to cover the remaining two hundred, leaving no room to buy hairpins. But since Binu had set its heart on the hairpins, not buying them meant they wouldn't be able to leave the trading area without a fuss.

Fortunately, the stall owner said, "Like those hairpins? If you like them, I'll give them to you."

After all, he had made a hefty profit today, so the hairpins could be a complimentary gift.

"Thank you."

With the hairpins in hand, Binu contentedly followed the trio out of the trading area. However, Chen Wenchao stopped at the entrance, "I want to know exactly how that stall owner is going to do it."

Wang Suizi laughed, "You were so sure he couldn't do it before, and now you're worried?"

Chen Wenchao replied, "I’m not worried; I just want to see what trick he's going to pull."

Wang Suizi pondered for a moment, "Okay, since he's a regular person, we can have a quantum beast sneak a look."

A short-tailed crocodile appeared at Chen Wenchao’s feet and quickly entered the trading area.

"Let's just wait here," Chen Wenchao said, sitting on a bench outside the trading area.

Yan Bubu also sat down with Binu, taking the red and yellow flower hairpin from it and clipping it on a leaf atop its head.

"Looks good," Yan Bubu observed Binu contentedly, "What about the other one? Put it on too."

Binu shook its head, and Yan Bubu asked, "Is that one for Saskar?"

Binu didn’t respond, which was taken as agreement.

After a while, the usually silent Chen Wenchao suddenly straightened up with a puzzled expression.

Both Yan Bubu and Wang Suizi looked at him, and Wang Suizi asked, "What's wrong? Could he really engrave on Jujin metal?"

"Wait, let me check again."

A few minutes later, Chen Wenchao murmured, "He actually engraved it..."

"How did he do it? Tell us, don't just keep it to yourself," Wang Suizi urged, shaking his arm.

Chen Wenchao explained, "He placed a tiny green beetle on the pendant. As the beetle crawled, the metal seemed to soften like wax, allowing the stall owner to engrave the pendant."

Wang Suizi exclaimed in amazement, "That’s incredible! Are you sure it was Jujin metal?"

Chen Wenchao nodded, "Yes, I’m sure. It was definitely Jujin metal."

"But what kind of beetle could soften Jujin metal?"

Chen Wenchao said, "I don't know, I've never seen it before. It was a small, shiny green beetle with little black dots on it."

Yan Bubu exclaimed, "Right, I saw a small green beetle yesterday at the mine, about the size of a fingernail, like a piece of green glass. Wonder if it's the same kind you're talking about."

"Yes, it looked crystal clear, probably the same bug."

The stall owner quickly finished engraving the words on the pendant. Just as he was putting away his tools, Yan Bubu and his companions entered.

"What a coincidence, I just finished," the stall owner said, unaware that a quantum beast had been observing him work on the pendant and thought it was just perfect timing.

He handed the pendant to Yan Bubu, "Take a look, how is it?"

Yan Bubu lifted the thin cord, reading the engraved words, "I... love... you."

"Oh man, it's really corny, haha…" he laughed, his mouth barely closing, looking at the necklace again and again before carefully placing it back in the box and swiftly tucking it into his pocket, "I feel almost embarrassed to give it."