Hook carried her small backpack, scurrying quickly through the streets and alleys.
From time to time, she would look back to wait for Ye Yun, urging him to hurry up.
More than half an hour later.
Hook led Ye Yun to a clinic that looked quite decent.
By "looking decent," it meant it looked much better than the surrounding houses.
The houses in the Underworld were mostly dilapidated shacks, but this clinic at least looked intact.
Hook pushed the front door wide open.
"Old... Sister Natasha! Someone is here to see you!"
Inside the room, Natasha, who was explaining some precautions to a patient, turned her head.
"Hook, didn't you go out to play? How come you're back so early today?"
Natasha walked toward Hook, and only after getting closer did she notice the little red panda backpack on Hook's back.
"This backpack..."
Seeing Natasha looking at her small backpack, Hook grinningly took it off, fished out a piece of rainbow candy from inside, and handed it to Natasha.
"Sister Natasha, have this!"
Natasha looked at the candy in Hook's small hand.
"Hook, where did you get all this stuff?"
Hook pointed at Ye Yun, who was standing at the doorway.
"Look! Ye Yun gave it to me! Oh right, he's here to see you about something."
Hearing this, Natasha popped the candy straight into Hook's mouth.
"You eat it, Hook, I don't want any."
Natasha stood up and walked toward Ye Yun and the mystical Lios following behind him.
When Natasha saw Lios, her pupils contracted slightly, and she was extremely surprised.
What kind of creature is this? Why is there fire blazing all over its body?
After a moment of daze, Natasha recovered.
"Hello, I am Natasha. Thank you for the backpack and candy you gave to Hook. I heard you were looking for me—is there something you need?"
Ye Yun looked around his surroundings.
"Hello, I am Ye Yun. There's no need to thank me for what I gave Hook; she earned it. She guided me here, so that was the toll for the road."
Natasha smiled faintly. That road toll was far too expensive.
As far as she knew, even in the Overworld, the gifts Ye Yun gave Hook would be considered quite valuable.
"Isn't this road toll a bit too precious?"
Ye Yun shook his head.
"It's fine, I have plenty of these little things. I came to see you because I also have a business deal I'd like to discuss."
Hearing this, Natasha glanced around.
She noticed that some of the passersby were paying attention to this side.
"Come with me, I'll take you to a quiet place."
Natasha walked back into the room and gently patted the head of Hook, who was sitting on a small wooden stool.
"Hook, play here for a while and don't run around, okay? Did you hear me? It's almost time for dinner."
With the candy still in her mouth, Hook nodded with a grin.
"Okay~"
Afterward, Natasha led Ye Yun up to her second-floor office.
..........
Inside the office.
Natasha poured Ye Yun a cup of plain water.
"Conditions are crude, please bear with it."
Ye Yun shook his head to indicate it didn't matter.
Only then did Natasha ask.
"I wonder what kind of business Mr. Ye Yun wants to do with me?"
Ye Yun snapped his fingers, and several heavy sacks, each weighing a hundred catties of rice, appeared.
"Food! Endless amounts of food!"
With that, Ye Yun swiped his finger across one of the sacks of rice, and snow-white grains poured out from the opening.
Natasha was utterly shocked by the quality of the rice—such snow-white rice!
"Mr. Ye Yun, how many Shield-Coins do you want to sell this rice for per sack?"
Ye Yun smiled.
"I don't accept Shield-Coins here. I am not a person from Jarilo-VI.
My companions and I only arrived on this planet today."
Hearing Ye Yun say he was not from this planet, Natasha was only slightly surprised.
Growing up having received a good education from a young age, Natasha was well aware of the existence of the universe.
"Then do you accept Credits here? If it's Credits, you might need to wait a moment while I have someone pool them together."
Ye Yun shook his head once more.
"No, no, no, I only accept Stellar Jades here—those pink stones."
As he spoke, Ye Yun took out his phone and displayed a photo of a Stellar Jade.
Natasha took a look.
"We have these here; people usually use them to decorate their houses.
For this, I will also need some time to prepare."
Ye Yun nodded with satisfaction. As long as they had them, that was fine.
"I'm not in a hurry for time."
Natasha let out a sigh of relief; she had been worried that Ye Yun would give her a very tight deadline.
"Then, what is the pricing for this rice?"
Ye Yun took out his phone and showed Natasha several kinds of food and their prices that he had recorded in advance.
Natasha took the phone.
[100 catties of rice, Price: 5 Credits]
[100 catties of flour, Price: 5 Credits]
[100 catties of corn, Price: 5 Credits]
[100 catties of sweet potatoes, Price: 5 Credits]
[100 catties of baby bok choy, Price: 5 Credits]
[100 catties of apples, Price: 5 Credits]
After reading it, Natasha was a bit puzzled.
"And these Credits are...?"
Ye Yun explained.
"1 Stellar Jade can be exchanged for 100 Credits."
Natasha's face instantly filled with disbelief.
The little stones people usually used for decoration were actually this valuable?!
Calculated at 5 Credits for 100 catties of rice, a single Stellar Jade could be exchanged for a full 2,000 catties!
Two thousand catties of rice would be enough to feed everyone in Boulder Town for two or three days.
By now, Natasha was completely unable to stay calm.
"Mr. Ye Yun, please wait a moment. I will immediately have someone gather the Stellar Jades, and I'll come find you tomorrow, alright?"
Ye Yun nodded, pointing at the sacks of rice to the side.
"Consider these few sacks of rice a gift from us; they're just worthless little things anyway."
Natasha smiled and expressed her gratitude.
Then, she hurried out of the office in a rush.
Ye Yun stayed in the office for a little while before leaving as well.
When he came down to the first floor of the clinic, he saw Lios talking to Hook with a very serious expression.
Hook was listening extremely intently, letting out gasps of amazement from time to time.
Ye Yun walked closer and listened in.
"Hook, come find me tomorrow, and I'll teach you some combat skills."
Hook nodded repeatedly.
"Okay! I'll come find you tomorrow, Master Lios!"
Ye Yun was stunned for a moment.
Uh... what just happened? How long had he been gone? Hook had already taken Lios as her master?
Ye Yun wasn't worried about Lios's teaching ability at all.
You have to know that even Ray, one of the most powerful spirits in Lios's world, had studied under him for a period of time.
Ye Yun coughed a few times, and both the man and the deer noticed him.
Ye Yun checked the time and patted Hook on the head.
"Let's go, time to eat."
Hearing this, Hook asked.
"Eh? Where are we going to eat? Aren't we eating here? We're having rock crab tonight, I want to eat rock crab."
Ye Yun shook his head. According to the game's text description, rock crab was the kind of thing with an extremely hard shell, very little meat, and a very sour taste.
"Rock crabs aren't delicious. I'll take you to eat something genuinely good."
With that, Ye Yun took Hook by the hand and led Lios out of the clinic.
............
Overworld.
Stelle, Dan Heng, and March 7th had just stepped out of the Supreme Guardian's office.