Chương 68: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 68 - Warm and Even More Charming

Farming? Planting potatoes? The players stared at each other, blank. What decade were they living in? Who still planted potatoes? Even back in school, when they'd been hauled out for "social practice," it had never gone further than a brief, reluctant gesture.

"No one knows how to plant potatoes?" Su Nian's disappointment was audible. His voice dropped lower. His dragon eyes fell, and a murderous red flicker passed through them, there and gone.

"Um. Great Black Dragon Lord. I do." The speaker was a middle-aged man. ID: Jingtian Kami. Classic male-pattern baldness. A face mapped with wrinkles. Skin the color of old wax, hands thick with calluses. He genuinely looked like a player who'd come from a farming background. Right now, Jingtian Kami was face-down on the ground, wearing a desperate, ingratiating smile, bowing so deeply his forehead nearly touched the stone. He really, really did not want to eat shit.

"Good." Su Nian signaled Grey Wolf to haul Jingtian Kami out and keep him under close watch. Then he turned on the remaining players and roared:"The only reason you're still breathing is to farm for me!"

"You have one minute. Take everything out of your spatial storage and drop it on the ground."

"Then transfer every single magic coin you have, the ones you use to exchange for keys, to Jingtian Kami." The Sakura Island players were stunned. For a moment they almost thought the Black Dragon boss knew they were Players. But then they remembered his phrasing.

"Spatial items."

"Magic coins." He only had a rough idea. He was guessing. Handing over their gear was out of the question. Giving away their Invasion Points? Absolutely not. The Sakura Island players looked at one another. No one spoke, but every one of them saw the same calculation behind every other pair of eyes. Su Nian read their faces and said nothing. He had plenty of ways to make them cough everything up.

"Dragons can detect lies. Take a good look at what happened to your friends." He glanced at the groaning pile of bodies nearby.

"I hope you won't make me repeat myself."

"Hehehe..." As he spoke, he crawled along the line of players toward the far left. His dragon claws dragged across the stone floor, the scraping noise grating on every nerve in the room. He stopped in front of a female player. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. He raised his head. He wasn't a full-grown giant dragon, not even close. But at nearly three meters tall, he was more than enough to make this woman who barely cleared 1.

6 meters feel like the walls were closing in.

"We'll start with you." Su Nian brought his face directly in front of Hotano Kyuko. A wave of sulfurous breath rolled out of his jaws, thick with scorching steam. It hit her face like a furnace blast. Blisters bloomed across her skin.

"I — I'll give it to you, all of it, everything!" Hotano Kyuko was not like the male players. For a woman who prided herself on cleanliness, being force-fed shit was a unique category of horror. She was terrified. Terrified out of her mind. So she upended her entire backpack in one go and dumped it all on the ground. Su Nian examined the pile. His Insight swept through the items in seconds.

[Ordinary Wheat Bread] [Earthenware Jar of Mineral Water x1] [Face Moisturizing Oil (Bamboo Tube)] [Lip Balm (Bamboo Tube)] [Pure Cotton Vintage Sanitary Pad (Unused)] [Ordinary Mage Robe] [Ordinary Staff] Absolute garbage. Sanitary pads, his system shop stocked those. Any time Anna needed them, he could pull them out instantly. He had zero interest in a player's daily supplies. Su Nian shook his head.

"Your coins."

"I... I don't have any left..." Hotano Kyuko kept her eyes on the ground, shaking. She genuinely didn't have any. The food in the system shop was too good. She'd burned through her remaining points buying every delicacy she could find. By now the wooden treasure chests in the safe zone had been looted nearly dry. Even wild beasts were getting sparse. Resources were thinning out fast. If she hadn't been scared of starving, she never would have left the safe zone to go adventuring in Silvermoon Forest.

"You're lying." The Black Dragon's roar shook the cave walls. Every Sakura Island player flinched in unison. Banana Wolf didn't wait for an order. He lunged, pried open Hotano Kyuko's mouth, and ran through the same procedure with practiced ease. Half a minute later, another player was on the ground. Could this Black Dragon actually detect lies? The players stopped watching with amusement. Every one of them scrambled to start emptying their backpacks. A few still clung to hope.

They quietly held back a material or two they considered valuable and didn't transfer their full Invasion Points to Jingtian Kami.

"Have you handed over all your coins?" Su Nian crawled up to a rat-faced player with a shock of yellow hair, pale golden dragon eyes cold and level. His draconic senses locked onto the man's heartbeat.

"Y-yes. Yes, I gave everything to Jingtian Kami." The yellow-haired player fought to keep his expression steady, eyes unblinking as he stared directly at the Black Dragon. The picture of a clear conscience. But his heart was hammering. You can't fake a heartbeat.

"Hehehe... Feed him. A whole pound."

"No, please, Great Black Dragon Lord, I, mmmph, ghhk—" After the procedure was complete. Banana Wolf released his grip without ceremony and let the yellow-haired man crumple to the ground, writhing and gasping. A few more players, watching the situation deteriorate, reluctantly fished out one or two more items. The ones who'd skimped on transferring their Points quietly made up the difference.

Staring at the tens of thousands of Invasion Points now sitting in his inventory, Jingtian Kami had one sincere, heartfelt wish: to die. His limbs were pinned down by the gnolls. He couldn't move at all. Biting his tongue wouldn't work. Someone had already tried that right after waking up. All it gave you was a thirty-second bleed debuff. Death, it turned out, had become a luxury. While these creatures had them under control, dying was surprisingly difficult to arrange.

By now the pile of confiscated belongings had grown into a small mountain. Su Nian's eyes lit up. He scooped the whole mound into his arms, hauled it to a clean, well-ventilated corner away from the players, and settled in to take stock.

"Let's see what we've got..."

"A Beginner Magic Primer? Now we're talking. Anna can start learning magic with this, and with that Sparkling Potion from earlier, things are really looking up!"

"Nast Silver Flask — restores mana three times a day, three-hour intervals. Solid. Very nice."

"A set of white stockings and a set of black ones? Well, well." He let out a low tsk.

"Full set, both colors, brand new. These go for a fortune in the system shop. Perfect, Anna's going to look great in these later... hehe..." Su Nian's muttering carried across the cave. Anna caught every word. She pinched her small, delicate little nose, peeked her head halfway out from behind cover, and asked in her soft, round little voice:"Wear what, Brother?"

"... Ah." Su Nian's mouth stopped working for a moment. Then he straightened up and, with the most serious expression he could assemble, launched into his explanation:"A very special kind of warming sock. Very warm. But not just warm. They're also quite pretty. They'll make Anna even more charming~""And furthermore," he added, with complete conviction, "even if these socks get a little worn and lose some of their warmth, they automatically unlock a bonus enchantment that increases charm!!"

➤ Next: Since They Have Come, Let Them Rest in Peace