At eight in the morning, Jiang Ye was awakened by thunder outside the base.
He looked out the window. Lead-gray storm clouds were pushing in from the horizon, accompanied by thunder and lightning. It looked like a downpour was imminent. The entire world was shrouded in gloom.
Jiang Ye felt a little apprehensive.
The last time it rained, many people claimed that all sorts of monsters crawled out of the mud.
Some had seen terrifyingly large squids.
Some had been injured by wild beasts.
He himself had seen a small beast, like a pangolin, which he failed to kill with a single blow and managed to escape. He hadn't seen the small beast again after the skies cleared.
It seemed the peculiarity of this planet was that it was very safe on sunny days, but dangerous on rainy days!
This was merely Jiang Ye's guess, as he had only experienced one rainy day so far.
Now, it was cloudy again. He wondered if various monsters would crawl out from underground.
Jiang Ye took out his breakfast and ate while monitoring the chat channel.
The people in the channel shared the same thoughts, all sensing the danger of cloudy and rainy weather.
Mermaid: It's raining here. I don't dare to leave the base. I'll stay in today.
Ji Xiaolan: Last time it rained, I saw so many demons and monsters. I won't go out this time, no matter what.
Isabelle: Damn it! I just saw a huge black thing bulging on the horizon, with many long tentacles. Is it the legendary giant squid?
Cheng Xin: I just saw a few kangaroo-like creatures hopping by in the distance. But they were all black, definitely not kangaroos. So creepy!
Big Mom: Everyone, stay in the base honestly. This planet seems unsafe when it rains.
Jiang Ye monitored the chat for a while and suddenly felt a business opportunity!
As the saying goes, "When guns roar, gold pours in!"
Everyone felt the environment was dangerous, so why not sell some arms?
He decided to act immediately. Jiang Ye typed and posted an advertisement in the public channel:
Still worried about the rain? Still fearing monsters?
Fear won't solve the problem; you need real firepower!
Selling area-of-effect weapons at low prices. Interested parties, come and talk.
As expected, within seconds of posting the advertisement, Jiang Ye's private messages exploded.
After all, the timing was particularly sensitive, and many people were in a state of fear.
Within one minute, over five hundred private messages flooded in!
The vast majority of private messages asked the same two questions:
What are these area-of-effect weapons? What's the price?
Seeing so many people interested, Jiang Ye felt about seventy to eighty percent confident. It seemed this arms business could take off.
Considering that everyone was quite poor, he couldn't sell them too expensively, or they wouldn't sell.
With his hands on the keyboard, he posted a message in the chat channel:
Too many private messages, so I'll reply here uniformly. The so-called area-of-effect weapons are bombs.
These bombs are special; they are called Blood Grenades. You need to inject a tiny bit of your blood into them, and then use them like ordinary grenades.
The price is 200 yuan. There's a discount for purchasing ten or more. Limited quantity, first come, first served.
The cost price of a Blood Grenade is 100 yuan. Selling it for 200 yuan means a net profit of 100 yuan per item. This business is decent.
After Jiang Ye's explanation, discussions erupted in the group chat.
Stephen: Blood Grenades? Sounds weird. Is it real?
Coconut Eater: How does that sound so unreliable? What kind of weapon needs fresh blood as a catalyst? Is it a magic weapon?
Asano Shin: So expensive, 200 yuan. I'd have to sell myself to get that much!
Bear Lover: Whoever wants to be fooled, go ahead. I'm not falling for this. What if this Blood Grenade is just a toy?
Xiao Zhi: Heh, it needs blood to use a grenade? Are scammers' techniques this low-level now?
Jiang Ye couldn't stand it anymore.
He couldn't let these people talk nonsense; he had to fight back!
If everyone slandered him and attacked him, and he didn't say a word, others would think: Is this Jiang Ye really a scammer? If he's not a scammer, why doesn't he refute them?
Before retaliating, Jiang Ye needed to do one thing: ascertain the true power of the Blood Grenade.
It hadn't started raining outside yet, so it should be safe for now.
He forcefully pushed open the cabin door, grabbed his samurai sword and two Blood Grenades, and sprinted away.
Soon, panting, he reached the cryolite mine pit.
The mine pit was as it was yesterday, three meters deep, with exposed soil and glittering cryolite on its walls. It was an excellent testing ground for grenades.
Jiang Ye took a deep breath, pulled the pin of a 50ml grenade, and hurled it into the pit.
Then, he turned and ran!
He ran frantically!
After running for four seconds, he was already dozens of meters away from the pit. He suddenly dropped to the ground and looked back.
Boom!
With a thunderous roar, a thick scarlet substance erupted from the pit like fire!
Simultaneously, a vast amount of dust and flying debris shot up, surging to a height of four stories!
It was clearly a massive explosion!
Jiang Ye's eyes widened. This grenade was indeed powerful, much more so than the hand grenades seen on television. He got up from the ground and walked quickly towards the mine pit, dust and small stones drifting down from above.
Walking to the edge of the pit and looking down, he was stunned by the scene before him.
The three-meter-deep mine pit had now become five meters deep, and the entire opening had expanded by several circles. The fierce explosion had literally stretched the mine pit open, as easily as inflating a balloon.
A significant amount of the hard cryolite ore had been shattered, scattered at the bottom of the pit like rock candy.
The air was still filled with a red mist, lingering like a ghost. It felt hot and腥 when inhaled. This blood mist was clearly the blood Jiang Ye had injected into the grenade, and for some unknown reason, it was suspended and drifting in the wind.
Too powerful!
This wasn't like a grenade; it was practically an aerial bomb!
Jiang Ye turned and ran back to the base.
The chat channel was still buzzing with discussions about the Blood Grenades.
They hadn't upgraded to a Level Three base yet, so they had no knowledge of Blood Grenades. Jiang Ye's sudden mention made it difficult for many to accept.
A considerable number of people were egging each other on, calling it a scam and Jiang Ye a fraud!
Jiang Ye was full of confidence and typed a reply:
I have personally tested it. The power of the Blood Grenade is immense. How immense? If you pull the pin and hold it in your hand, your head and feet might be fifty meters apart in a few seconds.
My products are of reliable quality, with a tenfold compensation for fakes. You will understand this in the future.
No matter how you slander me, those who buy my products will surely be satisfied and feel fortunate.
After this reply, he stopped.
There was no point in saying more; his stance had been made clear.
Jiang Ye believed that someone would eventually be willing to buy. Once someone bought and used it, and found it to be good, word-of-mouth would quickly turn around.
Indeed, not long after these two sentences were posted, dozens of private messages came in, wanting to buy Blood Grenades.
Most of them wanted to haggle.
After all, 200 yuan might be equivalent to a few taps on a rock for Jiang Ye. But for many others, it was almost all their possessions.
However, Jiang Ye did not accept haggling.
If he sold the same goods to A for 200 yuan and to B for 180 yuan, wouldn't that make the seller seem cheap and like a small vendor?
Clear pricing and equal treatment were Jiang Ye's rules.
If they wanted to buy from him, they had to abide by his rules!
Many people tried to haggle with Jiang Ye for a long time without success, and they were very frustrated.
Despite their frustration, most of the inquirers eventually paid for their purchases. Only a small number gave up, likely because they genuinely didn't have enough money.
Jiang Ye got busy.
He continuously bought Blood Grenades from the Galaxy Mall and then continuously sold them to others.
Sometimes selling one or two, and sometimes selling seven or eight at once!
Throughout the morning, Jiang Ye's private messages kept ringing.
He served over 140 customers in total and sold exactly 400 Blood Grenades!
He earned 100 yuan per Blood Grenade, totaling 40,000 yuan in his pocket!
Keep in mind that after a whole day of mining yesterday, he only earned over 28,000 yuan.
In just one morning, sitting in the base and typing, he earned more than a whole day of hard mining!
Jiang Ye marveled, "Indeed, business is a quick way to make money!"
Around noon, the rain finally began to fall.
It started as a light drizzle and quickly turned into a torrential downpour. The clouds opened up, and tens of thousands of tons of water poured down onto the earth.
Jiang Ye was very happy. Rain meant danger, and danger meant an increase in Blood Grenade sales!
If nothing unexpected happened, more people should buy Blood Grenades in the afternoon.
But something unexpected did happen.
After noon, almost no new private messages came in.
Jiang Ye posted advertisements in the chat channel several times, but they had little effect. Orders just weren't coming in.
He pondered for a moment, thinking that perhaps everyone who wanted to buy had already bought them in the morning.
Those remaining either didn't intend to buy or were still observing.
Therefore, there were no new orders for now.
Jiang Ye was not discouraged. He had already earned enough in the morning. His personal assets had surged from 27,900 yuan yesterday to 67,900 yuan, which was enough to upgrade to a Level Four base.
He couldn't wait!
He clicked on the base upgrade function.
He paid 50,000 yuan!
Watching his personal assets drop from 67,900 to 17,900, Jiang Ye couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache. Upgrading the base was too expensive; money flowed away like water!
On the base panel, the upgrade information slowly appeared: