Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton
Chapter 1573 - 1134: Want to steal our goods?

Chapter 1573: Chapter 1134: Want to steal our goods?

The blind girl couldn’t hear Negris muttering clearly, but when she didn’t respond immediately, the girl realized it wasn’t Yaya and retreated into the pit, disappointed.

Ange kept walking without stopping, sweeping his thoughts across the surrounding area, including the girl herself. After scanning, Ange suddenly stopped and tilted his head slightly toward the girl’s direction.

Negris asked, "What’s wrong?"

"Not human," Ange replied before continuing to search with his head down. Negris, on the other hand, paused, curiously leaning toward the edge of the pit to see why "not human."

The pit was quite simple. Some miscellaneous items were neatly piled up on the left side, while the right seemed to be a workspace with a basin of water and some Phantom Rock fragments.

The girl was sitting by the basin, holding a wooden stick, dipping it in water, then in some Phantom Rock fragments, and repeatedly grinding them against the Phantom Rock in her hand. There were ropes by her feet, and judging by the Phantom Rock fragments stuck to them, it seemed they were being used similarly to grind Phantom Rock.

"So it’s the Bow Jade Technique. I was wondering how she could sculpt Phantom Rock; turns out it’s the Bow Jade Technique," Negris said, suddenly enlightened.

Anthony also came closer, looked at the item in the girl’s hand, and asked curiously, "What’s the Bow Jade Technique?" The term was too specialized; Anthony wasn’t familiar with it.

The girl, already somewhat frightened by their approach, visibly relaxed after hearing Negris’ voice. She turned and asked, "Are you here to collect Phantom Rock?"

This was a largely worthless Abyss Dimension; its only valuable resource was Phantom Rock. Those who stayed here were engaged in industries built around Phantom Rock. For instance, this girl was a sculptor specialized in crafting Phantom Rock sculptures.

Other than those involved in the Phantom Rock industry, the only people who typically came here were merchants collecting Phantom Rock. Merchants had occasionally watched her work before, so the girl naturally assumed Negris and the others were merchants.

Anthony kindly said, "Sort of. Hello, what are you working on? It looks very beautiful. Are you making these to sell? How much for one?"

"Beautiful?" The girl lit up with a happy smile, carrying a sense of pride from receiving recognition. She held her Phantom Rock sculpture in her palms to display it. "One gold coin, is that okay? It takes me a month to sculpt one."

Anthony was momentarily stunned, sensing something amiss. He said, "Wait a moment."

He then contacted Silver Coin and asked, "Do you know Phantom Rock? How much do Phantom Rock sculptures usually cost? Around ten centimeters tall—how much? Starting at fifty Demon Crystals? Got it."

After getting the information he wanted, Anthony turned back and kindly asked, "Have you eaten yet? Are you hungry?"

"No..." The girl instinctively swallowed her saliva and was about to say she wasn’t hungry when her stomach betrayed her, letting out a loud "grr—" sound.

Anthony burst into hearty laughter. Enthusiastically, he pulled out some dried meat and pastries, stuffing them into the girl’s hands while asking, "You only earn one gold coin per month—can you usually get enough to eat?"

The girl, somewhat flustered holding the food Anthony shoved into her hands, shyly shook her head. "I eat less, so I don’t starve. Thank you, but I can’t accept this; it smells too good and must be expensive."

"Go ahead and eat. I have questions to ask you, but I want you to eat first. It’s hard to talk to you while you’re starving," Anthony said with feigned displeasure. The simple girl was no match for Anthony; a few rounds of moral persuasion had her obediently nibbling on the dried meat.

Negris took the opportunity to whisper, "A gold coin per month isn’t too bad, right? Many farmers don’t even make one gold coin a year—why isn’t she able to eat enough?"

Anthony responded quietly, "There’s no grain produced here; all food is shipped in. Prices must be incredibly high. If Phantom Rock products were cheap, it’d be one thing, but Silver Coin said the starting price for them is fifty Demon Crystals, which is at least five hundred gold coins. Earning that much money but still deliberately making people go hungry—that tells you how corrupt those damn merchants are."

This highlighted the difference between experience and theory. Anthony instantly caught what was wrong, but Negris could only naïvely assess based on nominal value.

"Oh, right, no grain. Food must be expensive. But what do you mean by deliberately making people go hungry? On purpose?" Negris asked in puzzlement.

"If you could earn ten months’ worth of wages in one month, would you still keep working? Under what circumstances would you work hard?"

"Is it when your earnings just barely cover your expenses, when you’d have no food next month if you didn’t work, or when you owe loans and wake up every day needing to repay them? That’s when your motivation to work is strongest, right? They deliberately suppress purchasing prices, forcing her to work hard just to avoid starving," Anthony explained.

Negris widened her eyes in disbelief. "That evil? Damn merchants!"

Far away in the Court of Rio, Silver Coin, too busy to follow along, suddenly sneezed three times in a row. He rubbed his nose and muttered, "Surely Lord Nage is cursing me again."

A single gold coin was just enough to feed one person, but it wouldn’t suffice for two. The girl appeared skinny, her hands covered in cracked wounds. Her fingernails and skin also had hangnails, evident signs of nutritional deficiencies.

Despite all this, the girl stopped eating after a few bites, carefully putting aside the remaining food.

"I’m full now. Sir, what would you like to ask? But could you first tell me—what is the Bow Jade Technique?" the girl asked.

"Oh, this—it’s a method for using bow-shaped tools to cut stone. You take a stick, bend it, and tie a string to both ends; the stick naturally tightens the string like a bow."

"Then you wet the string, coat it with crushed rock, and move it back and forth. That’s how you can cut jade or other stones, just like what you’re doing now. So it’s called the Bow Jade Technique. There’s even a saying: ’Stones from other mountains can bow jade,’ referring to this technique," Negris explained.

The girl had a moment of realization. "So that’s what it means! I’ve used ropes to grind stones like this since I was little—I didn’t know it had a name. You’re amazing; you must be a Wise Man."

"Haha, haha..." Negris’ tail practically wagged as he laughed foolishly.

The girl turned to Anthony and said, "Sir, what would you like to ask?"

"What’s your name?" Anthony asked.

"I’m Ketika Luti," the girl replied.

"I hope this question won’t offend you, but may I ask—are you human?" Anthony asked.

"Ah!" Ketika Luti instantly tensed up.

"Don’t be scared; don’t be scared. I just felt your aura was a bit unusual—that’s why I randomly asked. No malice intended. If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine," Anthony quickly assured her.

Negris couldn’t help but roll his eyes, silently cursing in his head: "Right, you sensed it! Ange told you explicitly. Dumb Godman."

Perhaps Anthony’s tone was convincing, as Ketika Luti relaxed a little and stammered, "I... I... I..."

Though Ketika Luti couldn’t say anything definitive, Anthony already knew. He smiled and shifted the topic, "Your Phantom Rock sculpture is quite exquisite. Can I buy it?"

"Sure, of course! It just needs a little finishing up. One gold coin—is that okay?" Ketika Luti cautiously asked, afraid she had priced it too high.

"Of course..." Anthony was about to pay when a furious shout erupted from the direction of the Pioneer Camp: "What are you doing?! Trying to steal our goods? Has no one told you this is Black Cord Mercenary Group territory?!"