Shao Qi examined the materials at hand, finally choosing a few beast bones. "These aren't the best. Tomorrow, we'll see if the store has better ones to supplement these."

Ever since Zhou You realized the genuine expertise of Shao Qi, he blindly trusted his judgement in weaponry matters.

Once everyone had picked their desired items, Zhou You, looking at the empty space in front of Shao Qi, inquired, "Aren't you getting a new weapon? Weren't your previous ones destroyed?"

"I use what I have," Shao Qi responded, advising them to sell what they didn't need. All this excess would just take up space.

"Oh, and don't worry about the white bats," Zhou You, who had caught some that had died on the journey, said. Dead or alive, they could still be used, though the dead ones sold for less. He decided to keep the few dead ones, planning to try making a spirit pill when he had the time.

Although he knew the ingredients, he'd never made a pill before and wanted to see if he could successfully create one.

Armored vehicles couldn't enter the inner city, but trucks could, as long as they had a pass. Cheng Suyan simply asked someone from Qian Ji Hall to help with this, using connections when possible.

"The 'Beast Hunter Chronicles' really is widespread. The institute must be making a fortune from this one industry, right?" Cheng Suyan remarked enviously.

The group remained silent. Miao Miu gave Shao Qi a glance and chuckled, "All these are national assets. No matter how much is earned, doesn't it all belong to the country?" Little did they know, the major stakeholder behind 'Beast Hunter Chronicles' was actually the Sixth Military Factory.

Even for their own outlets, there were no internal discounts. Everything was sold at market price—a rather shrewd business model.

Zhou You recalled the indifferent attitude of the store clerk during his last visit. This time, they were much warmer, probably because they had arrived in a big truck, leading the store to assume they had captured a whole mutated beast.

Many hunting teams would bring back entire beasts since every part could be sold. Regardless of the price, bringing them back meant money!

"Are you here to sell?" The store manager personally greeted them. They were unfamiliar faces, but their presence was commanding—perhaps they truly had something valuable to offer.

"Let someone fetch the items from the car. We have an inventory here. Check it and give me a quote," said Shao Qi. Miao Miao opened the list, synced it with the store manager's bracelet, and sent it over.

The list was densely packed with over a hundred items. The store manager was taken aback by the many high-grade mutant creature materials. It had been a while since their store had seen such premium materials. He immediately instructed his staff to escort them to the VIP room while he went to help unload the goods.

Chapter 117: Young Master Zhou

A crowd had gathered outside the Beast Capture Store, watching the workers unload. The smart store manager had the items announced loudly as they were being brought down. It was all material they were going to buy anyway, so why not use the opportunity for some free advertising?

But as the volume of goods increased, and seeing that almost all were mid-to-high-grade materials, he became slightly uneasy. Ordinary folks couldn't afford these high-grade materials. Such items were typically reserved for VIP clients. Some materials were hard to come by, and they even issue tasks to explorer teams to find them outside the city.

"Ten fragrant toxic frogs, seven alive - high-grade materials, three dead - mid-grade materials... One adult giant snake, twenty-one meters long, body intact - high-grade... One king vulture, body intact - high-grade..."

The onlookers were amazed just by the names. "Which exploration team hunted these?" they wondered. Securing intact mutant beast carcasses was challenging as damage often occurred during battle, unless the beast was overpowered and killed in one blow.

The store manager, standing closer, could see clearly. The king vulture had only a wound on its left eye, truly killed in one blow. As for the giant snake, he couldn't even find a wound on it. It was quite mystifying.

He quickly shared a video with his VIP clients, urging them to purchase these rare finds swiftly. Such treasures weren't easy to come by.

Before everything could be unloaded, many had already flocked from all directions. Even before settling the bill, reservations were made, leaving the store manager grinning from ear to ear.

Someone whispered to their companion, "If these materials are in such high demand, why doesn't the seller sell directly to the customers? Why let the middleman make a profit?"

"It's like retail vs. wholesale. Although free trading of materials is allowed, that's when there's a limited quantity. Selling a truckload of goods individually would take forever. VIP clients aren't short on money, so they prefer buying in bulk from stores like Beast Capture. Plus, reaching a certain purchase amount grants upgrades and points, so it's not a total loss."

Zhou You sat in the VIP room, sipping tea sourced from the Jiangnan base. It paled in comparison to the tea he had received as gifts back at the base.

Cheng Yuran, growing restless, pulled Long Gan to browse the store's products. Miao Miao, eager to upgrade her weapon, followed Shao Qi, inquiring about their appointment with Master Fan.

"There's no rush. Master Fan has a temper and will soon hear of our arrival. If we approach him too soon, he might think we're here just for him. Best to keep him waiting for a couple of days."

Miao Miao hesitated and said, "Who would dare keep you waiting?" She thought, 'No wonder Master Fan always ends up at Shao Qi's mercy. Despite his threats, he can't resist.'

This trip provided the rare privilege of accompanying Shao Qi. They might not always have this opportunity to assist in the future.

After an hour of waiting, everyone grew bored. Shao Qi decided to take them shopping in the city, leaving instructions for the store manager to notify them once the counting was done.

"Apologies for the delay, esteemed guests. The sheer volume and quality of the goods require some time for verification and tallying. Some materials are so precious that they need immediate processing and storage. We'll notify you as soon as we're done," said Store Manager Li, showing utmost respect and courtesy, even though it was their first meeting.