Cultivation Kill

"Let me see this book," Shen Zige said as she walked to the two of them.

"What do you think you're doing!" one of them exclaimed, clutching the book tightly. "We paid for this; you can't just expect to read it for free!"

“Yes, if you want to see it, you can pay for it,” another person said.

Shen Zige helplessly spread her hands: "I think you two have some misunderstanding. I saw this book on the street just now, in the bookstore next to that Golden Roast Duck restaurant."

"So what if I saw it?" The person holding the book took a step back warily.

“Oh, if I remember correctly, that book was priced at only ten taels of silver,” Shen Zige said.

"Ten taels of silver?"

The two looked at each other.

Time seemed to freeze.

"You lied to me! You're in cahoots with that hooded man!" The man holding the book threw it to another man and grabbed Shen Zige by the collar. "You owe us money!"

“Let go. Do you want to be executed for fighting?” Shen Zige said. “I have nothing to do with the hooded man.”

The man holding Shen Zige glanced at the city guards in the distance and quickly let go.

“Who told you to expose us!” another man said. “You’re just as despicable as the hooded man. We’d rather live in deception than have the truth from you!”

Although the two shouted at Shen Zige, they did not lay a hand on her again, because they were both afraid of dying.

The hooded man left them a spirit stone, which was equivalent to leaving them with hope of survival, preventing them from having the courage to perish together.

“That hooded man has an unparalleled understanding of human nature.” Shen Zige looked towards the alleyway where the hooded man had disappeared. “I didn’t pay much attention to him before; he was too well hidden.”

The hooded man quickly grasped everyone's psychological needs and used information asymmetry to earn spirit stones. Shen Zige thought he would be someone important in the future, but unfortunately he was too cold-blooded. In a foreign land, he even cheated his fellow countrymen.

After leaving the Star Bank, Shen Zige decided to visit a bookstore.

Walking on the bustling street, looking at the crowds, Shen Zige felt as if she had returned to ancient times, as if time and space had intersected.

"Shen Zige".

Qin Jing caught up and stayed by Shen Zige's side.

"Is there something you need?" Shen Zige stopped and asked.

"We're in an unfamiliar place, so we fellow villagers should stick together and support each other," said Qin Jing.

The hooded man walked up to Shen Zige and said, "I tricked those two because I had two friends in the same secret realm team as them, and when they came out, my two friends didn't."

"You don't need to explain these things to me, I'm not interested." Shen Zige saw the pawnshop window, where the shopkeeper was appraising a mobile phone charger.

“I don’t want you to misunderstand, let me tell you something: here, survival takes precedence over justice and morality.” The hooded man followed Shen Zige’s gaze. “This pawnshop owner is very interested in Earth’s technology, but it’s just a charger. It would be worth a lot if it had a generator.”

Could this hooded man be someone I know? Shen Zige wondered—a classmate from school or an acquaintance from the neighborhood?

Shen Zige's life is very simple, going back and forth between school and home, and her acquaintances are probably in these two places.

Unconsciously, Shen Zige walked to the entrance of the bookstore and turned to go inside.

The bookstore looked quite old; half of the bookshelves against the wall showed signs of insect damage, and much of the dark wood had cracked. Shen Zige worried that the bookshelves might collapse and crush them, the customers, at any moment.

"What type of book are you planning to buy?" a simply dressed young woman asked as she approached.

"For literacy, illustrated books are best, as are books about spirit condensation," Shen Zige said.

“I understand, you’re an Earthling who just came out of the secret realm,” the girl said. “Earthlings can usually become cultivators, I’m so envious! We have a lot of the two books you mentioned in our bookstore. The printing press is constantly printing them; they’re bestsellers.”

"How much are the two books?" Shen Zige asked.

"Ten taels of silver," the girl replied. "The book 'Basic Spirit Condensation' costs ten taels of silver. The illustrated guide to comparing Chinese characters with common characters is a free gift. The main reason it's more expensive is that for every copy of 'Basic Spirit Condensation' sold, we have to pay a large portion of the copyright tax to the Bamboo Kingdom."

"Was the book compiled by the Bamboo Kingdom?" Shen Zige asked curiously.

"The foundation of Spirit Condensation is like salt from long ago, owned by the government, and unlicensed shops weren't allowed to sell it privately," the girl explained. "And then there are the Five Elements..."

Shen Zige thought that selling a book for ten taels of silver, which is equivalent to a thousand copper coins, was quite expensive. However, considering that this was a monopoly, it was normal for it to be priced higher.

"Lin Yixuan, there are still customers here, come and serve them!" the middle-aged man sitting behind the cashier counter shouted. "Hurry up."

“Yes, Manager Lin!” The girl took two books from the bookshelf in the center and handed them to Shen Zige. “When Manager Lin is working, I am not allowed to call him Father.”

“I want both of these books too,” Qin Jing said.

"If you want to save money, you two can actually read them together," said Lin Yixuan, the young girl. "These two books are printed with ink that will fade in about a month, so you should finish reading them as soon as possible!"

Did Lin Yixuan realize that this was ruining her own business? It's like letting them see pirated copies, which will definitely reduce her bookstore's sales.

"No need, I'll just buy two," Qin Jing insisted. "It's not convenient to borrow one from another."

"Okay." Lin Yixuan handed two more books to Qin Jing, then rushed to another customer.

Shen Zige and Qin Jing went to pay the bill.

"Here's your change: eighty taels of silver." The bookstore manager, Lin, quickly accepted a spirit stone from Shen Zige and gave him a small bag of silver in change.

A spirit stone can be exchanged for 120 to 200 taels of silver on the black market, sometimes even more, so people who use spirit stones to buy things are considered suckers by the locals of the Bamboo Kingdom.

The reason his bookstore was giving away a book was to compete with other bookstores for Earthling business. On the surface, he told his daughter about the special offer, but in reality, he wanted to earn spirit stones. His daughter was too kind and needed to be deceived. He knew that the secret realm opened once every six months, and this had been going on for nine years.

"sister!"

Shen Zige and Qin Jing were about to leave when they encountered a girl who was getting dressed and entering the room. The girl was wearing a black short skirt and a white short shirt, with a red bow tie, which was a sailor school uniform.

"Xiao-Xiao Jie, you were brought into this world too!" Qin Jing said painfully. "If Dad knew, how heartbroken he would be?"

“I can’t do anything about it…” said Qin Jie, the girl in the sailor uniform. “My dad bought us a huge insurance policy, so we shouldn’t have to worry about money for the rest of our lives. I hope he can find someone he likes and have another son or daughter with me.”

Qin Jie herself lacked confidence in what she was saying; she could almost see the expression on her father's face after he learned that his two daughters had gone missing.

"Hey, Shen Zige, you've come to this world too?" Qin Jie only then noticed Shen Zige next to Qin Jing.

"Bad luck," Shen Zige said.

What a coincidence!

Qin Jing's younger sister is Qin Jie, who is also his classmate. What a coincidence!

He had been trying to clear his mind and not think about his hometown, but after hearing what Qin Jie said, his efforts failed instantly. He thought of his mother crying and his brother's dejected expression.

In this other world, crying is a useless act; it will only make others think you are weak and easily bullied. "I will not cry," Shen Zige told herself.

Suppressing emotions for too long will eventually lead to an eruption like a volcano, leaving a person unrecognizable and mentally unstable. It's good to let them out.

Some people can cry without letting others see it!