I Became the Alchemy Master by Picking Up Trash-Chapter 160 - 158: Figurines (Part 2)

"Ah ah ah—ugh!"

Li Xing quickly covered the store clerk’s mouth, but the shout still attracted the attention of many people in the shop. At this moment, the clerk regained her composure and signaled with her eyes that Li Xing could let go.

After calming down a bit, the clerk said, "Well... I don’t know the exact sales numbers, but I can ask the boss for you."

Li Xing was overjoyed; gotta say those figurine magic treasures are really handy!

"Sure, thanks, big sis!"

"You two can follow me to the VIP area and wait."

The clerk, cheeks flushed, led them to the VIP area and attentively brought them tea and snacks, but unfortunately, these didn’t earn any additional attention from Chu Yunyi. The clerk was a bit disappointed but still kept her promise and went to find the boss at a quick pace.

Before long, a burly man sporting a stubbly beard yet wearing a flamboyant pink suit flew into the VIP area, and the first thing he said was, "Li Xing, I’m your fan!"

"Pft—!" Li Xing nearly spat out. She had intended to have Chu Yunyi use his charm, but as it turned out, the fan was hers. Well, guess it’s up to her!

"How should I address you, big brother?"

"My name is Feng Rui, but my friends call me Sau Rui, and you can too!"

Li Xing: ...How am I supposed to say that now?

"Uh, Brother Sau Rui, you know why we’re here, right?"

Feng Rui nodded, tapping a few times on his holographic device, pushed the screen in front of Li Xing, and said, "The sales count for Li Xing figurines is this number!"

Whoa, I didn’t expect that many; this is impressive!

Feng Rui tapped a few more times, showing the holographic screen to Chu Yunyi, who, beads of sweat forming, turned his head away thinking: Take it away, take it away, I don’t want to see it!

"Young Master Chu’s is this number!"

Li Xing leaned in with a shocked expression. No wonder he’s the top seller—she couldn’t even compare!

"Hey, Brother Chu, take a look, so many people are buying you!"

Chu Yunyi glared at her, what’s with this ’so many people are buying me!’ Just during this moment of glaring, he got a good look at the numbers and suddenly felt distressed.

Why are there so many perverts on Qianyuan Continent? This is it, I’m having nightmares tonight.

Feng Rui retracted the holographic screen, rather smugly stating:

"My figurine store is the only officially licensed store on Qianyuan Continent allowed to produce and sell merchandise of the military school competition contestants. So you two don’t need to worry about figurine sales; if after the competition you don’t receive an eight-figure bonus, feel free to ruin my reputation!"

Chu Yunyi: Now I’m more worried!

"Brother Sau Rui, isn’t there also a high-end figurine? Why don’t you have those displayed?"

"Oh! Such precious items can’t be casually displayed in the shop." Feng Rui lowered his voice and continued, "To put it bluntly, the low-end players here aren’t worthy of seeing high-end figurines—it’d be sacrilege. Follow me—!"

The two followed Feng Rui up to a room on the store’s second floor. As soon as the door opened, Li Xing was almost blinded by the spotlights inside.

On dozens of rotating displays stood exquisitely crafted figurines, each protected by a Sares Crystal cover for dustproofing and shockproofing. Just the crystal covers alone were worth a fortune.

"Wow—!"

These figurines were reproduced true to form, just like miniaturized real people. Compared to them, the set displayed outside seemed crudely made and unwatchable.

Li Xing looked around the room, puzzled, "Why are there so many?"

Feng Rui replied, "Of course, we have figurines from contestants from all previous competitions. Given they’re valuable items, even though each type was only produced in a limited quantity of three, there aren’t many people on Qianyuan who can afford them, so it’s normal for sales to be slow."

Li Xing instantly understood: because they’re expensive, all the unsold stock from before piled up here.

It’s said many families forbid their members to authorize the creation of such hyper-realistic figurines. The first reason is the fear of someone using the figurines to perform witchcraft curses; the second is the concern that the figurines might be used for unsavory purposes, damaging the family’s reputation.

Thus, even though there are many figurine characters for this competition, it’s not a full roster.

Li Xing strolled around and found that besides her, Chen Qi, Lin Caier, An Qing, Song Shurun, Chou Xiaoyuan, and the Shangguan siblings had also authorized high-end figurines.

Chu Yunyi stood in front of the display with Li Xing’s figurine, feeling more and more unsettled, and couldn’t help but ask her:

"Ah Xing, don’t you find it slightly disgusting that dolls identical to you are bought, collected, and played with by the public?"

Li Xing pondered for a moment. It was indeed a bit unsettling, but living in an age of information explosion, even without figurines, her photos and videos are all over the internet. If some pervert really wanted to do something, she couldn’t stop them.

Cultivators should go with the flow and not concern themselves with such trifles. Besides, in her case, unless someone used her blood for spellcraft, no matter how detailed the doll was, it wouldn’t affect her with any witchcraft.

"It is a bit, but they’re really offering too much money—I couldn’t refuse." Having said that, Li Xing cheerfully went on to explore room by room.

Chu Yunyi looked to the sky speechlessly. How could he forget? The portrait usage fee and sales commission of high-end figurines are not in the same league as low-end products. With Li Xing’s money-grubbing personality, she would probably even sell Big-mouth Flower’s likeness rights.

From afar came Li Xing’s excited voice: "Wow, Hui Hui’s figurine is here, it looks so realistic!"

Chu Yunyi held his forehead, he knew it!

"Brother Sares, I want to buy the Big-mouth Flower figurine, give me a discount!"

Feng Rui waved his hand generously and said: "No discount, I’ll give it to you for free!"

"Wow, thank you, Brother Sares!"

"Hahaha, no need to thank me, I deserve it, I’m a fan of yours!"

"Just for Brother Sares’ generosity, you deserve to make a fortune!"

"Hehehehe!"

Chu Yunyi looked at the room full of figurines, feeling completely uncomfortable.

He hated figurines, always thought these miniature dolls were creepy, like they might come alive and start jumping around any second, couldn’t understand why anyone would be crazy about collecting such things!

No way, gotta leave this place, it’s too scary!

Chu Yunyi gritted his teeth and turned around, but the crystal case in front clearly reflected the shadow of Li Xing’s figurine.

Clearly, it’s an inanimate object, yet it has a face identical to Li Xing, eyes glistening and staring at him, making Chu Yunyi soften instantly, turning back to stand in front of Li Xing’s figurine.

All figurines are creepy, but Li Xing’s is different, it has a pitiful vibe.

Then looking at Chen Qi and Lin Caier placed next to Li Xing, one covered in muscles, the other a fierce shrew, Chu Yunyi found himself even more distressed.

Little Li Xing really isn’t suited to be in such an environment.

What to do? Take her away? It’s not impossible to take her away, but where to put her afterwards, bring her home?!

(´-ι_-｀)

After a fierce internal struggle, Chu Yunyi resignedly sighed deeply, gently took out Li Xing’s figurine and held it in his arms.

"Boss Feng, I’ll take this one."

Feng Rui was delighted: "Great! Thank you for your patronage, Young Master Chu!"

Li Xing, carrying a small Big-mouth Flower, turned back and saw Chu Yunyi had chosen her figurine, surprised she said:

"Why did you buy mine? Lin Caier’s is over there, don’t be shy, quickly switch it, I won’t laugh at you."

Lin Caier was next to her figurine, Chu Yunyi definitely wanted to buy his rumored girlfriend’s, but accidentally took the wrong one and happened to be seen by her, feeling embarrassed to switch.

Who knew Chu Yunyi would glare at Li Xing and say grumpily: "I just chose this one, can’t I?"

Li Xing smiled broadly: "Sure—! As long as you’re happy."

No matter if he took the wrong one, a huge dividend was on hand, hehe!

Before leaving the shop, Chu Yunyi secretly pre-ordered all high-end Li Xing figurines with Feng Rui. This big order was enough for the shop to last three years, Feng Rui bent over backwards, sending the God of Wealth out the door with extreme humility.

Standing at the shop entrance, Li Xing finally voiced a question she had held back for a long time: "Brother Chu, are you afraid of figurines?"

Ever since he entered the figurine room, his body was tense, breathing shallow and fast, typical signs of fear. Even though Chu Yunyi had concealed it well, he couldn’t escape Li Xing’s perception.

Chu Yunyi’s face remained cold and silent, unfortunately silence couldn’t stop Li Xing’s mouth.

"I know some people fear clowns, this phenomenon has a professional name called coulrophobia. By this reasoning, your fear of figurines might also be a psychological issue, perhaps linked to childhood trauma. Studies show coulrophobia is a form of anxiety disorder, so you..."

"Stop—!" Chu Yunyi sighed, spending money only to have someone analyze his mental problems, what kind of bad luck was this!

"I originally planned to give the figurine to you, but since you doubt me, I’ll keep it myself to prove my innocence."

After saying that, Chu Yunyi didn’t wait for Li Xing, striding away. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"Hey—, don’t force yourself, I can keep it for you for a few days first!"

"No need!"

"Then I’ll trade Hui Hui’s with you, here—!"

"Hey!!! Keep it away!"

"Hahahaha, and you say you’re not scared!"

"..."