176: Chapter 176 Don't kill me, can't you let me take my time?

"Why should I be like them?" Chen Yiming spoke almost subconsciously, not even asking Gu Changming what was different.

It was as if she was simply meant to be different from others.

"To make money," Gu Changming continued. "With your skills, even if you just refined some common standard potion to sell, you should be able to earn quite a few points, right?"

Although he didn't understand the craft, the stall owners had all said her technique was indeed excellent.

Moreover, her "reputation" preceded her here; the fact that people were still willing to bring points to take a gamble on her was enough to prove her skill.

Therefore, Gu Changming was somewhat puzzled as to how she could have ended up so "destitute."

Chen Yiming picked at the food in her bowl and said indistinctly, "But my hobby isn't making money. I only like researching potion..."

"They don't have to conflict," Gu Changming said. "You can research while selling some ordinary ones to save up some points for backup."

"I don't want to~" Chen Yiming drawled, the dinosaur hood on her head swaying as she shook her head. "That would stifle my talent! I'm a genius; I should only do what I like!"

Gu Changming chuckled.

Thinking Gu Changming was mocking her, Chen Yiming immediately retorted, "Don't you have dreams, too? Doing things outside of my dreams only makes me miserable and want to die!"

Hearing this, the smile on Gu Changming's lips widened slightly.

He didn't ask any further.

Perhaps her stubborn and persistent personality was one of the reasons she could become a genius.

After all, geniuses all seemed to be quite headstrong.

Chen Yiming finished the rest of the food in a few bites and casually wiped the grease from her mouth.

Then she reached out to Gu Changming, acting as if it were only natural: "The points are all used up. Give me money! Twenty thousand!"

Gu Changming didn't particularly mind her "arrogant" attitude.

After all, when this girl admitted defeat, she went to the other extreme.

However, just as Gu Changming intended to transfer the funds, his gaze suddenly froze on his own panel.

Seeing his reaction, Chen Yiming, who was beside him, asked in confusion:

"What's wrong?"

"The points are all gone," Gu Changming said flatly.

At this moment, only a little over six thousand points remained on his panel.

Hearing this, a flash of panic crossed Chen Yiming's face, and she hurriedly asked, "Weren't there over a hundred thousand before? How are they gone?"

"Where do you think they went?" Gu Changming looked over.

Chen Yiming didn't dare to speak.

"Stay at home for now," Gu Changming said, standing up and walking toward the door. "I'm going out for a bit."

Before Chen Yiming could react, the door had already closed, and Gu Changming's footsteps were fading into the distance.

Only then did Chen Yiming snap out of it with a start.

She hurriedly ran back to the alchemy table, grabbed a pen and paper, and began to calculate the accounts in a frenzy.

A moment later, the facts were laid out before her.

Those two hundred thousand-plus points really had been spent by her alone.

She had been completely immersed in the joyful process of research these past few days and hadn't realized at all just how much money she had spent...

Realizing this, her brain instantly stalled, going completely blank.

Over two hundred thousand...

Her heart sank abruptly, and that previously almost arrogant excitement vanished instantly without a trace.

With that many points, even if she bought the most expensive potion in the Mall, she could have piled them high enough to cover her sofa.

But... the man had spent so much, and forget about potion, he hadn't even seen a single potion stopper.

In an instant, Chen Yiming knew she was finished.

She was always like this, never thinking about the consequences while doing things. She had thrown over two hundred thousand points in without even showing him a splash...

The next second, she immediately sprang into action.

No! I have to run!

She began to pack the bottles and jars on the alchemy table in a frantic mess.

She had to slip away before Gu Changming came back.

Otherwise, once he realized what happened, her little life might be forfeit.

She hurriedly stuffed things into a cloth bag, her movements urgent and chaotic.

"Maybe... I should leave a note, tell him not to look for me, and that I'll find him once I've saved enough money?"

Right now, Chen Yiming felt completely dazed and foolish.

That was over two hundred thousand points; she couldn't afford to pay him back even if she sold herself...

...

Fortunately, there were several Mystic Realm entrances nearby that could be entered.

So Gu Changming only spent some time completing his harvest before walking out of the Mystic Realm exit.

He glanced at the sky; it wasn't too late yet.

Actually, it could have been faster, but C-rank exotic beasts were already considered top-tier combat power in the current Mystic Realms.

Therefore, the search process took a lot of time, which caused the delay.

Returning to Cangwu Stronghold.

Gu Changming first went to the trading area to sell a few valuable special materials he had picked up in the Mystic Realm before heading toward Chen Yiming's Apothecary hut.

Actually, he didn't have this habit before; in the past, when he got materials, he would just sell them directly to the panel Mall for convenience.

But after meeting this girl, Gu Changming felt for the first time that he needed to "increase income and reduce expenditure" with his points.

Arriving in front of the hut.

Gu Changming listened intently; it was strange, there was no movement inside.

He reached out and pushed open the door.

There were some changes inside; compared to when he left, the room had become much emptier. In particular, those alchemy tools Chen Yiming kept on the table, which were easily worth one or two thousand points each, had all vanished.

Gu Changming's gaze swept across the room and landed in front of him, on the floor, where a "green caterpillar" was currently curled up, face down, begging for mercy and admitting fault.

"What are you doing?" Gu Changming spoke.

Chen Yiming looked up trembling, but her eyes didn't dare to meet his. She simply handed over a piece of paper with shaking hands.

"Brother, I'm sorry... I lied to you again. That potion Formula you wanted that adds seventy or eighty attribute points... I actually finished it long ago... This is the Formula."

"I kept asking you for money before... because I wanted to refine it further and give you a surprise..."

Gu Changming: "..."

He should have expected it.

"I didn't expect... that I'd spend all your points."

As Chen Yiming spoke, she quickly tapped several times in the air.

Simultaneously, a system prompt popped up in front of Gu Changming:

[Do you wish to accept a transfer of 30,000 points from the other party?]

"These 30,000 points... are all my savings." She kept her head down, her voice growing smaller and smaller.

She had sold all her belongings to scrape together these 30,000 points.

"Also..." Chen Yiming said, pushing forward a test tube containing a dark red liquid, "this is the high-level exotic beast Bloodline needed. It's worth over twenty thousand points."

She had bought this in advance to prevent herself from spending all the points at once; now it had indeed come in handy and saved her life.

"Take the Formula I gave you and this Bloodline test tube to the upper floor and find a reliable high-level Apothecary. They'll definitely be able to refine the potion you want. The cost won't exceed two thousand points."

"Let's value the Formula... at fifty thousand points. This Bloodline and my transfer add up to another fifty thousand points. After deducting the labor costs... I still owe you a hundred thousand.

"Can you let me... pay you back slowly?"