Chapter 17

"Those broken spirit fish are pretty much useless. The fish bones and marrow were definitely taken out on the spot. The spirit horns are shattered and have little value, but they’re too precious to just throw away. When we return to port, we sort them out. If anyone wants them, we sell them cheap. If no one wants them, they end up as garbage. Sea ghosts are like that; they take what they can get, and if they can’t, they just let it go. After all, the fishing boats are so big, they can just leave them there for a while."

"Oh, I see. How much are they worth?" Du Qian’s mind started to race. Broken spirit horns were still spirit horns. If they were very cheap, he could buy some to try out. His combat power had increased by several dozen in just two days, and he didn’t think it was due to his hard training or a sudden stroke of luck. There must be a reason, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

"Long ago, they were sold by the pile. The price varied; sometimes it was a few dozen dollars, sometimes just a few dollars."

His heart was burning with excitement. He swallowed the hamburger in a few bites and walked forward, trying to appear calm.

The manager in charge here was someone he had met yesterday, a manager under the Buzhou Trading Company, surnamed Li. Du Qian didn’t remember his full name, as he had met too many people in the past two days.

"Manager Li, are you busy?" Du Qian greeted him, not getting too close. Around the sorting machine, dozens of burly men stood, all of whom seemed to be martial cultivators, any one of whom could beat him to a pulp.

"Hehe, not too busy. This is the last ship of the day. Officer Du, you’re just having your meal now, must be tough," Manager Li said, neither warmly nor coldly. They saw each other often, and with the Buzhou Trading Company’s power, they didn’t really need a small patrol officer like Du Qian, but they didn’t want to offend him either. Sometimes, offending a small person could be troublesome, especially a young one with a short temper.

"How much can these broken fish sell for?" Du Qian couldn’t help but ask, his second question.

The guards, seeing Du Qian’s police uniform and recognizing him, were less tense, but their eyes still occasionally slid over him, which made him feel uncomfortable, as if he were being pricked by needles.

Are martial cultivators so formidable that their gaze can hurt?

"Today’s broken fish aren’t many. This pile is worth about ten dollars. Officer Du, are you interested?" Manager Li, who had the ability to be a manager, had keen eyes.

"Never seen them before, first time," Du Qian laughed, indicating his interest in buying.

"Just for a look, that’s easy. Ten dollars for the whole pile, I can make that decision." Manager Li understood the implications. The trading company had no interest in such things, but they had to be recorded in the accounts. It wasn’t his property, so he didn’t care much about the price, just enough to make it seem fair.

The broken fish belonged to the trading company, but the favor was his. And this wasn’t breaking any rules.

"Thanks a lot." Du Qian didn’t hesitate to be polite. What was politeness worth? Ten dollars a pound?

The broken fish weren’t much, but they certainly weren’t just a pound; they were closer to ten pounds. The truly valuable parts had already been sorted out, leaving mostly broken meat and scales, which were hard to sort, and a small portion of shattered spirit horns and spines.

A helper by Manager Li’s side, who was very observant, wrapped the items in oil paper and handed them to Du Qian. Du Qian quickly took out his identity card and swiped it on the wireless terminal the helper handed him.

"No need to be polite. If Officer Du likes this stuff, I can save it for you. There’s not much of it, but there’s some every day," Manager Li said, just being polite. If he saved it every day, what if you didn’t want it? Who would he give it to?

After tonight, this stuff would be worthless. Spirit horns and spines, once separated from their host, lose their spiritual energy very quickly, becoming garbage after a day.

Fishing boats take days to return from the sea, even for near-shore fishing, and large ships can be out for over half a month. So, this stuff wouldn’t be in large quantities, and the expired ones would already have been thrown into the sea.

Du Qian picked up the items, thanked them again, and turned around, seeing Feng Bao’s disapproving look. You, a war orphan, just made a little money and are already spending it so freely. You’ll have tough times ahead.

After work, he returned to the station, completed the handover, and ran all the way back home. Time was money, and Du Qian deeply understood this. Every minute that passed, some part of the spirit equipment fragments in the bag might become garbage.

This large pile of stuff wouldn’t fit in a storage box, so he had to use it directly. He didn’t even have time to take a shower, and started positioning himself, covered in sweat.

Drawing the spirit energy into his body, he touched, touched, touched...

This time, Du Qian’s mental state was very good, fully awake, and he carefully felt the sensation. The hunger sensation indeed came back, but it was very faint, not really a hunger, more like seeing an afternoon snack and wanting to eat a few pieces, but not eating wouldn’t matter much.

A thick strand of spirit energy flowed into his body through his fingers. Yes, through his fingers, not from the top of his head as usual. The source channel was completely different.

Sweat quickly seeped through his skin, sliding over his wheat-colored body and pooling on the floor. The spirit energy penetrated his body, and by the time it reached his chest, it had indeed decreased by half. The remaining part slowly integrated into his body.

After an unknown amount of time, the spirit energy at his fingertips disappeared, but spirit energy continued to flow in from the top of his head, returning to normal speed.

This so-called normal, if it were three days ago, would have been quite abnormal, at least ten times the usual level.

He took a few deep breaths, trembling his arms, thighs, and other muscles, slowly recovering from the spirit energy absorption. When the spirit energy was gone, he stood up, stretching his sore and numb limbs.

Looking down, he saw a pile of disgusting broken meat on the floor, interspersed with silver scales. There were many gaps, and the small portion of broken spirit energy had indeed disappeared.

"Yay!" Du Qian cheered.

"I’m the main character, I have a halo... Yay..." Du Qian called softly, afraid of being heard. He wasn’t naturally crazy.

The experiment was successful, but he didn’t know how much his combat power had increased. The disappeared broken spirit energy must have been absorbed, but how much could this pile increase his combat power? It was a frustrating question.

He took a slow shower, put on his clothes, and walked to the commercial street. He wouldn’t take a bus today, not even a public bus, to save every bit of money.

Could a Battle Master absorb broken spirit energy? Or did Battle Masters look down on broken spirit energy?

Could he absorb spirit equipment that only Battle Masters could absorb?

On the way, Du Qian almost got hit by cars several times, ignoring the drivers’ curses. His mind was full of doubts, but he didn’t dare ask anyone about this.

Slicing and such weren’t a concern; the Zhou Shan Empire didn’t have such things. In this world, there were incredible martial cultivators, revered talisman masters, and mysterious soul controllers. Du Qian’s changes weren’t necessarily strange.

But this ability was too overpowered. Even if Du Qian’s intelligence was just above average and his emotional intelligence was far below average, he knew that good things don’t fall from the sky, and a child hugging a gold brick wasn’t a good thing.

From childhood to now, he was just considered relatively smart, not a genius. The changes had only appeared in the past few days, and they couldn’t be for no reason.

Especially this ability, which would make anyone jealous and want to take it, was safest kept secret.

Besides these issues, money was also a headache. Compared to the worst spirit horns, which were worth over a hundred dollars, broken spirit energy was a bargain.

But even if it was a bargain, it was still real money. He didn’t know how effective ten dollars a pile would be, but he could guess it wouldn’t be as good as a hundred dollars for a complete spirit horn. There was no comparison.

A single spirit horn could increase his combat power by dozens. How much could ten dollars increase it?

The biggest problem was that his identity card only had a little money left, not enough to buy much. Besides cultivation, he still needed to eat, so he couldn’t spend it all.

Earning money, earning money, but how to earn it? It was ten days until his next paycheck, and new employees’ salaries were paid monthly, which was one of the benefits. Even so, a salary of fifty to sixty dollars didn’t seem to help much.

"Bang..." Du Qian, lost in his worries, casually collided with a tree.

"Hehe... Look at him, he’s so dazed, he walked into a tree." A silver bell-like laugh sounded beside him.

His head spun, but he quickly regained his senses. Du Qian’s walking speed wasn’t too fast, and with his 6,000 combat power, the impact was negligible, especially with a relatively soft tree trunk.

Turning his head, he saw a pair of stunning sisters standing about ten steps away.

The one speaking was probably the younger sister, who looked no more than fifteen or sixteen, with a mischievous face, looking at him and then at her sister.

The older sister was about Du Qian’s age, standing like a willow, extremely serene. Since it was a side view, he couldn’t see her face clearly, but even so, she was breathtaking.

In his class, there were no girls as beautiful as these. The three beauties of his class, who were famous on graduation day, were remembered more for their outstanding talents than their looks.

If anyone could compare to these sisters, it might only be his aunt. Even his cousin, who inherited his aunt’s genes and was naturally beautiful, was slightly inferior.

For a war orphan like Du Qian, it was hard to describe beauty or what made someone beautiful. But as a man, the love of beauty was like the Yangtze River, flowing endlessly. He had a simple way to judge beauty: put a few girls together, and see who you look at first and whose image lingers the longest. That’s the most beautiful.

Beauty can’t be quantified, and each has its own charm. What attracts your eyes and makes your male hormones surge is beauty.