Chapter 375, Professional Bias
The cursed sword isn't unique—there's more than one.
Each one has its own unique effect and drawback.
The effect of the 'Mist Condensing Evil Sword ' that Keramu has is that while within the mist, it can instantly appear behind an enemy, facilitating sneak attacks.
But the cursed sword in front of me attacks any moving life unit within a 10-meter radius.
The drawback is that it cannot distinguish the wielder.
This aspect is truly peculiar.
Does 'movement' refer to walking, or to any bodily movement at all?
If it's the latter, how would you sheath the sword after drawing it?
Would you just stand there until the sword exhausts you to death?
The drawback is a bit too harsh.
No wonder, even for such a popular weapon type like a sword, there wasn't fierce competition at the auction.
You can't even use it after buying it, and it costs too much—naturally, no one was interested.
"What a waste of money!"
Wu Heng muttered, putting the cursed sword away for now.
...
Next, he turned his gaze toward the items lined up on the floor.
First, the magical items purchased at the trade fair.
[Thunder Warhammer][Cloud Mist Ring][Sharp Longsword][Light Plate Armor]
[Thunder Warhammer]
(Description: A long-handled warhammer inscribed with the 'Thunder' effect. When attacking a target unit, it unleashes a powerful electrical shock.)
[Cloud Mist Ring]
(Description: A magical ring inscribed with 'Cloud Mist Spell,' which can release a Cloud Mist effect within a 3-meter radius.)
[Sharp Longsword]
(Description: A longsword forged from refined iron, inscribed with 'Sharpness' rune, enhancing its cutting power.)
[Light Plate Armor]
(Description: An armor featuring plates flexibly reinforced and linked on top of chainmail, inscribed with 'Lightness' rune to reduce overall weight.)
A total of four items.
The Thunder Warhammer and Cloud Mist Ring were each a single item, while there were twenty Sharp Longswords and five sets of Light Plate Armor.
He bought the swords and armor just to test how good they were.
If they performed well, he could place future orders from those shops.
He had noted down both the addresses and names of the stores.
"Skull-crusher, Keramu, come here," Wu Heng called out.
The two skeletons standing guard by the door walked over immediately.
"Skull-crusher, this weapon is for you; it has a lightning effect." Wu Heng handed the Thunder Warhammer over and added a brief explanation.
Skull-crusher took the warhammer and held it.
Wu Heng put the original warhammer back into his spatial ring.
He then spoke to Keramu, "The Cloud Mist Ring is for you. Use it in combination with the Mist Condensing Evil Sword ."
Keramu removed his glove and put the ring on his skeletal finger.
Undead servants can activate magical items but cannot use spatial rings.
The Book of the Dead explains that undead don't have independent souls and thus can't truly interact with the elements of another space.
But they can activate magical items directly.
After distributing the items, Wu Heng had the two skeletons return to their original positions.
He continued to examine the remaining items.
...
[Guardian Gauntlets][Illusory Dual Blades][Windweave Garb][Lion Armor][Radiant Crusade Armor]
These four were purchased at the auction.
Their prices were worlds apart compared to the earlier items.
Each cost hundreds of gold coins.
[Guardian Gauntlets]
(Description: Gauntlets inscribed with multiple rune effects, enhancing the user's reaction speed, martial arts attack, and greatly boosting mental and psychic resistance. Inscribed with the skill 'Mountain's Aegis,' which can be manually activated to form a petrified skin, increasing defense and resilience.)
Wu Heng examined the gauntlets' description, his brow slightly furrowed.
The details on the item panel were much more thorough than the auctioneer's description.
There were two types of runes inscribed.
The first type augmented the user's capabilities and boosted resistance. The second inscribed a skill called 'Mountain's Aegis,' which, when activated, turned the body into a petrified state.
It seemed to be a pretty impressive magical item.
He had three martial artists under his command: Sharktooth, Bagdong, and Minnie.
Giving the gauntlets to Sharktooth would make the most sense.
But a skeleton has no skin, so it's hard to say if the skill would even work for them.
As for Minnie, she came to mind when he initially purchased it.
But her level was too low for now, and it would take a while before she could effectively make use of the gauntlets.
He moved on to the next item.
The second item, [Illusory Dual Blades].
[Illusory Dual Blades]
(Description: Blades originating from the Arutunga region, inscribed with the 'Illusion' rune, capable of creating multiple false images to attack simultaneously, and possessing 'Difficult-to-Heal Wounds' and 'Armor Piercing' effects.)
It seemed like it could create clones.
It could work well for tactical deception—a weapon with versatility.
The effects like Difficult-to-Heal Wounds and Armor Piercing were also excellent.
And since it was a magical item without any negative effects, it was indeed a rare find in the market.
The dual blades were suitable for many professions.
Typically, rogues or warriors would use them.
However, other professions like rangers or investigators might also choose such weapons for close combat.
He still had a pair of oddity dual blades, [Bloodthirsty Dual Blades], which had previously belonged to 'Bloodhand.'
After Bloodhand was killed by Keramu, the Bloodthirsty Dual Blades were still in his inventory.
Now he had an additional set.
Since there was no downside and the effect was decent, he'd see later who would get to use it.
Moving on.
[Windweave Garb]
(Description: Martial attire woven from interlocking silk plates, capable of generating wind flow upon striking, unleashing air pressure to enhance the impact.)
A martial arts garment made from some very fine material.
Judging from the name and size, it seemed to be a female version.
It would be perfect for Minnie.
[Lion Armor]
(Description: A tough half-plate armor, with lion heads molded into various parts. Grand and imposing, it bears 'Fortify' and 'Guardian' runes. When paired with the Lion Shield, the shield's lion head can bite enemies, and the armor can release a lion's roar to stun or instill fear in enemies.)
A suit of heavy armor.
Fully golden, with lion head designs on the chest and shoulders.
It looked quite impressive.
Heavy armor had physical and strength requirements for the wearer; otherwise, the wearer would become slow, turning into an easy target despite their defense.
Based on the description, it seemed to be part of a set.
The armor itself only had runes for additional defense, but combined with the 'Lion Shield,' it could have special effects.
The shield could bite enemies, while the armor would emit a roar.
It was important to keep an eye out for the Lion Shield as well.
The last item was [Radiant Crusade Armor].
[Radiant Crusade Armor]
(Description: Armor worn by the holy warriors of the Shining Expeditionary Force. The armor is inscribed with religious symbols and holy scriptures. Wearing the armor blesses the body, enhancing stamina, regeneration, and more.
If the wearer is an undead or dark-aligned unit, they will suffer damage from holy energy.)
Good grief.
He'd bought an anti-undead armor.
If an undead wore it, they'd get hurt by holy energy.
This so-called 'holy energy' was just a thinly veiled form of bias.
...
After examining these items.
Although a couple of them weren't as effective as he had hoped, they were all pretty decent overall.
Gold coins—he could always make more in the modern world.
The task now was to convert these coins into real power.
He had plenty of enemies in this world.
If he was too stingy to spend money, and enemies ended up at his doorstep before he could use his resources, that'd be a real waste.
He packed up all the items.
Drained the cup of tea in front of him, then opened the dimensional gate, heading to the zombie world.
On the other side, it was still the manager's office at the mall.
He stepped out of the room.
Quadruped, Big-Head Skeleton, and several other skeletons holding iron swords were standing guard outside.
He approached one of the glass curtain walls along the hallway to glance out. Below, in the mall, checkpoints and barricades had been set up.
Vehicles from various shelters were passing through the checkpoint and were being directed to a parking area.
People got out of the vehicles carrying backpacks, chatting as they walked into the mall.
It looked like the mall had already been put to use.
Shelters were all coming here for trade.
After a glance, Wu Heng turned his attention back, took out the long-handled warhammer that Skull-crusher had discarded, and handed it to 'Quadruped.'
"This is for you to use as a weapon," Wu Heng said, handing it to him.
Quadruped stood four meters tall, his skeletal frame wide and thick, with four conspicuous legs.
Holding the warhammer, he stood aside.
Wu Heng then picked up the walkie-talkie and called Qi Hancai.
Not long after, Qi Hancai came up from below.
Underneath, she wore a stab-proof vest, while over it she donned a woolen coat.
She had the aura of a corporate powerhouse.
"Boss!"
"Mm, let's talk inside."
They entered the office and sat down on the chairs.
Qi Hancai spoke directly, "The market has been moved here, but for now, only the first and second floors are open. The other floors still need to be repurposed."
The mall had a total of five floors.
Given the current population and material demands, they didn't even need two floors—one was enough to meet all external trading needs.
So there was no need to open the higher floors.
"Many people coming here?" Wu Heng asked.
"The number of convoys coming for trade has clearly increased compared to the old factory area. Some shelters had a long journey and had to stay overnight after trading grain at the old factory. Now, trading here, they can pretty much make it back before dark," Qi Hancai explained.
It seemed like relocating the market here was indeed the right decision.
However, there were still some issues.
From the prison to the old factory, the numerous scattered bases were too many.
With the current number of survivors, all those bases were a burden.
Transportation was inconvenient, and if anything happened, it'd be hard to support each other.
It'd be best to evaluate and keep just one or two bases.
But there was no rush; they'd talk it over with everyone later.
"Alright, that's good."
Qi Hancai continued, "The military came by yesterday. It seems they're still not happy with our pricing, so they negotiated again, asking us to increase the amount of grain we're trading. They talked a lot about the 'big picture.' If I hadn't said it wasn't my decision, I might have agreed."
Good grief.
Here they came again.
But then Wu Heng quickly thought of something and asked, "Are they leaving soon?"