CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 45: YOU MUST HAVE BEEN SCAMMED

Ethan didn’t know whether all NPCs in safe zones threatened players, or only the ones in Safe Zone 9527 did.

The huge white plant in the sewer map, and that huge white grub, were clearly closely tied to Grimmount.

The white plant, the white grub, and Grimmount—what secret was behind them was something Ethan could not figure out now, since he had no related Intel.

Besides Grimmount, the item shop’s owner in front of him was also very strange.

Just smelling the sweat coming off her made his status switch from Normal to [Lust], and his whole body grew hot.

If he touched the liquid on her, who knew what would happen.

But none of this was what Ethan needed to think about now, he was only level ten, and the most important thing was to find a way to class change into a stronger hidden class.

Compared to players, NPCs were clearly more likely to help him class change to a hidden class.

With that in mind, Ethan spoke, "Returning what you find is a virtue, but sadly, I don’t have that virtue."

"How about it, my request is simple for you, you won’t lose anything, and you can still get your lost necklace back."

She fell silent, looked at Ethan for a long time, and then slowly said, "Okay, but you’d better be careful, besides the safe zone admins, Grimmount is the strongest."

"If you want to get benefits from Grimmount, you must be ready to lose more."

After she finished, the item shop owner pulled a dark blue hair from her head, put it on the counter, and said, "This is what you want, when you fail and come out from the respawn point, give the necklace back to me."

Ethan smiled—fail?

He wouldn’t.

After taking the shop owner’s hair, Ethan didn’t rush straight to the junkyard, he went outside and used [Safe Zone 9527’s Best Long Blade Intel] from his [Storage].

Soon, he learned how to find the long blade that used to be an Orange-quality weapon in Grimmount’s junkyard full of trash.

He would need as much monster blood as possible.

But Ethan didn’t make a habit of collecting monster blood, so he had to go back to the item shop to buy some.

When he came back again, the shop owner had already left the counter.

Ethan waited a bit and then saw the shop owner come out after changing clothes.

Blood from five kinds of monsters, less than 500 milliliters in total, cost Ethan 10,000 Dawn Coins.

No doubt the shop owner didn’t like him, raised the price on purpose, and wanted him to spend more.

Ethan could accept that, because with his personality, he would surely get more out of her later.

Soon, with everything ready, Ethan rushed to the junkyard.

The same familiar stench was there, as soon as Ethan stepped into the junkyard, he heard Grimmount’s voice, sounding annoyed, say:

"Why are you here again?"

Ethan looked toward the sound and saw Grimmount sitting on a broken chair in the middle of the trash-filled junkyard, with an iron pot hanging by a chain from a rusty iron bar in front of him.

In the pot, a thick yellow liquid was boiling.

Before Ethan could get closer, Grimmount quickly said, "Tell me, what do you want to do this time?"

Ethan stopped, spread his hands, and said, "Nothing much. I remembered I still have some rat monsters’ incisors and want to trade for some stuff from you."

Hearing that, Grimmount let out a sigh of relief without thinking.

He kind of didn’t want to see Ethan now, because helping Ethan kill players had cost him a lot.

Grimmount watched Ethan take out the rat monsters’ incisors, counted them carefully, then pointed at the trash pile next to him, and said:

"Pick what you want to trade for, but you can only take two."

After saying that, Grimmount lowered his head and started stirring the thick yellow liquid in the pot with a spoon.

Ethan walked up to the pile of trash and examined it carefully.

It was a pile of literal trash: torn underwear, shoes with only soles left, a table with no legs...

There was nothing useful at all!

Do players work hard to hunt sewer monsters only to trade for this kind of junk?

Ethan frowned a little, he came for the long blade that used to be an Orange-quality weapon and for the hidden class matter, not to dig through trash.

To be safe, Ethan pretended to be very unhappy and said, "These things are useless, how about this, let me see if you have anything I can actually use, and I’ll only take one."

Grimmount snapped his head up, eyed Ethan warily, and blurted, "You’re not trying to scam me, are you? That pile of trash—no, gear—in front of you is already the best."

Ethan said flatly, "Even you think this stuff is trash, so what’s the point of me trading for it?"

Grimmount thought for a moment and figured his junkyard likely had nothing good, and even if it did, Ethan wouldn’t be able to find it in all that trash.

So Grimmount nodded and agreed to Ethan’s request.

The corners of Ethan’s mouth lifted slightly, and he started walking around.

Watching Ethan’s reaction, Grimmount cursed under his breath, "Damn, this guy came prepared, there must be something here he wants!"

"What could it be?"

Grimmount stood up and hurried to Ethan’s side, wanting to see what Ethan was looking for.

Ethan glanced at Grimmount, then took the monster blood he bought from his [Inventory], mixed it together, and smeared it on his hands.

Grimmount stared blankly at Ethan’s actions and asked in confusion, "What on earth are you doing?"

Ethan did not answer, instead, he kept putting his hands over different pieces of trash, feeling carefully.

According to the Intel, you just need to smear as much monster blood as possible on your hands, and when you get close to the long blade that used to be an Orange-quality weapon, you will feel a prickling like needles.

Ethan used this method to search for a full hour.

He found nothing and felt nothing at all!

Grimmount couldn’t hold back and mocked with a laugh, "Did you get some fake Intel and think I have good stuff here?"

"I’m telling you, that’s impossible. I have checked every single thing here. If anything was useful, I would have taken it already."

"Intel is the most important resource. Even someone as smart as you can be fooled. Hahahaha, that kills me."

Grimmount guessed Ethan must have been tricked by fake Intel. When he was young, he had run into the same thing and suffered for it.

Grimmount had long held a grudge over Ethan threatening him and wanted to use Ethan’s plan to destroy the Guild to get Ethan killed.

But Ethan not only didn’t die, he even really destroyed that Coffin Guild.

Grimmount had always hoped Ethan would suffer and run into trouble, and now he finally saw what he wanted most.

Ethan, however, kept a calm face with no sign of joy or anger.

Since the Intel reward said the long blade is here, then it must be here.

He just hadn’t found it yet.

Ethan was not in a hurry and kept searching.

Grimmount shook his head, went back to his cooking spot with a big smile, sat on the chair, and watched Ethan.

He not only watched but also threw in a few taunts from time to time, saying:

"Stop looking. You were definitely scammed."

"Aren’t you tired? Come sit here and rest for a bit, then leave and go do something else."

"If I were you, the first thing I’d do now is find the guy who sold you that intel and kill him!"

"Who is that guy, is he strong or not? I can help you and give you a chance to get even."

Ethan still didn’t answer and kept looking.

An hour later, a somewhat tired Ethan walked over to Grimmount in silence, picked a spot, and sat down.

Grimmount kept urging him: "Is the guy who sold you the intel really strong? Young man, you need courage, don’t back down just because the enemy is strong!"

"I can help you, as long as you ask me."

He was sure Ethan had been tricked, since what good could there be in a junkyard full of trash.

Ethan said nothing, thinking only about how to find that long knife, and he also knew Grimmount wasn’t trying to help out of kindness.

Just then, the liquid in the iron pot started boiling.

Ethan stood up to keep looking, but as he passed the pot, his hands, covered in monster blood, suddenly felt a faint sting.

His pupils narrowed a little, then he acted like nothing was wrong, stretched lazily, and walked on to other spots.

By now Grimmount had stopped mocking Ethan, he took off his shirt, showed his upper body full of wounds, and dabbed the thick yellow liquid from the pot onto the wounds bit by bit.

After another round of searching, Ethan came back again with a disappointed look.

By this time Grimmount was almost done treating his wounds, and seeing that Ethan had found nothing seemed to put him in a very good mood, so he said with a laugh:

"You wasted so much time and found nothing—tsk tsk tsk, that’s killing me."