Ma Lu had raised silkworms and chicks when he was a kid, and even two rabbits, but this was his first time raising a washing machine.
Luckily, Number 6 didn't need to be walked, and it didn't defecate all over the place, saving quite a bit of trouble.
Most of the time, it just sat on the balcony like a regular washing machine, basking in the sun.
It was only when Ma Lu and Old Wang got home at night that it would rattle its way to the door to greet them.
Because of this, Little Brother Yang from downstairs came to complain several times, until Ma Lu ordered four noise-cancelling foot pads and fitted them onto Number 6, which somewhat resolved the noise issue.
During this time, Ma Lu also kept buying electronic products online to feed Number 6, and concluded that, for the same expense, a mobile phone provided the most "newness".
All in all, Ma Lu had spent nearly 27,000 yuan to gather another 200 newness points, and this time he still chose to upgrade his Collection Bag.
Even though the Chef's Knife and the Traveler's Bracelet also had good effects after upgrading, at this stage neither increasing damage nor extending the stay duration was as urgent for Ma Lu as increasing the storage limit.
Because more ingredients meant higher turnover and profit margins.
Ma Lu did some calculations and found that this week, The Universe's Number One Snack Stall had accrued 44,492 in revenue from the Giant Claw Lord Barbecue, with a profit of 43,794.3.
In addition, the 50 pounds of Sickle-Horned Antelope Meat had been made into kebabs and, after the Giant Claw Lord Barbecue sold out, had bolstered the stall, bringing in almost 4,000 yuan for Ma Lu.
That meant he had earned at least 47,000 yuan this week, and if he could increase the stock by 50%, he could roughly break even on his investment in one go, and from then on it would be pure profit.
There was no reason not to continue.
However, this meant his wallet took a heavy hit. Apart from Number 6's electronic feed, he had to buy an even bigger freezer, as well as cover the daily electric bills and expenses on a new TV and game cartridges... In the end, his bank account had less than 14,000 yuan left.
He still needed to keep making money.
Ma Lu thought about the 400 newness points needed to upgrade the Collection Bag from level 3 to level 4.
Suddenly, it was time to resupply again, and before leaving, Ma Lu received another piece of good news.
During this time with both men venturing out to set up their stall, Old Wang had cooked almost 3,000 snack portions, and his cooking experience was continuously increasing.
Especially the ★★ culinary rating Giant Claw Lord Barbecue had contributed 231,994 experience points, bringing Old Wang close to the threshold of leveling up.
To his left was a desert motorcycle.
It was the most common form of transportation used by hunters, with powerful electric motors and tracks that allowed them to traverse the desert. Their extended bodies provided ample load space, and high-density batteries made long journeys feasible.
And most importantly, it looked really cool; Ma Lu had wanted to try riding one for a long time.
Yet in the Giant Curtain, even the cheapest electric car sold for over 50,000 Electric Degrees, and Ma Lu couldn't scrape together that much money in the short term.
It wasn't until he encountered Baldy and his gang that his motorcycle dream was realized.
Ma Lu straddled the bike, turned the key, and started up the steel beast beneath him.
He had already ridden this motorcycle on the way to the storage point. Its controls were not complicated and similar to a regular motorcycle, making it easy to get used to, but driving it well was another matter.
Ma Lu donned his goggles and drove the motorcycle out of the container, only then checking the messages on his Traveler's Bracelet.
It was a summary of the last hunt.
In the previous round of hunting, he had obtained a total of 60 blessings. Although the total was less than the first time, the quality was much higher. There were 13 White Blessings, 42 Blue Blessings, and as many as 5 Purple Blessings.
Final score—933, more than triple that of last time.
So, when the Strange Object Store refreshed this time, he had much more room to choose from.
Ma Lu patiently looked at each item, finding the store full of oddities with various uses, yet it seemed like something was missing from each.
That is until his gaze fell upon the last item in the store—"Heartbeat Lottery."
Function: Each time a blessing option appears, one blessing at random has a 15% chance to be replaced by a higher quality blessing, a 70% chance to remain unchanged, and a 15% chance to be replaced by a lower quality one.
Price: 888
It's you! Ma Lu's eyes lit up, and without a moment's hesitation, he paid the points.
He admitted to himself that there was an element of gambling involved. The Heartbeat Lottery gave equal chances, 15% each, for blessings to improve or worsen, and mathematically speaking, it seemed like a busy folly.
But in reality, the benefits of gambling on high-level blessings far outweighed the penalties for losing. After all, there are usually three blessings to choose from, so if one does worsen, there are still two others to fall back on.
And if you win the gamble, especially in high-stakes bets—Blue turning to Purple, or Purple to Gold—that's a huge profit!