Chapter 2080: Shop 58

There was no other choice than to use Keyboard Come. Even though Zu An knew that the consequences were probably beyond what he could handle, everyone here would die if this continued, and the entire world would even fall to enemy hands.

Suddenly, Mi Li quickly said, “Stop! If you use Keyboard Come now, you'll definitely die.”

Zu An had a sorrowful smile as he replied, “There will always be some people who still make the same decision despite knowing the consequences.”

When she heard the decisiveness in his voice, Mi Li knew that he was now really prepared for death. She couldn't help but panic, saying, “Don’t fret yet! There’s still another way. I’ll teach you something.”

“What way?” Zu An asked, stunned. He had never expected Mi Li to tell him such a thing. “Didn’t you say that you wouldn’t interfere for the sake of my growth?”

Mi Li said impatiently, “That’s because you still had a chance of survival back then, but you just didn’t realize it yet. I can't even see how you could possibly make it out of this situation, so of course I can’t just keep watching anymore!”

The two of them shared a contract of souls. Neither of them wanted the other to die.

“Alright, enough of that nonsense. Remember these incantations...” Mi Li quickly shared some incantations with him. “This is the skill I believe to be the most suitable for you right now. Even though you'll have to pay a bit of a price, it's within the scope of what you can endure. At the very least, it’s much better than that Keyboard Come of yours.”

Zu An had a complicated expression as he asked, “Are you really the empress of Qin Shihuang?”

This kind of skill was something that was extremely profound even for his current self. He had faced Qin Shihuang’s soul fragment in the past. Even though the emperor was strong, it was definitely not at her level.

“You still have the energy to worry about something like that?” Mi Li sneered.

In that time, the Snow Lady had actually protected Qiu Honglei from the Lord of Slaughter’s continuous attacks. However, judging from how dangerous the situation looked, it seemed as if they could perish at any time.

Zu An’s expression grew serious. He quickly gathered his thoughts, then chanted the incantations and formed the seals according to Mi Li’s instructions. Profound formations immediately appeared all around him, and the entire world seemed to begin resonating with something.

The Lord of Slaughter sensed what was happening. It had already been schemed against by this brat several times, and the things it suffered were still fresh in its memory. It was worried that he was up to something else again and didn’t dare to let him carry his plans out fully. It quickly abandoned the two women and ran in his direction.

“Hurry and stop it! We need to buy Ah Zu time!” the Snow Lady cried, turning serious as she brandished the sword in her hand. The ground itself overturned, and countless icicles appeared on its surface as it crashed down on the Lord of Slaughter.

The Lord of Slaughter waved its claws and tore the wall of icicles in its way to pieces. But a second later, even more ice and snow tried to imprison it. It couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed.

Why is this Snow Lady suddenly much stronger than before?

Qiu Honglei also reacted to the situation. She quickly used all sorts of light element skills. She knew that the gap in strength between the Lord of Slaughter and herself was far too great, so she didn’t choose to use skills that were heavy in attack power; rather, she switched to support skills instead. This change in strategy proved to be surprisingly effective. When she cooperated with the Snow Lady, they were actually able to temporarily stop the Lord of Slaughter.

Even so, there was something that she was confused about. Why had the Snow Lady also called him Ah Zu? Furthermore, judging from her tone, it sounded as if they were really close.

...

Using the time the two of them bought for him, Zu An finally completed his technique. The sharp and clear peal of a bell suddenly rang out.

Immediately after, the skies split open. A pawn shop-like building appeared. It had a tall sales counter with vertical bar railings covering the surface. A shopkeeper dressed in a swallow-tailed coat was standing behind the counter with a big smile and a bell in hand. The sound had clearly come from this place.

Zu An had a strange expression. This pawn shop was clearly Chinese-style, and yet the shopkeeper was dressed like a western butler. It really was a weird combination.

“World Shop 58, wholeheartedly at your service. My name is Paul; how may I be of assistance today?” the shopkeeper said in greeting, showing Zu An a respectful smile.

“Shop 58?” the Lord of Slaughter repeated, stunned. It seemed to have recalled a certain rumor. It could no longer remain calm anymore.

Zu An looked at the golden letters ‘Shop 58’ written on the pillars. When he then thought about the shopkeeper’s name, he thought to himself,

Do these different worlds also watch the NBA?

He quickly collected his thoughts. He pointed at the Lord of Slaughter and said, “I want your help in getting rid of that creature.”

The swallow-coated shopkeeper named Paul sized up the Lord of Slaughter. There was a bit of surprise in his eyes as he exclaimed, “Hm? It’s actually a weapon made by the deities in the past! This is a bit tricky indeed. However, as long as you can pay a sufficient price, we are willing to help.”

The Lord of Slaughter’s expression finally changed. It roared, “Kid, if you have the skills, then fight me directly! How can you be proud if you win by cheating?!”

You have successfully trolled the Lord of Slaughter for +666 +666 +666...

At the same time, it looked toward the shopkeeper and asked, “I share no grudges with you, so why are you making me your enemy?”

Shopkeeper Paul smiled and said, “We are merely a shop doing business. There’s no reason for us to refuse our customers.”

The Lord of Slaughter’s eyes moved around as it said, “Then I’ll do business with you! That punk is so weak and I'm so much stronger. The stuff I can bring out is definitely worth more!”

Shopkeeper Paul shook his head, replying, “Business has to be done one at a time. He was the one who summoned me, so of course I need to take his business first. Once this business is finished, I will then receive your respected self’s business.”

The Lord of Slaughter was speechless.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

I might already be dead once you finish your business! How would I still be able to do any business?

It decided to make the first move as a display of strength, so it ran straight at the shopkeeper. It was used to being the stronger one wherever it went, so it naturally had its pride. Even though it had heard some legends surrounding Shopkeeper Number 58, they could just be false rumors. It refused to believe that a trifling shopkeeper could really be that strong. As long as it could shatter this space, Shopkeeper 58 would naturally disappear.

Its massive body instantly smashed into the small pawn shop floating in midair. The pawn shop was the most simple and crude sort from the ancient past, with chairs and even railings made of wood. It looked as if anyone reasonably strong could easily break the furniture. No matter which angle one looked at it from, the Lord of Slaughter should have been able to easily smash apart this shop and rip anyone inside to pieces. After all, even the towering snowy mountains had easily collapsed under its strength.

And yet, astonishingly, there was only a loud noise. The Lord of Slaughter smashed into the wooden railings, and it was sent flying right back! The impact left it on the ground with its four legs facing the sky. Those weak-looking railings didn’t budge in the slightest!

The Snow Lady and Qiu Honglei were both happy to see that. After all, this was something Ah Zu had summoned, so the stronger the shopkeeper was, the better, of course.

The Lord of Slaughter quickly struggled to its feet. It roared in anger and charged at the shopkeeper again. When had it ever been humiliated like this in all its years?

Suddenly, Shopkeeper Paul reached out of the window with a gun in hand, aiming it at the Lord of Slaughter. The Lord of Slaughter instantly froze. Its entire body was taut, and there was nervousness in its eyes.

Zu An’s eyeballs were about to pop out of their sockets! No matter how he looked at it, the shopkeeper’s gun was like a 16th century European firearm from Earth! Its range was short, and its power was weak. It was far inferior to the advanced weapons of the modern age. Yet it was precisely this ancient gun that made the Lord of Slaughter feel as if it was facing its greatest enemy?

Shopkeeper Paul coldly said, “Customer, please do not break the rules.”

The Lord of Slaughter chuckled awkwardly and said, “I was just joking just now; please don’t take it seriously. Hahaha...”

Zu An realized something. He quickly said, “It attacked your shop just now. Don’t tell me you aren’t going to punish it at all?”

The Lord of Slaughter gave Zu An a hateful look. This bastard was trying to screw it over!

You have successfully trolled the Lord of Slaughter for +444 +444 +444...

Shopkeeper Paul replied with a smile, “Shop 58 has never done business that has lost us money. Without proper payment, even if it really tore apart our shop, we wouldn’t do anything to it. Of course, compensation would still need to be paid.”

Zu An was speechless.

This shopkeeper really is thorough...

“Then can we finish the business we were trying to do earlier?” he asked. A moment before, he had still doubted the shopkeeper’s ability, but after seeing what just happened, he now definitely had confidence in him.

“We can help you deal with the target, but you need to offer up something of equivalent value to us,” Shopkeeper Paul said, looking at Zu An politely.

“What do you need?” Zu An asked. For some reason, he just felt a bit scared from being looked at by those eyes. But when he remembered Mi Li saying that the price was still something he could handle, he felt more at ease.

“This Lord of Slaughter is really strong, so normal things might not be enough. How about this? I’ll give you preferential treatment and only ask for your life. Also, I’ll need your soul to serve as an apprentice in the shop for five hundred years,” Shopkeeper Paul continued; he still had his professional smile on his face, as if what he was saying was already a show of utmost sincerity.

Zu An and the women were completely speechless.

Mi Li was the first to get angry. She borrowed Zu An’s mouth to exclaim, “What's going on? Your prices were clearly not that high before!”

She couldn't show up herself, but since her will was the same as Zu An’s, it was fine to borrow his mouth to speak too.

Shopkeeper Paul gave Zu An a look of surprise and said, “Your distinguished self seems to understand our shop quite well. That’s right, the prices indeed didn’t need to be so high in the past, but what can we do about inflation? Pengpeng meat has increased so much in price recently.”

A Pengpeng seemed to be a spirit beast similar to a warthog, known across the worlds. Its meat was especially tasty, making it a delicacy across the different worlds.

Mi Li was a bit speechless, replying, “Your Shop 58 doesn’t even buy pengpeng meat!”

“But our boss likes it, and the price went up. For his sake, of course we can only increase the price.”

Mi Li was speechless. Zu An was also a bit speechless. He hadn’t expected to see situations so similar to the ones in his previous world all across the cosmos.

“Are you willing to pay the price? If not, then this business will end. Time is extremely precious for us," Shopkeeper Paul said, then raised his hand to look at his watch. He clearly cared a lot about time.

Zu An was hesitating when the Snow Lady said, “Can I pay the price you just spoke of?”

Zu An panicked and was about to stop her when Shopkeeper Paul shook his head and said, “You have a very pretty soul, but I do not care about female charms. It is still this young hero’s soul that is worth a bit more.”

The Snow Lady was speechless.

Under the shopkeeper’s urging, Zu An was struggling a bit. He could actually reach a similar effect through Keyboard Come, but his soul would then be destroyed. Meanwhile, if he carried out this transaction with the shopkeeper, at least his soul would be preserved and he would have his freedom again after five hundred years. He didn’t know which one to pick.

The Snow Lady then secretly asked Qiu Honglei, “Are you willing to sacrifice your life to save Zu An?”