D-level males reached the pinnacle of life by living off women.

Seeing Lu Yuan's actions, Rhine said, "Master, why don't you just stop looking? There's nothing interesting to see in this kind of shop."

Lu Yuan pinched his nose and said in a muffled voice, "Since we're already here, let's take a look."

The shop is not far from the alley entrance; it's just a short walk from there.

Pushing open the shop door, a cloud of dust rushed in, making Lu Yuan cough several times. Only after he finally stopped coughing did he look up and observe the small shop in front of him.

Needless to say, the shop was filthy, covered in dust. The owner, whose face screamed "sharp and mean," sat behind the counter, not even glancing at Lu Yuan and Rhein, and naturally showed no intention of serving them.

Besides being unclean, the store is also very small, with very few products, and the items are arranged in a completely haphazard way. For example, cleaning agents are placed next to nutrient solution, which is baffling.

Moreover, the quality of the goods in the store is visibly poor.

After looking around for a while, Lu Yuan found tables for sale in a corner. The tables looked similar to the ones they had bought before, but the quality was obviously much worse. There were many flaws on the surface, and when Lu Yuan pushed one, it even wobbled a bit.

"Boss, how much is this table?"

Thirty Star Coins.

The price is more than half off, no wonder there are still people willing to buy it despite the poor quality.

While Lu Yuan was looking around the store, insects kept coming in and out to buy things. They were obviously regulars, as they would put their star coins on the counter without asking any questions after taking the items.

Rhine was right; this shop really wasn't anything special. Lu Yuan stayed there for a while and quickly lost interest in it.

After leaving the small shop, the two insects walked out of the alley. Lu Yuan said, "This shop doesn't look like much, but I didn't expect it to do so well."

"Tens of thousands of insects live in the slums of Mel City, and they only buy things from the shops in the slums," Rhine replied.

"This is the first time I've ever known that there's such a large slum here. Before, when I watched the movies about the insects in Mel City, they all seemed to be living pretty well."

"Normal insects with labor capacity are fine, but there are many gangs here. If an insect suffers an injury that cannot heal itself during a gang fight, such as losing a hand or a foot, then these insects will end up in the slums."

"Don't those gangs care about this situation?"

"Gangs aren't charities, why would they bother with insects that are no longer of any use?"

"Then why don't these insects leave Mel City?"

"Where can we go if we leave here? Without the ability to fight, it will be difficult to survive anywhere."

Lu Yuan sighed. As he walked out of the alley, he saw a man whose clothes clearly indicated he wasn't from the slums walk into the small shop.

"That guy just now wasn't a slum dweller, was he? Why was he buying things at that store?" Lu Yuan asked.

"Many female insects spend most of their earnings on clinics for superficial mental comfort, and naturally try to save money on other things. It's not surprising that they would patronize the shops in the slums because the prices are cheap."

That explains why Lu Yuan understands. It costs 100 star coins to soothe the surface of the mental sea once. If the riots are frequent, then all the hard work is just working for the clinic.

However, the quality of the items in that store was really terrible. The chairs they were selling were nowhere near as good as the ones I had seen in the trash cans outside the auction house.

Wait, another thought flashed through Lu Yuan's mind, but this time, Lu Yuan seized upon it.

Back home, Lu Yuan excitedly told Rhein, "Rhein, I know what I can do now. I want to open a general store too."

"A general store? But my lord, we have no source of goods here."

Then Rhein remembered that Lu Yuan had come up with this idea after coming out of the slums, and he asked suspiciously.

"Master, you're not thinking of buying goods from those grocery stores in the slums and then selling them in places like Shihui Street, are you? That won't work. The quality of those goods in the slums is too poor; they can only be sold in the slums."

Lu Yuan shook his head.

"No, no, no, Rhine, I definitely won't buy from the slums. I want to buy from the trash cans outside the Mande Auction House."

Rhine was puzzled for a few seconds, but soon his eyes became clear.

"My lord, you've taken a fancy to those items discarded by the auction house, and now you want to go back to your old job of scavenging."

"Yes, Rhine, what do you think? Is this idea feasible?"

Rhine thought for a while.

"The quality of those items is naturally not a problem, but it's uncontrollable what items the auction house will release and how often they will release them. The supply is unstable."

"It's okay, I don't plan to price those items high. For us, these items are all salvaged, so we'll make a profit no matter how much we sell them for. As for customers, as long as the price is low enough, everything else can be ignored."

If that's the case, then this shop can indeed be opened, Rhein thought.

"My only concern is, if I pick up these things outside the auction house, will it affect you?"

Rhine knew that if he said it would have an impact, Lu Yuan would definitely give up the idea.

Moreover, he secretly hoped that Lu Yuan would not go out to work, but stay at home obediently and be supported by him, with everything under his control.

To be honest, he really didn't understand why Lu Yuan was so eager to go out and work. Why couldn't he just stay at home and be supported by him comfortably?

In the past, he would disdainfully call those male insects on the capital planet who only knew how to eat, drink, and have fun all day long and were completely supported by female insects as useless parasites. But now he wanted Lu Yuan to be a parasite at home, but Lu Yuan was unwilling.

However, his previous argument with Lu Yuan made him realize that Lu Yuan also had a temper. Suppressing him would only make Lu Yuan resentful, which would be bad for their relationship. So, it was better to guide than to suppress.

Even if Lu Yuan manages to get away with it by saying it will affect him, he won't give up the idea of ​​opening a shop. So it's better to let him open it sooner rather than later. If the business doesn't go well later, it would be even better if Lu Yuan gave up on his own.

"It won't affect me much. I'm just a henchman. If you're sure you want to do it, I'll talk to the cleaning bugs at the auction house and have them put those discarded items in a designated spot so you can easily pick them up."

Lu Yuan nodded happily, then frowned slightly.

"By the way, you said before that trash-collecting bugs aren't allowed around the auction house. Will I be chased away?"

"No, I'm here. The main reason we don't let the garbage collectors pass is because they look terrible and might scare the customers. You don't have that problem. I'll talk to the gatekeeper later and pretend I didn't see you."