Become A Profiteer In Isekai

Chapter 6: Chapter 6: The Turning Point of History

Soon, the orange-red sun finally sank behind the distant mountains.

But the last sliver of afterglow lingered on the horizon, struggling against the encroaching night and darkness.

Although he hadn’t made a single sale, Lu Wei had managed to obtain a crucial piece of information—

There were several intact Giant Spider carcasses two to three miles away from his position.

Giant Spiders, much like goblins, were among the lowest-level creatures in Gelan Forest—and, in fact, in any Adventurer’s Land.

They also favored sneak attacks and were slightly stronger in combat than goblins.

However, their aggression toward humans wasn’t particularly high; they preferred to hunt small animals like rabbits, birds, and forest rats.

Therefore, unless they had accepted a bounty for them, most Adventurers couldn’t be bothered to provoke them.

’Should I go?’

Lu Wei glanced at the sky, hesitating.

The distance wasn’t too great; he could walk it in half an hour if he hurried.

But night was about to fall. What’s more, there were often spider nests near where Giant Spiders appeared. If he ran into any danger, he would very likely lose his life here.

The rational choice was to give up on the idea.

’But... Silk Glands are pretty expensive, aren’t they?’

If he remembered correctly, a single one sold for about twenty Copper Coins.

If there were three or four, his total earnings for the day would break the one-Silver-Coin mark, giving him enough money to stock up on more expensive goods.

’Take a little risk to build up my capital faster...’

’Screw it! No guts, no glory!’

’If I don’t go, how can I live up to the title of ’Crafty Merchant’!’

A true Crafty Merchant must be someone who dares to take desperate risks for profit, trample the law, and even face the gallows!

’Besides, I’m a Professional, after all. My Attributes are higher than an Ordinary person’s. If I really run into trouble, I should be able to escape!’

After a moment of thought, Lu Wei’s gaze grew firm. He immediately packed the goods from the ground into his backpack, grabbed his homemade Long Spear, and, before the sky went completely dark, headed deeper into the forest in the direction the man had pointed.

...

...

”This should be the place.”

With a hint of nervousness and a great deal of anticipation, Lu Wei finally arrived in a clearing with a completely different landscape just as the sky turned completely dark.

Like an ugly scar gnawed out by a curse, the area was surrounded by withered tree stumps and branches like ghostly claws. The ground was covered with scattered rocks of various sizes, and the cracks between them were filled with thick piles of fallen leaves that made a crisp CRUNCH-CRUNCH sound with every step.

A typical Giant Spider habitat.

Holding up a torch, Lu Wei first observed his surroundings cautiously for a good while. After confirming there was no movement, he carefully began his search for the carcasses.

It was too dark, making his telescope useless in this situation.

Fortunately, the area wasn’t very large, so after searching for about ten-odd minutes, he found the dead Giant Spiders.

Each one had a torso the size of a washbasin, covered entirely in black hair, and possessed an unsettling fullness that was quite unnerving to look at.

Combine that with an attack style similar to the Facehugger from *Alien*—they would often leap onto your head from blind spots like trees or behind rocks.

No wonder so many people were unwilling to provoke these creatures; they were indeed much harder to deal with than goblins.

And this meant the squad from earlier was no group of scrubs.

Their team must have had at least two experienced veterans; otherwise, it would have been difficult to take down so many mature Giant Spiders unscathed.

”There are actually five of them!”

After counting the bodies, Lu Wei was overjoyed. He quickly untied the Dagger from his Wooden Stick and began to work, racing against time.

Having already dealt with a goblin that had been Divided in Two, he now felt nothing when facing the corpses of these large arthropods.

But dissection was ultimately a technical skill, so it was inevitable that he would fumble a bit.

”Cut open the belly along the articular membrane connecting the cephalothorax and the abdomen...”

”A pair of full, sac-like organs in the posterior abdomen, near the spinneret...”

”The size of two fists, smooth to the touch...”

Recalling the instructions from the Adventurer’s Manual, Lu Wei forcefully cut open the Giant Spider’s abdomen, exposing its internal structures.

Withered muscle bundles clung to the black inner shell, while a white, unknown fluid churned in the gaps, emitting a pungent odor like a mixture of aged vinegar, rotten almonds, and spoiled cabbage.

Lu Wei held his breath, carefully severing the flocculent tissues and nerve cords with the tip of his Dagger, then slowly slid his other hand inside.

A moment later, his eyes lit up.

”I’ve got it!”

Feeling his fingertips touch a teardrop-shaped organ, Lu Wei’s movements immediately became even more cautious, terrified of accidentally rupturing it.

After all, the fibroin in the Silk Gland would undergo Solidification upon contact with air, and its price would drop significantly.

”...”

Fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. Lu Wei felt as if he were performing a delicate surgery, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

Just as he was completely absorbed in separating the Silk Gland, several bedraggled dark figures appeared in the dense woods about two hundred meters away.

Though their forms were indistinct, the heavy panting, the sound of scraping Leather Armor, and the faint scent of blood in the air all proved this was an Adventurer Squad that had just been in a battle and was now fleeing.

Frankly, scenes like this were quite common in Gelan Forest.

In fact, Lu Wei’s primary target customers were precisely this type of Adventurer—

unlucky souls who were injured and lacked healing items.

Setting aside the risk of being robbed himself, they were the easiest customers to gouge.

Therefore, if Lu Wei were still waiting by the Tree of Origin right now, he would probably be on the verge of making a huge profit.

But unfortunately, he was currently preoccupied with wrestling out the Silk Gland he was about to obtain.

He was so focused, in fact, that despite having a Perception score as high as 16, he failed to notice the situation over there.

And so, this big business opportunity slipped quietly away.

However, unexpectedly, about half an hour later, another figure appeared on almost the exact same escape route.

Compared to the previous squad, this person’s speed was much slower.

It was less ’fleeing’ and more ’staggering away’.

Her body was staggering, her injuries clearly more severe. Like a weakened fawn, she had reached the point of complete exhaustion.

Then, a forest breeze blew past, and with a THUD, she finally collapsed to the ground, succumbing to despair and losing consciousness.