Chapter 175: Crystals

That crystal would be extremely important to a famous diviner, also Su Yao’s husband.

Without it, the Bo Chuan would be unable to perform certain advanced divinations accurately.

Gu Lin remembered that Su Yao and her husbands were supposed to encounter the crystal later in the story.

’If I can obtain that crystal before Su Yao does, I’ll have something valuable to offer her.’

She could use the crystal to negotiate with Su Yao or establish a relationship with the Prophet before anyone else.

Either option could give her a significant advantage.

As she considered the possibilities, another memory suddenly surfaced.

It concerned a particular treasure mentioned in the original novel.

In her previous life, Gu Lin had been a royal princess.

However, she had never been considered a suitable candidate to inherit the throne.

Fortunately, she hadn’t been particularly interested in becoming the ruler either.

That changed when she discovered the existence of a mysterious space.

According to the royal family’s records, the space possessed extraordinary abilities.

It could be used to grow fruits, vegetables, grains, and various other crops.

More importantly, it could provide its owner with a safe refuge, even if a dimensional rift suddenly appeared.

The more Gu Lin learned about the space, the more tempted she became.

Eventually, she decided to participate in the struggle for the throne.

Unfortunately, she soon realized that she had little chance of winning.

Her father had already chosen his preferred successor, and she lacked the political influence necessary to challenge that decision.

Rather than wasting her time pursuing the throne through legitimate means, Gu Lin decided to find another way to obtain the space.

That was when she learned about the Philosopher’s Stone.

The stone was supposedly connected to the mysterious space, and it was in the possession of the Ni family.

At the time, Gu Lin had assumed that the Ni family was prestigious but relatively weak.

She believed she could easily take the Philosopher’s Stone from them.

Unfortunately, she had severely underestimated Ni Mengxue.

Every time Gu Lin tried to seize the stone, Ni Mengxue managed to escape.

What infuriated her even more was the behavior of Ni Mengxue’s lovers.

Those men were constantly protecting her.

Some even sacrificed their lives to save her, while others created additional obstacles that prevented Gu Lin from accomplishing her goal.

Eventually, Ni Mengxue became so desperate that she began using increasingly reckless methods.

Gu Lin still remembered the final confrontation.

Ni Mengxue had chosen to self-destruct, intending to take Gu Lin down with her.

Recalling that moment made Gu Lin’s expression darken.

’That crazy woman!’

Even now, she felt furious whenever she thought about it.

’If she hadn’t self-destructed, I wouldn’t have ended up in such a miserable situation!’

For a moment, Gu Lin almost wished she could find Ni Mengxue again and kill her with her own hands.

Then another thought occurred to her.

’Wait. Doesn’t this world also have someone named Ni Mengxue?’

She remembered that the original novel contained a cannon-fodder character with that name.

However, the Ni Mengxue in this world was completely different from the woman she had encountered in the interstellar world.

At least, that was what Gu Lin believed. She shook her head. "I’ll think about that later."

Her expression gradually relaxed. "First, I need to make proper use of my knowledge of the plot."

With that thought, she opened her palm. A small crystal rested in the center of her hand.

Its translucent surface reflected a faint, unusual glow.

A strange smile appeared on Gu Lin’s face.

This was an Awakening Crystal.

According to the original novel, the crystal wasn’t supposed to be discovered until much later, after several major disasters had already occurred.

The person destined to discover it was Bo Xinli, one of the husbands of Ni Mengxue.

At present, Bo Xinli was supposed to be staying at Starry Sky Base.

However, Gu Lin had used her knowledge of the plot to obtain the crystal ahead of time.

’As long as I find the cave and process it properly, I can start selling Awakening Crystals in Burning Star Base.’

She could already imagine how valuable such crystals would become.

If she managed to introduce them to the market before anyone else, she could earn an enormous number of high-tier zombie crystals.

With that kind of wealth, she wouldn’t need to worry about survival anymore.

She could purchase a comfortable house, hire people to protect her, and live peacefully for the rest of her life.

’Perhaps I won’t even need to rely on Su Yao.’

The thought made her smile widen. Then she remembered Ni Mengxue again.

’And if that cannon fodder like Ni Mengxue from interstellar world, perhaps I should get rid of her too.’

Gu Lin closed her fingers around the crystal.

For now, she had more important things to accomplish.

..........................................

Meanwhile, Ni Mengxue had no idea that someone was thinking about killing her.

She was completely occupied with producing temperature-regulating clothing and managing the vegetable supply.

Recently, she had discovered something extremely interesting about the system.

For every pound of vegetables she sold, she received ten Merit Points.

Although that might not sound particularly impressive, it was an enormous advantage compared to the effort required to earn Merit Points through recruiting residents.

After all, attracting new residents required housing, food, security, and various other arrangements.

Selling vegetables was much simpler.

As long as she could grow enough crops, she could continue earning Merit Points.

’Then why shouldn’t I sell as many vegetables as possible?’

Without hesitation, she began stocking the vegetable shop with larger quantities of produce.

At the same time, she turned her attention toward the agricultural farmland inside her space.

Until now, the farmland had remained at Level One.

However, with the Merit Points she was earning, she finally had enough resources to begin upgrading it.

She opened the agricultural interface.

[Farmland Upgrade Available. Current Level: 1]

Ni Mengxue immediately selected the upgrade option.

The farmland advanced to Level Two and then Level Three.

She barely stopped to examine the changes before continuing.