107: The Mission—Zi Gui’s Plea for Help

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Wood teased the newly hatched Hellhound with three heads. The onlookers, envious, all took a chance to buy, resulting in the man in the black robe making a hefty profit. Wood roughly calculated that there were at least fifty illusion beast eggs on his stall, all snapped up this time, bringing in at least six figures in superior energy crystals.

The man in the black robe sighed appreciatively, saying Wood had brought him great luck. He added Wood as a friend and even wanted to return Wood’s ten pieces of superior energy crystals.

Wood waved his hand and said, "I couldn’t possibly accept that. Your illusion beast eggs are worth far more than these ten pieces of energy crystal."

The man in black sighed, "Brother, you don’t understand. Although these illusion beast eggs are valuable, many people hesitate to buy pets that might be useless, so they mostly just watch and don't buy. Normally, I sell only one or two. Today, it’s thanks to you!"

Wood just smiled and still refused to take his energy crystals.

As they were politely declining each other, Yaxin Yi approached and said, "Senior Brother, I’ve set my eyes on something over there. Could you help me buy it?"

Earlier, while Wood was talking with Baldy and others, Musiyu had pulled Yaxin Yi to stroll around the trading space, looking for anything interesting. It turned out Yaxin Yi had indeed found something appealing.

Wood looked over and saw some black soil. Curious, he asked, "What... use is soil?"

The stall owner was a handsome young man with pointed ears, resembling an elf. Hearing Wood's question, he explained, "This is Spirit Breath Soil, the best for planting medicinal herbs and plants. No matter what herb or plant you grow in this soil, it can automatically absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. It’s absolutely excellent!"

Wood glanced at Yaxin Yi, who nodded. It seemed genuine. The price was also reasonable—ten cubic meters for just ten superior crystal stones. Wood bought ten cubic meters as Yaxin Yi requested.

He originally wanted to buy more, but Yaxin Yi said ten cubic meters were enough. Once the ginseng fruit tree branches were successfully transplanted, the tree would automatically attract spiritual energy to improve the soil. Yaxin Yi was naturally an expert in herbs and planting, while Wood could only humbly follow her lead.

Wood had also wanted to browse for cultivation artifacts in the trading space, but after searching the whole space, he found no cultivators at all. Both Gu Feng and Baldy said cultivators were becoming rare creatures in the trading space. Wood had no choice but to give up that plan.

Then the three of them came before the skill card stall, where the owner was the same taciturn fellow as before.

Seeing Wood and company, he greeted them first, but in a particularly unusual way—he raised a sign with the two big characters “Familiar” and nodded to the trio, leaving them stunned beyond words.

Wood chuckled, "You really are familiar. Your skill cards are quite good!"

The man held up another sign: "Of course!"

Wood smiled and said, "Haven’t asked your name yet. Let’s add each other as dimensional friends."

Without any hesitation, the man swiftly switched to a new sign that read: "No name, no need!"

Everyone around the skill card stall laughed, but considering Wood was probably not the first to be rejected, they looked on with an air of familiarity.

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This man was impervious to persuasion, so Wood could only smile wryly and examine the skill cards on the ground.

The man had a wide variety of skill cards, from D-grade up to A-grade, with a few S-grade cards. With Wood’s current perspective, D-grade cards held no appeal, and even C-grade skills like “Gale Technique” or “Fireball” didn’t offer much usefulness to him.

Finally, Wood chose a B-grade powerful skill: “Piercing Spike,” an area attack skill that instantly conjures sharp spikes within a thirty-meter radius by harnessing the five elements of metal, fire, earth, and so on. The number of uses and power depend on the user’s inherent energy.

Seeing Wood’s choice, the man raised a sign: “B-grade skill card, 2,000 reward points plus ten pieces of superior energy crystals!”

Wood wasn’t short on energy crystals, but reward points were rare. From previous dimensional tasks and hidden trials, he had accumulated 8,000 reward points. He had spent 500 points purchasing a C-grade skill called “Swift Dash,” leaving him with 7,500 points.

After using the skill card, Wood felt as if a new skill had been added to his mind. He sighed, "If only skill cards were cheaper. We could buy them in bulk and equip the biochemical soldiers with skills. Our strength would be off the charts."

Baldy quickly dashed his hopes, "Skill card users must have a soul. Biochemical soldiers have no soul!"

Gu Feng also said, "Others have already thought of that. Biochemical soldiers simply can’t use skill cards!"

Wood thought for a moment, "Biochemical soldiers can’t use them, but normal people can, right? Xinyi, Siyu, look for skills suitable for you."

Yaxin Yi shook her head, "I don’t understand these things, and I don’t need other skills."

Gu Feng added, "It’s not about having many skills, but about mastering and excelling at them."

Gu Feng’s words were sound. There were no useless skills, only users unable to wield them properly. Even the most ordinary skill could have vastly different effects depending on the user. Wood understood this well, so he didn’t choose many skills.

Musiyu looked over the skill cards and finally chose two C-grade skills: “Gale Technique” and “Whirling Cloud Whip.”

C-grade skill cards each cost 500 reward points, which wasn’t much for Wood, so he bought them casually.

Wood knew Musiyu chose “Gale Technique” because her awakened power was wind-based, and this C-grade skill could enhance her existing skill power. As for “Whirling Cloud Whip,” Musiyu explained, "Special powers consume a lot of mental energy; it’s still necessary to have some martial arts moves for self-defense."

Wood pondered, "Whip techniques are hard to master, and without a martial arts foundation, you might not wield much power with it..." He opened the dimensional trading shop and purchased a set of basic martial arts skill cards for her. "Fuse these skill cards first, then integrate the Whirling Cloud Whip."

Musiyu was delighted and immediately began fusing the cards one by one. As Wood was about to check out the equipment and weapon trading area, the dimensional system suddenly prompted, "Beep... Your friend, the Sci-Fi Dimension agent Zigu, is sending a communication request. Accept?"

Wood looked at Gu Feng and the others and asked, "That guy isn’t usually in the trading space. What could he want now?" He then accepted the communication.

“Ahem! Brother Wood, are you in the dimensional trading space? Are Baldy, Gu Feng, and Ludao Xuan there?”

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Seeing Zigu looked sweaty and flustered, Wood laughed, "Except for Ludao Xuan, we’re all here. Knowing your love for excitement, it’s strange you’re not here in the trading space. What’s got you? Don’t tell me you’re chasing some beauty?"

Zigu forced a bitter smile, "Brother Wood, you really know me! I met a lovely lady and invited her on an interstellar trip."

Wood laughed, "Oh, enjoy your trip!" He was about to close the dimensional trading system, but Zigu suddenly shouted like a butcher, "Don’t close it! I need help!"

Wood responded, "Oh? What’s wrong?"

Zigu’s face fell, "Don’t ask. Just come save me!" He sent a dimensional link to the three of them. Instantly, their dimensional systems chimed, "Beep... Your friend, Sci-Fi Dimension agent, invites you to... Warning: system scan detects alien virus at this dimension link. Proceeding means accepting a dimensional task. Complete for regular rewards. Accept?"

"Accept!" the three quickly replied. Though they didn’t know what the alien virus was, seeing Zigu’s distress turned into a dimensional task, they knew trouble was brewing.

After a dizzying sensation, the three found themselves in a confined space—a small room made entirely of pure steel: floor, ceiling, and walls. Baldy’s five biochemical soldiers, Yaxin Yi and Musiyu were also teleported here, as the system recognized them as Wood’s affiliates.

“Zigu, what’s going on? How did this turn into a dimensional task?” Gu Feng asked as soon as he saw Zigu. “If it’s dangerous, why didn’t you run? And why drag us here?”

Zigu gave a bitter smile, "I wanted to run, but I was with a beautiful girl. How could I abandon her at such a critical moment? That wouldn’t be manly!"

Everyone was dumbfounded, but Zigu’s next words revealed the real reason: "When I tried to escape, the damn dimensional trading system told me: accidentally triggered dimensional task—no fleeing, no hiding allowed. I had no choice but to call you brothers for help!"

Wood was puzzled, "What happened? You have several combat robots, right? Don’t tell me you didn’t bring any!"

Zigu’s face fell, "I brought them, but I didn’t dare to use them! Look where we are."

Wood looked around, "Could this be a ship cabin? Ah! Interstellar travel... Don’t tell me we’re inside a spaceship!"

Zigu nodded, "Bingo... Correct. Unfortunately, no rewards here. We’re on a cosmic cruise ship. As you can see, it’s not a warship, so the steel can’t block the robots’ laser weapons!"

Gu Feng was surprised, "So what? You’re rich; why worry about damaging the ship you can’t afford to pay for?"

Wood propped his head on his hand, "I get it. We’re probably in outer space. If the robots’ laser cannons damage the cruise ship, they won’t survive either!"