After a careful look, Ye Feng discovered that the stall owner was selling treasure chests, which were actually blind boxes.
A Grade-less treasure chest, lacking Arcane Yuan Coins, gambled on whether the contents were worth 50 Arcane Yuan Coins. A Bronze treasure chest cost 180 Arcane Yuan Coins. After deducting the 100 Arcane Yuan Coins for the chest itself, it gambled on whether the item inside was worth 80 Arcane Yuan Coins, and so on.
The owner was indeed a shrewd businessman. This high degree of gambling and anticipation drew many people to inquire.
"How about 30 Arcane Yuan Coins for this Grade-less treasure chest?"
"You jest, sir. Small business, 45 it is!"
"40."
...
"Damn, the stuff inside this Bronze treasure chest is too little. I lost money!"
"This treasure chest was a profit, it had a bag of salt!"
...
Amidst the haggling and the sounds of surprise or disappointment from opening treasure chests, Ye Feng walked up to a Silver treasure chest.
"Young man, you have good taste. This is no ordinary Silver treasure chest, but a very rare Mithril treasure chest!"
"I'm in a good mood today. Selling this Mithril treasure chest at a loss, 900 Arcane Yuan Coins for you!"
Seeing this, the stall owner immediately stepped forward and spoke.
"Hm?"
Hearing this, Ye Feng frowned slightly.
Because according to the stall owner's previous quotes, the Silver treasure chests were not priced below 1000 Arcane Yuan Coins, and this Mithril treasure chest even had a starting bid, prompting everyone to compete.
After all, Mithril treasure chests, as a more special type of Silver treasure chest, contained much better resources than ordinary Silver treasure chests, and most of them came with spatial rifts for storing large items.
"Is it because of the risk?"
After a moment of thought, Ye Feng understood.
Immediately, he reached out and flipped the Mithril treasure chest in front of him. As expected, he saw a small red area on the bottom.
"What the... this Mithril treasure chest's danger level is red!"
Ye Feng was somewhat surprised.
His system had told him long ago that opening Mithril treasure chests had risks, and the risk levels, from low to high, were green, yellow, and red.
"Cough cough~"
Seeing that his trick had been seen through by Ye Feng, the stall owner coughed dryly. "Young brother, although the danger level of this Mithril treasure chest is red, and indeed a bit high, the resources inside are definitely better!"
"Hmph! Nonsense!"
"The higher the danger level of a Mithril treasure chest, the better the contents might be. It's only a possibility, but the risks are definitely increasing!"
As soon as the stall owner finished speaking, someone interjected, their tone quite displeased.
Ye Feng turned to look and saw the burly man who had bought a Bronze treasure chest earlier and lost money.
"Young man, you must be cautious. This red danger level Mithril treasure chest is not to be trifled with!"
"The last time an explorer found one of these for the first time, they opened it directly without any precautions and were turned into a sieve by a machine gun!"
"Also, a few days ago, an exploration team found one. When they opened it, a Level 4 initial zombie jumped out, scaring them greatly!"
"Fortunately, that Level 4 zombie seemed to have a problem with its brain and didn't attack them, running away directly!"
"What are you talking about? Zombies, how can they not have brain problems?!"
"That was our exploration team. It was terrifying at the time. A Level 4 zombie ran towards Mech City. We wanted to report it to the city guards, but that Level 4 zombie was killed by someone at the city entrance..."
...
Seeing Ye Feng still staring at the red danger level Mithril treasure chest, many people began to speak up.
"So these people are all afraid of taking too much risk..."
Ye Feng understood instantly. "No wonder other Mithril treasure chests were attracting so much attention and continuous bidding, but this one wasn't..."
"I'll buy this Mithril treasure chest!"
After carefully examining the Arcane Yuan Coins on the Mithril treasure chest and confirming they were intact, Ye Feng spoke to the stall owner.
"Uh... alright~!"
The stall owner was slightly taken aback, then nodded vigorously, his somewhat greasy and dark face smiling like a chrysanthemum.
He had thought this red Mithril treasure chest wouldn't sell again. After all, Mithril treasure chests were not cheap, and there were few people who could afford them. And rich people wouldn't want to face the immense risk of sudden death, or being bitten by a powerful zombie, or losing money...
Under the astonished gaze of the crowd, Ye Feng and the stall owner exchanged money for goods.
Immediately, Ye Feng placed the Mithril treasure chest on the ground, told Xiao Xiao to retreat to a safe place, and with a flash of light in his hand, a large stone slab instantly appeared in his hand.
Seeing this, the people around the stall gathered.
Because Ye Feng's posture indicated he intended to open the Mithril treasure chest on the spot, everyone was curious about what was inside this red danger level Mithril treasure chest.
However, most of them kept a considerable distance from Ye Feng, hiding behind large pillars or using objects to shield themselves.
Under the gaze of the crowd, Ye Feng, opening a red danger level Mithril treasure chest for the first time, was also filled with anticipation. He held the large stone slab with his left hand to shield himself, and extended his right hand, quickly removing the Arcane Yuan Coin.
"Clack~!"
Almost simultaneously, the Mithril treasure chest made a sound, its lid opened rapidly, and a figure suddenly sprang out.
"Gah~!"
Following that, a sharp screech that Ye Feng was not unfamiliar with echoed – it was a zombie.
"Ding~ Hint: Detected a Level 4 initial zombie..."
Before the system's prompt had finished, Ye Feng pushed the stone slab forward with force.
"Boom!~"
With a loud impact, the stone slab shattered into several pieces, and dirt and stones scattered.
At that moment, a faint light flashed in Ye Feng's hand, and he held a Tang knife, thrusting it forward and hitting the Level 4 zombie's head.
"Squelch~"
After a slight sound, the Level 4 initial zombie fell powerlessly, buried under scattered rubble.
"What the hell is going on?"
"A zombie just jumped out of the Mithril treasure chest. Look at its muscles... it... it seems to be a Level 4 zombie..."
"Run!"
"Wait, that Level 4 zombie seems to have stopped moving..."
...
Because Ye Feng had acted extremely quickly, the onlookers did not see how the Level 4 zombie was killed.
Ye Feng ignored the stunned crowd and began to sort through the contents of the Mithril treasure chest himself. Xiao Xiao also came forward to help.
"That... that's Ganmaoling! Damn, it's medicine!"
"And a bag of salt!"
"Is that chocolate?"
"Holy crap, it's all solid hard currency. This young man hit the jackpot!"
...
Seeing the items Ye Feng took out of the treasure chest one by one, exclamations of admiration occasionally came from the crowd, while the stall owner who sold the Mithril treasure chest to Ye Feng looked heartbroken.
At this moment, on the upper floor of a tall building, someone was watching Ye Feng through a large telescope. It was Shen Qing, and beside Shen Qing was Shen Potian, the city lord of Mech City.
"Opening a Mithril treasure chest in public... exposing so many rare resources, not sensing the danger, and being happy about getting a bargain and acquiring a lot of supplies... This Ye Feng doesn't seem like someone with deep scheming..."
"What he said about Li Goudan earlier was probably true, just missing some details..."
"That's normal... It's normal for him to have concerns about us!"
Shen Qing moved away from the telescope and spoke to Shen Potian.
Shen Potian remained silent. He turned and walked to the bedside, looking out the window, lost in thought.
...