After entering the house, Ji He carefully shut the door.

The buzzing of insects filled the air. Annoyed, she decided to bring the plastic crates inside.

Once inside, Ji He lit some insect-repelling incense, and finally, the persistent buzzing around her ears quieted down.

Instead of rushing to work, she first opened the marketplace.

As expected, all 50 portions of Pralan were completely sold out. However, only a few food items had been purchased—clearly, people were still strapped for money. Those who could survive on instant noodles and biscuits were reluctant to spend money on anything else.

She didn’t plan to take the food listings down. Since they wouldn’t spoil, she might as well leave them up.

Just as she was about to restock Pralan, the system notified her that someone had contacted her.

Ji He opened the message.

Hah!

There were a ton of them—scrolling down, she couldn’t even see the end.

All of them were people looking to buy Pralan.

Perhaps because the system had a minimum pricing rule, there were no more “smart buyers” trying to get Pralan for just one silver coin.

Ji He skimmed through the messages. Some were clearly from her own country, while others, judging by the names, were foreigners.

She prioritized reading the ones from her own country.

After all, if people weren’t trying to take advantage of her, she preferred to sell to her fellow countrymen.

By now, the benefits of Pralan should be well known, right?

Ji He immediately skipped messages filled with flattery or attempts at small talk.

She also ignored the ones trying to haggle.

In the end, she picked a familiar name and opened the conversation.

[Respect]: Hello, I want to buy Pralan in bulk. What’s the price?

[Borrowing 50 Billion from Heaven]: No bargaining.

[Respect]: 5 silver coins each is a bit expensive. The current silver coin exchange rate has skyrocketed to tens of thousands. Can you do 4 silver coins?

[Borrowing 50 Billion from Heaven]: Funny, I was just about to raise the price because of high demand. Now it’s 8 silver coins each.

[Respect]: Fine, I won’t haggle. 5 silver coins each, deal or not?

Ji He didn’t reply immediately. Instead, she decided to test something—if possible, she preferred to do business with people from her own country.

[Borrowing 50 Billion from Heaven]: Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron.

[Respect]: Carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon.

[Borrowing 50 Billion from Heaven]: 28256

[Respect]: 28257, 282931

Ji He was satisfied. It looked like they were from the same country.

Indeed, in this world, the development of history and society was similar to the one Ji He came from, so these were common knowledge for locals.

[Borrowing 50 Billion from Heaven]: The kid won’t stop coughing.

[Respect]: …

[Respect]: Probably faking it. Just give them a good smack.

On the other side of the screen, Respect—whose real name was Xu Jingyu—sat with bandages still wrapped around his body. As soon as he sent the message, he instinctively twitched at the corners of his mouth.

Something felt… off.

Beside him, someone anxiously asked, “What did they say? Are they willing to sell to us?”

Xu Jingyu, a military officer, had been involved with the game ever since they discovered it.

Once they realized the game no longer restricted information from being shared externally, they immediately reported it to the higher-ups. The government swiftly established a special task force for gifted players, with Xu Jingyu serving as the second-in-command, overseeing all players within Long Country.

He quickly assigned personnel to monitor the game forums and the marketplace 24/7 to keep track of developments.

The moment Pralan appeared in the marketplace, they were the first to notice and purchase it.

After all, Pralan was far too unique!

In a marketplace full of basic necessities like food, clothing, and shelter, the sudden appearance of a plant with special properties stood out like a sore thumb.

Not just them—the entire game chat was filled with discussions about Pralan.

After testing its effects, Xu Jingyu immediately reported back.

The higher-ups swiftly made a decision: they had to secure all available Pralan, no matter the cost.

The problem was, silver coins were extremely hard to come by. The market price had already soared to 40,000 per coin.

And even at that price, there was no guarantee they could buy any.

The price hike had happened after Pralan hit the market.

Before today, a single silver coin had cost only 20,000.

But now, even with 40,000, it wasn’t easy to get one, because marketplace quests were difficult to complete.

Most players could only earn a few dozen copper coins per mission. If they were lucky, they might get 30 copper coins—scraping together enough for a silver coin was a challenge.

After pooling resources to unlock the marketplace with 10 gold coins, they had little left.

They also needed to keep some funds for emergencies, so they were trying to minimize their silver coin expenditures.

The man next to Xu Jingyu frowned. “Can you tell what country they’re from?”

Xu Jingyu shook his head.

The man’s expression darkened. “So they’re unwilling to sell?”

Unexpectedly, Xu Jingyu took a deep breath before saying, “They’re from our country.”

The man shot him an annoyed look. “Then why the hell did you shake your head?”

“How do you know?”

“Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron.”

“Carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon.”

“28256.”

“28257.”

The man instinctively recited the numbers in response, then immediately understood.

“Alright then. Work out a deal with them, but tell them not to list Pralan in the marketplace yet. Give us some time to gather silver coins.” The middle-aged man made the decision.

Not all military personnel had access to the game.

Some desk workers and those lacking physical fitness struggled in combat-based games, needing help from soldiers. Naturally, their scores were lower.

On the other hand, some physically fit soldiers ended up in knowledge-based exams, where their combat skills were useless.

Entering the game, they found themselves bombarded with memorization tasks, followed by endless tests. No matter how strong they were, they left with pounding headaches—passing was an achievement in itself.