Chapter 299: Step into a pit every day, 998 (5k)

These guys are all potential safety hazards.

"Okay, Minister, you send it over. I’ll ask Old Meng about it when the time comes," Wen Yan said.

Cai Qidong acted quickly. That very day, a refrigerated truck stopped by the roadside in the northern part of Wen Yan’s villa district.

The driver didn’t even remove the key. He just got out of the vehicle and walked away, abandoning the truck.

That evening, Wen Yan called Old Meng.

Old Meng, as usual, hung up and called back. When he saw the area code, however, he realized it was still from the Northwest.

"Old Meng, why are you still over there?"

"I’m recuperating. It’s not something that heals easily..." Old Meng’s voice was tinged with weakness.

"Ah, well, you focus on resting up then. I just got my hands on something good..."

"Where are you? I’m coming right over."

At the desert’s edge, Old Meng, who had been lying still as a corpse under the leeward side of a low earthen wall, suddenly shot up like a carp.

He slapped the sleeping camel awake.

"Come on, get up! Time to work."

The camel opened its eyes, looking at Old Meng, somewhat speechless.

"Aren’t you even going to ask what it is? Are you that desperate?"

"You don’t understand a damn thing! Attitude! It’s all about attitude, do you get it? Even if he pulls out a pile of garbage today, I have to rush over immediately. I’d almost prefer he gave me garbage; then next time, he’d be too embarrassed to try and palm me off with it."

"And what if it’s really something good?"

"Are you stupid? If it’s genuinely good, then of course it’s worth me making the trip myself."

Old Meng rode his camel at a trot across the desert and soon disappeared into the sands.

On the road, in the quiet of the night, Old Meng appeared silently, wearing a hat and riding his camel.

He arrived at the location of their last trade, where Wen Yan was already waiting.

Wen Yan didn’t waste any words and directly opened the back of the refrigerated truck.

Inside a glass coffin lay a Devil’s Body, at least two meters tall. Beside it were several glass jars: some contained a devil’s head, others held devil bones or internal organs.

Old Meng’s eyes lit up. He climbed into the truck and first examined the glass jars.

"These incisions, this preservation—so clean and precise. Truly high-level work."

"Are these them?"

"All of them."

"Devil parts are rare commodities, especially this skull. Mages from the Ancient School are particularly fond of such things. They use them as Magic Amplification devices, which have an excellent enhancing effect on certain types of Magic."

"This Devil’s Body too. A friendly reminder: this is a genuine Devil’s Body, not one of those corrupted and mutated specimens that appear after a descent."

Old Meng was taken aback and immediately began inspecting the Devil’s Body. After examining it for a long moment, he drew a sharp breath.

"Well, I’ll be damned! It’s the real deal. So a Demon King’s True Body really did descend. I thought the rumors were just baseless exaggerations."

Old Meng’s eyes began to gleam, his mind instantly racing with a thousand schemes. He was already pondering how to leverage this Devil’s Body for maximum profit.

"Let’s be clear: these items cannot appear in the Divine Land."

Old Meng’s mind raced. He immediately figured someone was secretly trying to get him a good deal but didn’t want things to go south.

Then again, what did it matter to him? In the Divine Land, these items were high-risk, low-reward, and had a small target audience. Even if he were crazy, he definitely wouldn’t sell this stuff there.

If he didn’t manage to fleece those Foreigners down to their underpants this time, he’d consider it his loss.

He was still holding a grudge from the last time those Foreigners had ripped him off. He remembered those Toy Magic Wands; even now, he hadn’t managed to offload all of them. That was proof enough of how badly he’d been conned.

"This stuff is indeed difficult to appraise..."

"Then I’ll name a price, and you see what you think," Wen Yan said.

"Go on."

"Nine hundred and ninety-eight Big Yellow Fish."

"Nine hundred and ninety-eight! Are you crazy? Or do you think I am?!"

Wen Yan said with a sly smile, "According to our agreement, when I’m selling something and name a price, as long as it’s lower than the highest price you have in mind, you can’t haggle."

Old Meng suddenly looked at Wen Yan intently.He was beginning to understand why their original contract had such a clause. So, it was all leading up to this moment.

The highest price in his mind was one thousand. According to their agreement, he couldn’t refuse the price Wen Yan had named.

"Old Meng, if you think this isn’t right, then it just means I overestimated you."

"Hmm?"

"A genuine Devil’s Body... Old Meng, if you can’t make back at least five times the profit on this—and that’s not even counting the unquantifiable benefits—if you can’t achieve that, then I truly did overestimate you."

Old Meng’s mind turned, and he chuckled heartily.

As a businessman, how could one expect to profit from every single deal? Upon seeing this Devil’s Body, he’d already decided he wouldn’t profit from this particular transaction, because he could earn much more from it down the line.

He did a quick calculation. Wen Yan wasn’t wrong. Even at the highest purchase price, not counting the intangible benefits from new connections he’d make, just looking at the quantifiable returns—if he couldn’t make back more than five times the amount, he’d consider himself too soft on those Foreigners.

"Alright, nine hundred and ninety-eight it is. That number’s quite auspicious too."

"Excellent."

The two didn’t haggle much over this acquisition. Once the goods were inspected and confirmed to be in order, the deal was considered done.

The payment was left with Old Meng, unwithdrawn. In the future, when purchasing intelligence, it could be directly deducted.

Once this matter was concluded, Wen Yan casually asked a question.

"Old Meng, you were in the Northeast before, weren’t you?"

"Yes, I was. What about it?"

"I have something related to the North that I’d like you to take a look at. How would we account for this one?"

"Let me see it."

Wen Yan took out his phone and opened the processed photograph.

Seeing it was just a photograph, Old Meng waved his hand dismissively.

"It’s just looking at a photo, what’s there to charge for? Not everything has to be a business transaction. I’ll just take a look for you."

Old Meng enlarged the photo with his finger and studied it carefully for a long moment. His expression grew somewhat peculiar.

"I’ve actually seen something similar to this before. It’s just a bit strange for it to appear in Nanwu County."

"What is it?"

"That Ghost is likely a Ghost Servant. Those chains are reins, and they only materialize when broken."