177: Chapter 177 This guy is no longer human.

Gu Changming looked at her like this and found it somewhat amusing.

He had said before that when this fellow was being arrogant, she felt like she could trample the world under her feet, but when she was afraid of dying, she was truly terrified.

He walked forward and crouched down in front of Chen Yiming.

"How are you going to pay me back?" Gu Changming teased. "Aren't you a genius? Are you going to honestly take orders and refine potion to pay me back, just like those ordinary Apothecaries?"

"That's why I said I'll pay you back slowly," Chen Yiming muttered.

"Then how long exactly will it take?" Gu Changming continued to ask.

Chen Yiming counted on her fingers and began to calculate seriously: "I'll go find my former clients and help them refine the potion they want... It'll take about thirty or forty days."

It was just that her failure rate was high; it wasn't that she couldn't succeed.

Her reputation among the clients she had successfully helped before was excellent. As long as she spoke up and was willing to lower her standards a bit, those clients would definitely be willing to give her points.

It was just that... she wasn't very willing.

Those clients' requests were all more or less the same, and she had already mastered the formulas for the potion they wanted. It was nothing more than constant repetition and refining them again; it wasn't interesting at all.

She earns them quite fast, huh, Gu Changming complained inwardly.

To have such ability yet starve herself into this "kneeling and begging for mercy" state, this fellow really was something.

While Chen Yiming was still pondering how to convince Gu Changming to give her a few more days, a new notification suddenly popped up on the panel in front of her.

[The other party has rejected your points transfer]

She was stunned and looked up at Gu Changming, fear in her eyes, thinking that Gu Changming would rather not have the money and just kill her.

But before she could beg for mercy, another message popped up on the panel.

[Do you wish to accept the transfer: 50,000 points]

Seeing that prompt, Chen Yiming was dazed.

"Didn't you say you were out of points?" she asked blankly.

Moreover, she had calculated carefully; Gu Changming's two hundred thousand plus points had indeed been mostly spent by her.

"Yeah," Gu Changming nodded. "That's why I told you to stay here while I went out for a bit."

Chen Yiming blinked, suddenly realizing—Gu Changming had gone out to earn points.

Upon realizing this, her pupils constricted suddenly.

Wait, how long had he been out? Was it even five hours? He earned fifty thousand points just like that?

Holy crap!

Even if she decided to "defile" herself, betray her ideals, and condescend to refine potion for those clients, she might not even earn that much in a month!

You just went out once, for only a few hours, and earned that many points?!

Her gaze was fixed on the transfer notification, then she suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Gu Changming's thigh, her voice becoming excited again.

"Brother! You're my real brother! I thought you were going to kill me when you came back..."

"..."

Gu Changming looked at her expressionlessly.

He had been quite good to her, hadn't he?

He gave her money when she asked and didn't rush her.

Where else could she find such a good client?

With this kind of performance, what kind of person did she actually think he was in her heart?

"So when exactly can you produce that 'surprise version' of the potion?" Gu Changming lifted his foot and shook off the green caterpillar clinging to his leg.

Having invested so many points, he naturally couldn't give up now. He didn't plan to treat those tens of thousands of points as a sunk cost.

Chen Yiming cried out "Ouch" as she fell to the ground.

But she didn't care. She immediately clicked to accept the transfer and then started counting on her fingers again.

Gu Changming watched and spoke up to warn her: "If you lie to me again this time, I'll..."

As Gu Changming spoke, he stepped forward, reached out to grab the hood of her Dinosaur Pajamas, and dragged her toward the room.

The hood's strap tightened around her neck, making her involuntarily stick out her tongue and cry out that she was dying.

Gu Changming threw her back onto the sofa. "I'll tie you up and make you refine the simplest and cheapest potion every single day."

Chen Yiming shrank her head back and confessed honestly with her head lowered: "It's really soon this time... If I hadn't run out of points, I might have been able to give you a surprise tomorrow."

Hearing this, Gu Changming relaxed slightly and waved his hand.

"Then why aren't you going to do it?"

However, Chen Yiming didn't move; instead, she became fidgety.

"Hmm?" Gu Changming looked over in confusion.

"That..." She pointed to the empty Refining Table behind her. "I... to scrape together money to pay you back, I... sold all the tools of my trade. Now... I can't refine anything."

"..."

Gu Changming had lost count of how many times he had been left speechless by this fellow.

"Buy them back," he said, rubbing his brow and trying his best to stay calm.

Chen Yiming chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head: "I... I sold them directly to the panel Mall. Now... I probably can't buy them back."

"..."

After these several rounds of speechlessness, Gu Changming's heart had instead become eerily quiet.

He didn't even want to ask her if she knew whether the Mall's buyback price was high or low.

This fellow was no longer human.

Perhaps sensing Gu Changming's helplessness, Chen Yiming quickly spoke up: "It's fine, it's fine! I can borrow some tools from someone else to use for now!"

"Who are you going to borrow from? Would they even lend them to you?" Gu Changming said.

Weren't an Apothecary's refining tools very precious?

"Why not? My popularity is actually quite good!" Chen Yiming patted her chest and said confidently: "Just wait, I'll go to the upper levels now to find a few senior Apothecaries I know and borrow a set of tools from them!"

"Just buy new ones from the panel Mall," Gu Changming sighed.

"That won't work," Chen Yiming shook her head. "We 'Master' level Apothecaries use specially customized, high-quality refining tools."

"The ones sold in the Mall are mostly standard sets. Their performance and compatibility are a level lower, and the failure rate would be higher."

As she spoke, she got up to walk out the door.

"I'm really not trying to run away," she explained halfway out, turning her head. "Wait for me, I'll be right back, just like how I waited for you."

Gu Changming reached out his foot and lightly stepped on the tail of her Dinosaur Pajamas trailing on the floor.

"Don't go."

Being held back, Chen Yiming looked back at him in confusion. "Are we not refining it? Really, it's just one step away. It'll be successful very soon."

Gu Changming stood up and walked toward her. "You're sure that better tools can increase your success rate, right?"

"Definitely," Chen Yiming nodded vigorously. "It's just like you combat classes using good weapons. If the tools are handy, the output will definitely be better."

"Alright then," Gu Changming nodded. "I'll take you to get a better set."

"Huh?" Chen Yiming didn't react.

"Didn't I tell you before?"

"What?"

"I know Qin Lie," Gu Changming said calmly. "I'll have him custom-make a new set for you. However, you'll pay the points yourself."

Chen Yiming's footsteps paused, and a light burst from her eyes.

"Really?!"