Chapter 56: Bug-Bug Fruit, Ancient Species

In the communication zone of the Divine Bestowed Space, a video had been pushed to the top of the trending list.

In the video, a young man's body turned into yellow sand, and any zombies that came into contact with the yellow sand were instantly disintegrated.

The yellow sand condensed into a treasured saber, and those muscle-bound corpses with tough bodies and agile movements were easily decapitated as well.

The most eye-catching part was his battle with a zombie.

The zombie was unmatched, possessing bronze skin, iron bones, and monstrous strength, easily tearing apart even tanks.

However, this young man was engaged in a fierce battle with the zombie. Although he was at a disadvantage, he appeared completely at ease.

Finally, after a two-hour battle, relying on his elemental intangibility to remain immune to attacks, the young man finally wore that zombie down to its death.

"The Sand-Sand Fruit! It's Crocodile's Sand-Sand Fruit! That young man is so strong!"

"I've seen a zombie before; that's simply not something humans can fight! What he relies on is not just a Devil Fruit; he must have already awakened Haki, and his strength is not low at all!"

"Wow! The big boss is so handsome! How blessed it must be to be in the same city as this big boss!"

Flattering comments filled the space beneath the video.

In a border city of Bingzhou, Li Hui was sitting in a basement, drinking fruit juice while watching the video. Seeing himself being worshipped by everyone gleefully, he posted a message:

"Li Hui: User of the Sand-Sand Fruit, currently in Bingzhou. Now recruiting personnel, those interested apply to me!"

The video was shot so clearly naturally because he had his subordinates record it, all for the purpose of boosting his popularity to recruit people.

Relying on his Logia-class ability, if any other ability users wanted to defect to him, even if they were not in the same city as him, he had the capability to bring that person over.

While feeling quite pleased with himself, he suddenly found that his video had been pushed down by another video.

Moreover, the view count and like count were rising crazily.

"What kind of person can overshadow my spotlight? Don't tell me it's that pretty female streamer again?"

"Speaking of which, that little beauty is really exquisite. What fruit was it again? She seemed to have introduced it herself. Oh right, it's Zoan - Flower-Flower Fruit - Mythical Zoan - Flower Fairy Form!"

"Damn! Your flower is an animal? Might as well classify it under the Human-Human Fruit!"

"Or maybe they should open up a Plant-type category instead!"

Muttering under his breath, Li Hui clicked on the video that had pushed his down. In the video, a person in the midst of a horde of zombies killed four zombies and a large group of muscle-bound corpses and ordinary zombies relying solely on fists and kicks!

"What kind of monster is this? Are you sure this isn't edited?"

"Big Brother, the Divine Bestowed Space doesn't have a video editing function!"

"By the way, what does the title say? Is this the Azure Dragon big boss who was exposed earlier? Are you kidding me? He didn't even use his fruit ability! If he used his fruit ability, wouldn't these zombies be killed in a second?"

"Exactly! My Big Brother Hui had to go all out just to kill one zombie, and you're saying this guy killed four bare-handed? And while being besieged by a group of zombies?"

Li Hui didn't pay attention to the comments below. Although the person who filmed the video stood very far and very high, he recognized at a glance that it was Ao Xin!

"Oh my sweet goodness! Has this guy gotten this strong already?"

"How many days has it been? This guy must be cheating!"

And wasn't he from Biancheng? What is he doing in the provincial capital of Yuzhou? Were the zombies in Biancheng not enough for him to kill?

He found Ao Xin's contact and sent a message:

"You there?"

At that moment, Ao Xin had just finished his battle, exchanging points for several large bottles of strong liquor to wash himself from head to toe.

Fighting bare-handed made it much easier to get stained with blood and filth.

The blood of zombies smelled terrible and disgusting, especially the brain matter, which stung his eyes.

Since he had plenty of points anyway, he didn't care. After rinsing off with the strong liquor, his body felt much fresher.

He put on his clothes, and just as he entered the Divine Bestowed Space, he saw Li Hui's message.

"Spit it out!"

Short and concise.

Li Hui: ...

Damn it, when I get stronger than this guy, I'm definitely going to catch him and beat him up!

But for now, thinking of how easily and leisurely Ao Xin had killed zombies with his bare hands, even safe in Bingzhou, he couldn't help shrinking his neck and muttering, "This guy is truly a freak!"

"I got another Devil Fruit, do you want it?"

Ao Xin was surprised. This jerk really had amazing luck!

Come to think of it, Li Hui had obtained three Devil Fruits all by himself?

Sure enough, the strong are always accompanied by great fortune!

"Name your price!"

Too lazy to talk nonsense with him, he cut straight to the point.

Li Hui said, "Ten million points!"

Ao Xin's mouth twitched. "You're out of your mind!"

"Then, one million?" Li Hui generously offered a ninety percent discount.

Ten million—if it were a Mythical Zoan, that would be a reasonable price in his past life.

As for a Logia, the price would roughly be between one million and five million.

Certain powerful Paramecia types could also fetch a price of five million.

However, the fruit in Li Hui's hand was most likely just an ordinary Zoan type.

Such a fruit was simply not worth one million points.

"You should have already appraised it. If it were a very strong fruit, I'm sure you wouldn't bear to sell it to me. Tell me, what ability is it? Name a sincere price, or else there's no need to talk."

Ao Xin understood the market value of Devil Fruits far better than Li Hui did.

Furthermore, in the early days of the apocalypse, since points were difficult to acquire, he could even drive the price down.

Since Li Hui was in such a rush to sell it, he must want more points to trade for battle techniques or good weapons. Otherwise, even an ordinary Zoan type was a rare treasure.

Even if he didn't use it himself, he could keep it for his trusted subordinates.

Li Hui sighed. A powerhouse like Ao Xin was indeed not easy to fool.

He had indeed already appraised it, but it wasn't an ordinary type—it was an Ancient Zoan.

While the strength of his subordinates was important, his own improvement was the key.

He wanted to use points to rapidly enhance his own strength.

However, in the short term, the only person with purchasing power was Ao Xin alone!

"It's not an ordinary type, it's an Ancient Zoan!"

Li Hui's words surprised Ao Xin. Was this guy heaven's illegitimate child?

Ancient Zoan types generally provided physical enhancements far greater than ordinary types.

"Bug-Bug Fruit, Ancient Zoan, Kalligramma Form!"

Li Hui reported the name of the fruit.

Kalligramma was similar to modern butterflies and had gone extinct by the Late Cretaceous.

According to Li Hui's thoughts, a butterfly—even an Ancient Zoan butterfly—what kind of combat power could it possibly have?

Aside from being able to fly, he couldn't think of any other benefits to this fruit.

This was the main reason he planned to sell it.

He was currently betting that Ao Xin wouldn't know better. If Ao Xin thought Ancient Zoans were inherently powerful, he could sell it for a high price!

Unfortunately, Ao Xin knew very well!

He understood even better than Li Hui that butterflies were not merely pretty vases.

However, he wouldn't explain it to Li Hui.

"What can a butterfly do besides fly? Considering it's an Ancient Zoan, fifty thousand points!"

Li Hui's expression turned ugly. "Fifty thousand is too little! This is an Ancient Zoan, eighty thousand!"

"I'll add a bit more for you, don't be ungrateful. Eighty thousand!"

"I'll take a step back too. If you don't want it, I'll give it to my subordinates! Seventy thousand!"

...

Eventually, with a heartbroken look on Li Hui's face, the two of them closed the deal at fifty thousand points.