Gao Yi, who had made up his mind to spend money, first contacted several sellers on the forum.
The first few people he found were selling 【E-Grade Evolution Potion】.
Their prices were mostly around 40 to 50 game coins, which was quite expensive.
According to the seller, the 【E-Grade Evolution Potion】 can provide E-grade players with 3% to 6% evolution rate.
The specific effects varied slightly; it seemed that the higher the existing evolution rate, the smaller the improvement.
Gao Yi found two sellers willing to provide delivery services and purchased four bottles—the takeout industry is truly developed now.
Of course, he couldn't have them delivered directly to his apartment, as that would defeat the purpose of all his disguises.
After a brief thought, Gao Yi chose to have the sellers deliver the goods to two supermarket lockers in the city center.
They would just need to put them in and provide the password, and he would only need to pick them up when there was a dense flow of people.
As for payment, he could use the same method.
If he was truly worried about someone observing through surveillance or tracking him from a distance, Gao Yi could even find someone else to pick them up on his behalf.
Even if it came to the worst, he still had a 【Mist Mask】 that could change his appearance, so he would always find a solution.
Actually, he could have bought all four bottles from either of these two sellers, but Gao Yi still decided to buy two batches from two different people.
This was also a way of not putting all his eggs in one basket.
He ultimately spent 178 game coins, leaving him with 322.
Of course, Gao Yi wasn't without concern that the other party might take the money and not deliver, but it seemed that this 【Nankang City Player Forum】 had a corresponding supervision mechanism.
Although the 'player' group had only appeared in the city for three months, it already had its own operational mechanism.
On the other hand, Gao Yi vaguely felt that this 'forum' was not that simple, and there might be some official forces backing it.
Otherwise, the huge bounties and its extremely powerful organizational capacity would be inexplicable.
This was clearly not something an individual could accomplish.
And at noon, that Zhao Qian had used the phrase 'completely legal'.
“It might be a relevant government department behind it, luckily I didn’t use my mobile number...”
Gao Yi muttered to himself, making two more notes in his notebook.
To be honest, he wasn't an anarchist, but he was indeed wary of various official institutions.
If Gao Yi truly believed that any crime could be resolved through judicial procedures, then he wouldn't have become an investigative journalist.
Think back, that scam company 'Jinhuang Security' could widely carry out sales activities and distribute flyers everywhere.
The backer behind them clearly wouldn't be some small fry.
In any case, Gao Yi was not the kind of person who would be 'recruited', which was also a rather stubborn part of his personality.
Of course, if this 【Player Forum】 had official endorsement, then Gao Yi could indeed feel a bit more at ease.
Although these 'players' gained superpowers and evolved in various abilities.
But that was only relative to ordinary people.
Comparing them to a regular army would be too unfair; just a few security guards or police officers equipped with Taylor guns could easily subdue a player like Gao Yi, whose enhancements are limited.
Not to mention, an individual's power, no matter how strong, has its limits; even if you are truly invulnerable, don't you need to sleep, eat, and use the restroom?
No one can remain vigilant twenty-four hours a day forever; no one can never make mistakes.
Although Gao Yi did not want too much entanglement with official forces, being an enemy to them would certainly be even more foolish.
Leaving that aside, Gao Yi still wanted to spend all his money and convert it into combat power.
With the remaining 300-plus game coins, he set his sights on a blue-grade equipment called 【Stunt Belt】.
Its effect was a slight increase in agility and reaction speed when worn.
When actively used, it could release the body's potential for three minutes, greatly enhancing the wearer's agility.
Of course, according to the seller, there was a negative effect: prolonged wearing would accumulate physical fatigue.
If worn continuously for twelve hours, the knees would be unable to bend for the next twelve hours.
Its asking price was 299 game coins, which was just within Gao Yi's budget.
“That’s three hundred thousand, enough for me to buy a car...”
Gao Yi felt his heart bleeding uncontrollably, watching the hard-earned money about to be spent like this.
But to be honest, this transaction was worth it.
“Agility” was precisely the enhancement Gao Yi most desired at this moment.
With the significant enhancement of his five senses by 【Armchair Detective】, Gao Yi could quickly acquire and process information about his surroundings.
However, knowing where the danger is, where the enemies are, and what he should do is still useless without enough speed to act.
This 【Stunt Belt】 perfectly met Gao Yi’s pursuit of agility.
On the other hand, its active skill could also be combined with the active skill of 【Armchair Detective】.
Using both together, Gao Yi might even be able to attack and move in a “bullet time” state.
It wouldn't be impossible to cosplay Neo dodging bullets in The Matrix.
Having weighed the pros and cons, Gao Yi, under the identity of 【Investigator - Snake】, contacted the seller to inquire about the transaction.
The seller's forum name was 【Graduate Student】, and judging from his wording, he shouldn't be very old.
Another reason Gao Yi chose to trade with him was that during their communication, he felt that the other party was genuinely in need of money to sell things.
This indicated that this 【Graduate Student】 wasn't someone with too much powerful equipment disposing of waste, meaning his combat power shouldn't be overly exaggerated.
This could prevent some instances of 'black-on-black'—no, why did he subconsciously think of himself as 'black'?
Gao Yi shook his head and looked again at the transaction time and place given by the other party.
【8 PM, Hulong Shopping Mall Building A, 3rd Floor Lounge Area】
“He specifically chose a crowded place and insisted on an in-person transaction; it seems the other party is more afraid of me...”
Gao Yi quickly calculated that a player like himself, who could instantly produce three hundred game coins, clearly made the other party very wary.
However, this also meant that the other party likely just wanted to complete the transaction normally, and there was a high probability that no further incidents would occur.
He glanced at the time; it was already past two in the afternoon.
It would take at least three or four more hours for the other two 【Evolution Potion】 sellers to find someone to deliver and then communicate.
By then, he could just take the subway to the city center and pick up the goods directly.
As for his appearance, he probably wouldn't need to use the 【Mist Mask】; a slight cover-up and disguise would suffice.
As a professional investigative journalist, facial disguise and changing attire were routine operations for Gao Yi.
Although he couldn't achieve the level of complete transformation into another person, simple alterations to his existing facial features were quite easy.
Of course, he couldn't overdo it, or it would be bad if the supermarket security thought he was dealing in contraband.
And on the other side, the transaction with that 【Graduate Student】 should also not have too many problems.
At that time, he could also consider whether to use the disguise effect of the 【Mist Mask】.
This had two benefits: one, it could ensure the concealment of his identity, and two, it could add credibility to his current alias, 【Investigator - Snake】.
Gao Yi chose “Snake” as a name with this in mind; the identity given by the 【Mist Mask】 was random, and even gender could not be changed.
And “Snake” is also an animal that doesn't have much gender or appearance characteristics.
Vipers and green snakes might be female, while pythons and cobras might be male.
Of course, this might be overthinking it a bit.
But being prepared for everything was Gao Yi's style of doing things.
Otherwise, with the intensity of the Goddess of Luck's curse on him, he would have died somewhere long ago.
Speaking of bad luck, can all of today's transactions really be completed normally...?
He still felt uncertain, but no matter what, he would do his best.
While there was still time, should he rest a bit?
Thinking of this, Gao Yi took a deep breath and looked at his bed.
Relaxing his body once more, he spread his arms and fell onto the warm, soft mattress.
Sleep, sleep.
Gao Yi would not know that after these two hours of sleep, he would not be able to sleep peacefully for a very long time again.
....................