Since Ed and his group had ordered their goods early that morning, Rayleigh and his men completed the transaction in just five minutes.
When it was Li Ban's turn, Rayleigh took a little longer, heading down to the underground storeroom to dig up a suitable pair of legs.
They had plenty of this kind of unpopular stock.
Unless damaged by an outside force, the goods wouldn't naturally deteriorate.
Rayleigh emerged carrying two long wooden boxes. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was selling tall boots.
Upon entering the shop, Zhu Yao had settled Li Ban onto a sofa chair that was missing a leg and propped up by a stone.
Sitting in the chair, Li Ban watched as Rayleigh crouched in front of him and opened the two wooden boxes.
Inside were two pairs of legs severed cleanly at the top of the thigh.
Neither pair looked particularly appealing.
But in this world without spiritual rhinoceros, possessing a nimble body was absolutely essential.
He closed his eyes. 'Just treat it like swapping out equipment in a game. This body isn't mine anyway.'
When he opened them again, he was as outwardly calm as Zhu Yao, despite his lingering internal resistance.
"Neither of these is quite right."
Rayleigh didn't rush to swap the goods. Instead, he smiled and explained, "If you're worried about the length, rest assured, we can adjust them for you at any time."
Li Ban looked at Rayleigh's fake smile. "Do you think I can't afford it?"
"You might not understand the situation at the Recycling Station. Around here, a lot of things are completely worthless."
Rayleigh didn't directly deny it, keeping that enthusiastic smile plastered on his face.
"What do you accept?" Li Ban asked.
He wanted to compare the answer with the intel he had gotten from Zhu Yao.
"Naturally, wheat flatbread is the universal currency. But seeing as you just arrived, you probably don't have much of it. If you had large chunks of metal, weapons, or precision instruments that don't require energy on you when you entered the Recycling Station, we'll buy them at a high price. Things like cloth, plants, or small animals have a lower value, and I'd have to appraise them based on their condition."
Li Ban wanted to trade for a suitable pair of legs—they needed to be strong, agile, healthy, and intact.
Unless he produced something of real value, Rayleigh likely wouldn't bring out his best hidden stock.
"Do you accept... elements here?"
Rayleigh paused for a moment, then smiled. "My apologies, so you're a Spirit Practitioner from the Wizard World. But unfortunately, we have a bunch of good and bad elements here; they just can't be fused or used. Even if you possess spiritual rhinoceros, it won't work."
He looked at Li Ban, thought for a moment, and added, "However, if you have spiritual rhinoceros in your body, you can use that to trade with us."
"How does that trade work?"
A much more genuine smile instantly broke out on Rayleigh's face. "Our methods for utilizing spiritual rhinoceros are limited, but one of them allows us to store the spiritual rhinoceros released by others."
"Since you come from the mighty Wizard World, you've surely heard of Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit, right?"
Li Ban nodded.
"We've modified a type of plant found here. If you infuse your spiritual rhinoceros into its seeds, we can turn the fruit they bear into usable energy."
As he spoke, he hurried to a nearby cabinet and dug out a few white seeds.
They looked a bit like unripe watermelon seeds—white and thin.
At this point, Zhu Yao, who had been silent on the sidelines for a while, spoke up. "Buying an agility-type pair of legs wouldn't even cost one whole seed."
"..."
"Uh, yes." Rayleigh spread his hands. "But we've always traded in whole seeds. After all, a seed that isn't completely filled with spiritual rhinoceros won't bear fruit."
"Then give him wheat flatbread as change. One seed is worth at least ninety wheat flatbreads. Though it's usually traded at a premium."
"I know, I know. I really have to hand it to you, you're always such a haggler. I'll go check the storeroom and see if we have any better stock."
He glanced at Li Ban and handed one of the seeds over to him.
"To save time, you should start infusing it with spiritual rhinoceros now. With so many of your people here, you shouldn't have any concerns, right?"
Li Ban could tell that Rayleigh was also testing to see if he actually possessed spiritual rhinoceros. Without hesitation, he began manipulating the spiritual rhinoceros in his body, guiding it into the seed.
He truly had no concerns—not just because of the people around him, but more importantly because of his own strength.
Although he had fought at the bottom of the Unreturning Place for a while before entering the Dark Side of the Universe, the eruption of the Star River had instantly replenished the spiritual rhinoceros consumed by his Wizard Embryo Fragments.
Right now, his spiritual rhinoceros was still at full capacity.
In this world where almost no usable spiritual rhinoceros existed, he was practically an unstoppable force.
A flash of pleasant surprise crossed Rayleigh's eyes when he saw the white seed in Li Ban's hand genuinely begin to turn black bit by bit.
He scrambled down to the underground storeroom to find the goods, swearing to himself that he absolutely had to close this deal.
Zhu Yao watched Li Ban channel spiritual rhinoceros into the seed, a trace of nostalgia flickering in her eyes.
She had survived in the Recycling Station for a very, very long time. There hadn't been a single drop of spiritual rhinoceros left in her body for ages.
Here, they generally wouldn't use spiritual rhinoceros in battle, but would rather channel it into more important production.
So even if she occasionally obtained a bit of spiritual rhinoceros, she traded it all for wheat flatbread.
In this world where there was no death—only erasure—survival was the far more important priority.
After all, whether it was turning into a monster that only knew how to eat people or being reduced to an immobile, broken husk, both were terrifying fates.
Just thinking about it sent a shiver down her spine.
Li Ban charged the seed extremely quickly. By the time Rayleigh came up from the underground storeroom carrying two large boxes, he had already placed the completely black seed on a small side table.
Rayleigh carried four long boxes upstairs. At a glance, he spotted the seed on the small table. His eyes gleamed brightly, and his smile deepened.
"Esteemed guest, I've carefully selected four pairs of legs for you. Each pair has been kept in excellent condition. Not only are they healthy and whole, but they are also slender and fit. Among the limbs suited to you, these are top-tier. Please, take a look."
His attitude had indeed become a bit more respectful.
Li Ban didn't care about Rayleigh's attitude. He waited for the man to open the four boxes and present them one by one, then focused on inspecting each pair of legs.
He didn't want to swap limbs around for fun in the future. If possible, it was best to get it right the first time.
He had to admit, when Rayleigh actually made a serious effort to find good legs, the goods he brought out were quite decent.
Moreover, they all had distinct differences, so he wasn't left choosing between identical options.
Li Ban looked at the first three pairs, and he began to feel torn over which one was the most suitable.
But when he saw the fourth pair, all of his previous hesitation vanished.
He slowly furrowed his brows, his fingers tracing the armrest of the sofa chair.
Seeing Li Ban's reaction, Rayleigh immediately placed the other three boxes on the floor and focused on holding up the fourth box.
"It seems you favor this pair. To be honest, I was a little hesitant when I brought it out. It isn't the strongest, nor is it the most agile, and it's not even the healthiest. But—after a rough observation of your build, I unexpectedly felt that this pair would fit your body best."
Best fit, indeed.
Looking at these legs, Li Ban felt as if they were his own.
More accurately, they were Gu Yi's legs.
He even felt that these were the exact same legs that had been severed from him by the spatial rift.
"When did this pair enter your inventory?" Li Ban asked casually.
He figured the man must have picked them up within the last three days.
Yet Rayleigh's answer took Li Ban by surprise.
"Esteemed guest, I won't lie to you. It's been a very, very long time since we acquired this pair of legs. At least thirty years."
Thirty years?
Was the flow of time in the Recycling Station different from the outside world?
Li Ban was certain that at most a single day had passed between the moment he abandoned Gu Yi's body and the moment his own divine soul entered the Dark Side of the Universe.
The additional two days were what he estimated he might have spent with the Faceless One.
No matter what, it shouldn't have been thirty years.
If the time dilation was truly that drastic, and if he could leave the Recycling Station within a year, perhaps only a few hours would have passed in the outside world.
And if, upon leaving, he had already become a Star Glow Priest through 'Enlightenment'—
"I'll take this pair. How many wheat flatbreads?" Li Ban decided to do as the locals did, adopting the local currency unit.
Rayleigh took another glance at the black seed on the small table and gritted his teeth. "I'll give you an honest price. Thirty."
Li Ban naturally didn't understand the prices here. He glanced back at Zhu Yao and noticed her slight surprise, but upon catching his gaze, she quickly nodded.
"Then I won't haggle. Give me sixty wheat flatbreads as change."
The deal was smoothly concluded.
"Guest, do you need to do a simple limb suturing here? We can provide free water, needles, and thread."
Free was free; he might as well use them.
Coincidentally, Ed got to benefit from Li Ban's transaction, allowing him to swap his legs right there and then.
Because of this, Ed warmed up to Li Ban a little.
He no longer glared at him in secret.
Zhu Yao carried Li Ban into a small underground cubicle once more.
After bringing him in, Zhu Yao waited outside.
Rayleigh, on the other hand, enthusiastically came in to help.
Li Ban let Ed swap his legs first.
Afterward, he watched as Ed excitedly took a machete and chopped off his two short little legs. Ed then had Rayleigh help him stitch the new legs on, starting from the root of the thighs. After sewing a crude circle around them, Ed dipped a towel in a wooden basin of water and continuously wiped the sutured wound.
Once it came to the wiping step, Ed could handle it himself.
After finishing Ed's leg-swapping "surgery," Rayleigh fetched a fresh half-basin of water from a nearby pipe. Armed with a needle, thread, and cotton cloth, he approached Li Ban.
Li Ban stared at the needle in his hand.
It was a needle polished from stone. It couldn't compare to a medical suture needle, but it had been refined to roughly the thickness of an embroidery needle.
The thread, however, was a bit too crude.
It wasn't cotton thread, but rather something like twisted plant fibers, covered in snapped, bristly burrs.
'I did put spare clothes in my Cubic Space, but it never crossed my mind to bring a needle and thread,' Li Ban thought with a bitter smile.
"Shall I help you stitch them?"
Having witnessed Rayleigh's incredibly crude suturing technique, Li Ban refused without hesitation.
"I'll do it myself. If I secure the legs in place and keep them soaked in water, they can grow together on their own, right?"
Rayleigh handed the needle and thread to Li Ban, explaining, "Of course that works, but it's very time-consuming. You might need to soak them for a full day before they initially fuse. Plus, without sturdy thread or nails to secure them, they can easily snap off in the first few days."
That would be too much of a waste of water.
"If you use the needle and thread, you'll be able to walk simply after waiting just an hour, and you can go back and continue wiping them then."