Chapter 664 - 371: Money Tempts the Heart (Part 3)

Su Ze nodded, feeling that something wasn’t right.

He glanced around out of the corner of his eye and noticed the other stall owners watching him, their expressions a mixture of emotions.

Some were clearly enjoying his potential misfortune, while others were just eager to watch the drama unfold.

"I’ll think about it some more," Su Ze said, pulling the Pope away from the stall.

The two of them took a stroll around the nearby stalls. Su Ze stopped at each one, browsing and buying a few small, non-essential items.

When they reached a particular stall, Su Ze sent a voice transmission to the owner. "I saw you trying to warn me with your eyes earlier. Thanks for that. Any idea what kind of trick that Bag Race fellow is up to?"

This was the only stall owner in the area who had tried to warn Su Ze.

The owner remained silent, not responding to Su Ze.

"If you’re willing to tell me the truth, I guarantee you won’t be implicated. I’ll even give you a gift to show my gratitude."

This time, the stall owner finally replied. "That bastard has a few valuable items on his stall that are specially marked. Once you pay and put the item into your storage artifact, he can swap it with something else."

’So that’s how it is...’ Su Ze thought, finally understanding. He thanked the man and bought a few small items from his stall as well, but when he paid, he added a small vial of Evolutionary Liquid as an extra.

He led the Pope to the next stall, discussing the matter as they walked.

"It must be some kind of spatial ability," the Pope said. "There’s probably a hidden mark on the Evolution Crystal that lets him swap it with another object. We’d complete the transaction on camera, a clean exchange of goods for payment. By the time we realized it had been swapped, we’d have no proof and would just have to take the loss."

"Is there any way to counter it?"

Su Ze was still very tempted by the Pan Race Evolution Crystal.

The Pope thought for a moment before replying, "I can think of two ways right now. The first is the brute-force method: don’t put the Evolution Crystal into a storage artifact. Just hold it in your hand and go straight to a forging machine to use it up. That way, there’s no chance for it to be stolen back.

"The second way is to place it inside a high-level storage artifact. His spatial ability is Tier Eight at best, maybe even only Tier Seven. As long as you have a Tier Nine spatial artifact, he won’t be able to bypass its defenses."

’A spatial artifact above Tier Nine?’

’It seems I actually have one.’

Su Ze thought of the eyeball left behind by the Creation Dream Butterfly. It contained innumerable, overlapping pocket dimensions.

That was the eyeball of an Ancestral God-level beast. Its rank was more than high enough.

"Let’s go shopping!"

...

Su Ze led the Pope back to the Bag Race member’s stall and completed the transaction without a hitch.

Since he didn’t have any universal currency on him, Su Ze traded with a Tier Seven Ore Shadow Stone.

A Shadow Stone was, of course, not as valuable as a Moon God-level Evolution Crystal, but the piece Su Ze had was so large that its total value was staggering.

In fact, after trading for the Pan Race Evolution Crystal, Su Ze still had a small piece of the Shadow Stone left over.

Because he was certain of what the Bag Race stall owner was planning, Su Ze kept haggling for a higher valuation for his Shadow Stone during the negotiation. In the end, just as expected, the stall owner agreed to the deal.

"Ah, I took a loss on this one," the Bag Race stall owner said, shaking his head and sighing dramatically. "Please, come back and give me more business next time."

’Quite the actor,’ Su Ze thought. Now that he had the item, he couldn’t be bothered with the man and flew straight toward the forging machines.

Once he reached a secluded area, he took out the Creation Dream Butterfly’s eyeball and created a clone. The clone, holding the Evolution Crystal, then entered the space within the eyeball.

Su Ze was taking a two-pronged approach: not only was the clone holding the Evolution Crystal, but both the clone and the crystal were now inside the eyeball’s pocket dimension.

This would ensure it was foolproof.

...

The moment Su Ze and the Pope left, a smile spread across the Bag Race stall owner’s face. He pulled out a communicator and spoke a coded phrase to the person on the other end.

They specialized in this particular scam, so of course they had to account for the possibility that a customer might buy an Evolution Crystal and immediately take it to forge a Divine Artifact.

That’s why they never delayed. As soon as a transaction was complete, they would immediately act to retrieve the Evolution Crystal.

’After this score, it’ll be time to relocate,’ the Bag Race stall owner thought gleefully, waiting for good news to come from his communicator.

「Meanwhile, in a house in the residential district of Thousand Illusion Star.」

A female of the Bag Race, identifiable by the pouch on her abdomen, was holding a stone and channeling energy into it.

The stone glowed for a moment before quickly dimming, showing no other reaction.

The Bag Race woman’s expression changed. She tried again, but the result was the same.

Her spatial ability allowed her to leave a hidden mark on two items. By holding one of the marked items, she could remotely swap its position with the other.

"How is this possible? Why did it fail?!"

’Even if he didn’t put the Evolution Crystal in a storage artifact and just held it in his hand, I should still be able to sense it. At worst, he might be able to interfere with and interrupt the swap, but it shouldn’t be completely unresponsive.’

’Could it be... does that person have a Tier Nine spatial artifact?’

She didn’t even dare to consider the possibility of an Ancestral God-level Spatial Artifact.

She immediately relayed this information to the Bag Race stall owner.

When the Bag Race stall owner received the news, he froze. He had really taken a loss this time!

His heart ached with regret. Objectively, the loss wasn’t huge—after all, Su Ze had given him a considerable amount of Shadow Stone—but that’s not how he saw it.

’I was supposed to get all that Shadow Stone for free, and instead I ended up losing a Moon God Evolution Crystal on top of it! Unacceptable! I have to find a way to get it back!’

A sudden thought struck him. He quickly spoke into the communicator again, "Did you say that person has a Tier Nine spatial artifact?"

"That’s right. What are you planning?"

"Those two aren’t strong. One is a Star God, and the other hasn’t even ascended to godhood. The two of us can take care of them easily."

"How do you know they don’t have powerful bodyguards with them? They have a Tier Nine spatial artifact; they must be rich or from a powerful family."

"Ha! They couldn’t even scrounge up a single coin! They have to barter for everything and love to haggle over the price. One look and you can tell they’re not rich. They probably just stumbled upon it through some dumb luck."

"Besides, you’re a Moon God. Handling those two should be a piece of cake for you."