Chapter 7: Encountering a Devious Merchant

At seven o’clock in the morning, Suya woke up promptly from her sleep. The daily travel time started at eight, so she wasn’t in a rush. After a simple wash-up, she opened a can of eight-treasure porridge and a packet of compressed biscuits for breakfast, savoring them slowly.

After finishing breakfast, Suya took out three bottles of attribute-enhancing oral liquid she had unboxed the day before.

[Basic Physical Enhancement Oral Liquid: After consumption, physical strength +3, no side effects. Friendly reminder: Only one bottle of attribute-enhancing oral liquid can be consumed per day.]

The other two bottles were strength enhancement, also +3, and speed enhancement, which was a bit less, only +2.

Suya pondered for a moment and then pulled up the game manual to check her personal stats.

[Player: Suya (Invincible Tyrannosaurus War God)]
[Strength: 26 (Barely passable but okay)]
[Physical Endurance: 18 (Why no exercise? Don’t you like it?)]
[Speed: 13 (Without you, the tortoise and hare race isn’t worth watching)]

Among the three attributes, speed was the lowest, so she immediately decided to drink the speed enhancement oral liquid first.

Don’t ask—just blame the quirky compulsions of college students.

Effortlessly opening the bottle cap, Suya tilted her head back and drank it all in one gulp. The taste was sweet at first, then followed by a pleasant aftertaste—not inferior to any drink she had ever tried in the real world.

[Speed: 15 (Without you, the tortoise and hare race isn’t worth watching)]

With one bottle down, Suya’s speed attribute instantly improved, making her feel much lighter overall.

Unfortunately, only one bottle could be consumed per day; otherwise, Suya would have guzzled the oral liquid like water.

Breakfast was done, and the time was exactly 7:30.

Recalling that she had upgraded her vehicle before going to bed last night, Suya immediately decided to check out her new vehicle.

Behind the folding bed, the once somewhat shabby shared bicycle had been upgraded to a brand-new electric scooter, painted in her favorite dreamy blue-purple color.

Suya opened the game manual again to check the vehicle information.

[Level 2 Vehicle: Electric Scooter (Dreamy Blue-Purple)]
[Speed: 25 km/h]
[Remaining Battery: 100%]
[Materials Required for Upgrade: Iron Blocks (7/5000), Plastic (15/3000), Aluminum Alloy (0/1000), Electric Wire (11/500), Wood (13/500), Vehicle Upgrade Card (0/10)]

“What the heck?” Suya was utterly shocked. “To upgrade to a level 3 vehicle you need five thousand iron blocks, three thousand plastics, a thousand aluminum alloys, five hundred electric wires and wood each, and ten vehicle upgrade cards? System, why don’t you just rob a bank?”

She reasonably suspected the system was bugged.

The basic vehicle was a shared bike; the level 2 was an electric scooter. Even at level 3, the best she could expect was a tricycle or a small electric vehicle for old folks. Asking for so many materials was tantamount to a death sentence!

Despite her frustration, Suya quickly accepted the reality, thinking she’d just hold off on upgrading to level 3 for now.

The priority was to solve the current vehicle’s energy consumption problem.

Yesterday’s shared bike didn’t consume fuel or electricity but was purely exhausting. Now that the vehicle was upgraded, she definitely wouldn’t be pedaling herself anymore.

Preparing a batch of batteries was absolutely necessary!

With this in mind, Suya opened the trading interface and searched for “battery” in the shops.

A series of sale listings popped up.

[“Battery ×1” for “Vehicle Upgrade Card ×1”]
[“Battery ×5” for “Iron Blocks ×50”]
[“Battery ×5” for “Gasoline ×5”]
[“Battery ×1” for “Any Basic Material ×5”]
[“Battery ×5” for “Any Food ×5”]

Suya scanned through carefully and decided that trading 5 batteries for 5 food items was the best deal. She scanned five packets of instant noodles with the manual and clicked “Confirm Trade.”

The transaction completed quickly; the noodles disappeared from her backpack and were replaced by five batteries in her hand.

“Huh, why do these batteries look a bit off?”

She examined the batteries closely and found some scratches on the surface, and one even bore clear signs of being used.

Realizing something was wrong, she scanned them with the game manual.

Good grief, she wouldn’t have known if she hadn’t scanned them—the five batteries she just bought had battery levels at most 36%, and the lowest was only 17%.

Suya glanced again at the purchase information; the listing only said “battery” with no mention of “used,” “slightly flawed,” or “90% new.”

Did the seller send the wrong goods?

That shouldn’t be possible! All items for sale had to be scanned and uploaded by the seller through the game manual, and once the transaction was successful, the system automatically transferred the goods. There was no way players had to ship the items themselves.

Though filled with countless doubts, Suya chose not to jump to conclusions. She opened the seller’s profile; the username was “Apology or Household Registration.” She tapped his avatar and entered private chat.

[Invincible Tyrannosaurus War God: Friend, the things you sent me seem off. All five batteries are used.]

The seller replied promptly but dismissively.

[Apology or Household Registration: Small business, no returns after sale.]

Wouldn’t a normal merchant ask questions when challenged? Responding so quickly and brushing off responsibility so eagerly meant only one thing:

The seller was deliberately passing off used goods as brand new on the trading platform to scam unlucky buyers!

Unfortunately, Suya was the unlucky one.

She was instantly furious.

Being a naive college student didn’t mean anyone could bully her.

[Invincible Tyrannosaurus War God: Hey bro, you’re selling used stuff as new? Don’t you have any shame?]
[Invincible Tyrannosaurus War God: Are you trying to treat me like a fool?]
[Invincible Tyrannosaurus War God: Let me ask you something: does business not require credibility? Who’d trade with you again if you always sell second-rate goods? Answer me! I gave you five unopened instant noodles, and you gave me this? Look me in the eyes and tell me why! Why, baby, why? Refund me or resend the goods—choose one. Answer me!!!]

Her last message sent, but a red exclamation mark appeared beside it.

That exclamation mark stoked Suya’s rage even more.

He sold her defective goods and then blocked her?

So arrogant! She’d better teach him a lesson.

Opening the chat hall, Suya was about to expose “Apology or Household Registration” to everyone when she saw others already condemning him.

[Give me an explanation: Everyone, don’t buy from @Apology or Household Registration! He’s a scammer!]
[BambooLovesGossip: What happened? Spill the tea!]
[GayBarModelFan: What’s going on? What’s going on?]
[Give me an explanation: I traded five iron blocks for three bottles of mineral water this morning. When I got them, each bottle was almost empty.]
[Give me an explanation: I confronted him and he said ‘small business, no returns,’ then blocked me.]
[Give me an explanation: Why is my life so hard? Waaaah…]

The following messages were all comforting him and denouncing “Apology or Household Registration.”

Until—