Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

The aroma of food hung in the air of the workers' street, mixing together to create a complex scent.

Lin Yi lay on Bubuwang's waist, smelling the fragrance, feeling the emptiness in his abdomen growing larger and larger, like a container that had been pierced and could never be filled.

The evolution of the body requires energy; this is not a metaphor, but a literal truth.

The baptism of the abyss cleansed all the hidden damage in his body in one go, and his entire body was frantically sending signals to his brain demanding energy.

There weren't many people on Workers' Street, but there were also quite a few.

The first reaction of those contractors when they saw Su Xiao was to look away, the second was to step aside to make way, and the third was to pretend that they were looking at something else and that they did not notice that the man in the black trench coat with a long knife at his waist was walking past them.

Su Xiao is quite famous in the Samsara Paradise now, after all, he is the only one who takes so many animals out with him on a regular basis.

So over time, most people remembered Su Xiao's characteristics.

In addition, Su Xiao's reputation is not very good, which is why this situation has occurred.

Xia's restaurant is located deep in the workers' street, and it's not easy to find, but anyone who has been there once will never forget it.

It's not because its signboard is particularly eye-catching, but because its price and taste are unique on the workers' street.

Lin Yi slid off Bubuwang's back, his feet touching the ground, his legs still feeling a little weak.

He reached out and steadied himself against the door frame, paused for a moment, and then opened the door.

The moment the door opened, a rich aroma of food wafted out.

Lin Yi's gaze swept around the store and then settled on a table in the corner.

Two people were sitting at that table.

As for the third person, Brother Ruthless was squatting on the ground, holding the legs of the undead girl with both hands. His face, which usually carried a gloomy look, was now filled with misery.

His posture was completely unlike that of a high-level contractor; he was lying face down on the ground, his face almost touching the undead girl's boots.

The undead girl sat in a chair, her large robe obscuring her figure, and her hat brim pulled low, making it impossible to see her expression.

But her hand hanging by her side betrayed her emotions—the fingers of that hand opened and closed, closed and opened, the knuckles making a clicking sound, like a person making their final preparations before silently counting to ten.

Brother Ruthless's teammate, Seele, sat on the other side of the same table. She was sitting casually, with one hand on the edge of the table and the other holding a steaming drink.

Her face was the kind of ordinary face that would never attract attention in a crowd; her features were not particularly outstanding, she had no aggressiveness, nor was she approachable, just like a passerby you would forget after meeting her on the street.

But Su Xiao stopped the moment he saw her.

Lin Yi noticed Su Xiao's reaction, and his hand reflexively pressed on the hilt of the Dragon Slayer.

Su Xiao's gaze fell on Xi'er, and a very subtle hint of seriousness flashed in his half-closed eyes.

He sensed no murderous intent, no hostility, and no specific threatening signals.

But his intuition was screaming warnings, a feeling hard to describe, like an ordinary person walking down an ordinary street when two seemingly ordinary people walk towards him.

Your eyes tell you they are ordinary people, your brain tells you they pose no threat, but every cell in your body is screaming, telling you they are not human, but two tigers in human skin.

Lin Yi patted Su Xiao on the shoulder and said in a low voice that they knew each other.

Su Xiao released his hand from the hilt of the knife, but his gaze remained fixed on Xi'er.

Seele seemed to have noticed Su Xiao's gaze as well.

She turned her head, her calm, deep eyes sweeping over Su Xiao for a moment before looking away.

Her gaze lingered for an extremely short time, almost negligible, but after she looked away, her hand holding the drink paused slightly, and a very subtle ripple appeared on the surface of the liquid in the glass.

The moment the undead girl noticed Lin Yi and Su Xiao enter, her face under her hat immediately turned bright red.

She kicked the ruthless guy who was squatting on the ground hugging her leg, sending him flying. The kick was quite powerful; the ruthless guy flew backward, his back hitting a chair next to him. The chair slid a distance on the floor before coming to a stop after hitting the wall.

He rolled one and a half times on the ground, finally collapsing in an extremely ungraceful position in the corner, letting out a short, muffled groan.

The undead girl stood up from the chair, reached out and patted non-existent dust off her skirt, adjusted the brim of her hat, and then tucked her hands into her sleeves as if nothing had happened.

She walked towards Lin Yi and Su Xiao, her wide robe swaying gently as she moved.

She didn't look like a necromancer who had just kicked a high-level contractor away; she looked more like a noble lady who had just finished a tea party and was taking a stroll.

She stopped in front of Lin Yi, raised her head slightly, stared at Lin Yi's face for two seconds with her eyes under the brim of her hat, and then spoke.

"You don't look well."

Lin Yi nodded without explaining.

He glanced at the undead girl, then looked in the direction of the ruthless brother lying on the ground, his eyes filled with a question.

The undead girl followed his gaze, her lips twitched slightly, and her expression under the brim of her hat became somewhat uneasy.

The ruthless man had already gotten up from the ground. He dusted off his clothes, straightened his collar which was askew, and then strode over.

His steps were steady, and the tragic expression on his face had mostly disappeared.

Lin Yi glanced at him, then at Xi'er who was sitting quietly in the corner drinking something, and then looked away.

"Let's eat first."

Su Xiao nodded and sat down at an empty table.

Bubuwang ran past his feet, squatted down next to the table, and wagged its tail gently behind it.

The ruthless man sat down next to Su Xiao. He glanced at Lin Yi, then sighed. His voice carried an indescribable weariness, like someone who had finally given up struggling after a long ordeal.

He leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, looking like a rag doll whose cotton had been emptied, slumped there limply.

The undead girl sat down opposite Lin Yi. Her hat brim was pulled down so low that Lin Yi could only see a small part of her chin and her occasionally pursed lips.

Lin Yi pulled out a chair and sat down, leaning back as if something had drained him, his body going limp, his arms resting on the armrests with his fingers dangling at the edges.

His stomach growled again, the sound particularly clear in the restaurant, as if reminding him that his energy reserves were running low and he needed to replenish them as soon as possible.

Xia walked over to Lin Yi and Su Xiao's table, her face beaming with smiles.

It's clear that Xia had a pretty good time in the mission world last time.

"What would you like to eat today? The usual dishes, or would you like to try something different?"

Lin Yi thought for a moment and named a few dishes, all of which were high in calories: braised pork, sweet and sour pork ribs, fried chicken legs, and beef noodles.

What he needs now is energy, not taste; anything will do as long as it provides enough calories.

Su Xiao's menu was even simpler, just two words: whatever.

Xia nodded, turned around, and walked into the kitchen. Her apron swayed as she turned, and soon the copper bell hanging on the door frame rang out with a clear, crisp sound.

After Xia left, the ruthless man finally spoke up. "Doctor, could you lend me some money?"

Lin Yi looked at him and shook his head.

“I used my resources to improve my skills.”

The ruthless man's expression changed in that instant, and he looked like a salted fish, exuding an aura of white orchids.

"How many master-level skills do you have?" the ruthless man asked weakly, sounding as if he were about to die.

"Three gates." Lin Yi glanced at the other party, too lazy to hide it.

Upon hearing that Lin Yi dared to cultivate three Grandmaster-level skills simultaneously, even the Undead Girl stopped eating and looked at Lin Yi with admiration.

As expected of an Abyss Healer, managing to have money left over despite possessing three Grandmaster-level skills, truly a special profession in the Void.

“Your three master-level skills are already like a resource black hole. Do you know what four means? The first thing I think about when I open my eyes every day is where to get resources, and the last thing I think about before I close my eyes is whether I have enough resources for today.”

He tapped his fingers twice on the table, then opened his palms upwards, as if to show something, or perhaps to pray for something.

"Now you know why I clung to that person's leg and wouldn't let go? I was really terrified of being poor."

When Lin Yi heard what the ruthless man said, he became even more puzzled as to how the other party had improved his master-level skills, since the other party's treatment was quite different from his own.

"Do you have any Void Tree quests available for you to accept?"

The ruthless man glanced at him with an indescribable complexity in his eyes, as if he were looking at a complete novice.

He shook his head, picked up the kettle from the table, poured himself a glass of water, and took a big gulp.

"You think special missions are like cabbages on the roadside, you can just pick them up and finish them whenever you want."

Lin Yi looked at him in silence for a moment, then spoke.

"So how did you get promoted?"

The ruthless man paused for a moment, then placed the cup on the table, leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms over his stomach, and remained silent for a long while.

“Save, save one by one, save world by world. Don’t rest after finishing a mission, go find hidden missions. If there are no hidden missions, don’t explore, go to the edge of the map to find places that no one has been before. After looting, come back to rest, and after resting, continue to the next world, climbing up step by step.”

His voice was calm, as if he were reciting a passage unrelated to himself. That calmness was not deliberate, but rather a numbness that came from being worn down by long hours of repetitive labor.

"If the harvest isn't enough, there's nothing we can do. We'll just save it up. Once we've saved enough from two worlds, we'll level up. After that, we'll keep saving, and keep leveling up. Eventually, we'll reach the maximum level."

Lin Yi looked at him, speechless.

Brother Ruthless doesn't have Lin Yi's good fortune of being able to make a fortune after conquering each world, nor does he have the VIP treatment of the Paradise of Reincarnation, nor do he have the resources that those powerful forces in the void actively offer to him.

He only has one thing: time.

He spent more time than others, fought more monsters than others, walked more roads than others, and endured more hardships than others.

Then, little by little, I accumulated wealth, level by level, and persevered day by day, using the most rudimentary methods to get to where I am today.

"So how much have you saved up now?"

"It's all used up."

The undead girl sat to the side listening to their conversation, and the corner of her mouth twitched involuntarily.

"How dare you say that?" The undead girl's voice wasn't loud, but the disdain in her tone was undisguised.

"Don't you have any idea how poor you are? Every time we meet, it's all about borrowing money, borrowing money, borrowing money. Is everyone in your contacts labeled 'creditor'? If I look through your chat history, isn't it all just 'Are you there?' 'Lend me some money.' 'Pay back in a while.' Give me a straight answer."

The ruthless man was rendered speechless by her machine-gun-like tirade.

Bubuwang crawled out from under the table, sniffed the air, then raised its head and nudged Lin Yi's leg with its head, letting out a low growl with a hint of urging.

Lin Yi looked down at it and reached out to rub its head.

Not long after, Xia came out of the kitchen carrying a tray and placed the dishes on the table one by one.

Lin Yi grabbed his chopsticks, picked up a piece of braised pork, and stuffed it into his mouth.

The meat chunks were chewed a few times in my mouth, and the aroma of the fat exploded on my tongue, sending a feeling of satisfaction from my taste buds throughout my body.

He could feel his body frantically absorbing this energy; the newly formed tissues were like dried sponges encountering water, greedily absorbing every bit of nourishment.

Su Xiao had already started eating; his eating manners weren't exactly elegant, but they were definitely efficient.

Bubuwang squatted beside Su Xiao's legs, chewing on a piece of rib. The bone crunched between its teeth.

Its tail was wagging rapidly behind it, much faster than usual, and its face was full of satisfaction.

The ruthless man stood up from his chair and sat down next to Lin Yi.

Lin Yi swallowed a piece of meat and glanced at him sideways.

Brother Ruthless met Lin Yi's gaze, remained silent for two seconds, and then spoke.

"It's good that you're here. I was just about to talk to you about something."

Lin Yi put down his chopsticks and looked at the ruthless man, and Su Xiao also put down his chopsticks and looked at the ruthless man.

"Don't look at me like that. You all know me; I never beat around the bush when I need something. I've been thinking about this for a long time, but I haven't found the right opportunity to bring it up. Now that you're all here, I'll just say it directly."

He took a deep breath.

"I've heard you have connections with some transcendent forces in the void. I'd like to ask how those connections are, and if it's possible to gain access there through your connections. We can split any gains 20/80, how about signing a contract?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Yi couldn't help but look at Xi'er.

"With your strength, shouldn't you just go and plunder the high-level war worlds?"

Upon hearing this, Brother Ruthless seemed to choke on something.

His expression was subtle, as if he were recalling a painful past, or as if he were relieved that he had finally emerged from that shadow.

In fact, most people who see Ruthless Brother teaming up with Seele think that Ruthless Brother is the crazy one, and Seele is the one who is forced to clean up the mess behind Ruthless Brother.

After all, look at Hill's appearance, temperament, and demeanor; she sits there like a well-bred lady. Who would have thought that she's the one who's truly insane?

Brother Ruthless had his eyes closed, his expression like that of a soldier who had been on the battlefield for too long, finally returning to a safe camp, only to find himself unable to escape from that state of high tension.

"You ask me why I didn't go into the war world with her? It's not that I didn't want to, it's that I didn't dare."

"When she goes berserk, she doesn't recognize even her own family. This is no exaggeration; she really doesn't recognize anyone. In her eyes, there are only enemies, targets, and people who need to be eliminated. Teammates are no different from enemies in her eyes."

"So you're telling me I don't go into the war world with her? Am I crazy? I've finally made it this far, I don't want to die at the hands of my own teammates."

Looking at the ruthless man's face, which was filled with helplessness, and then at Xi'er sitting quietly in the corner drinking, Lin Yi could only say that true talent is often hidden. (End of Chapter)