Where's the cute girl we were promised? She's completely wiped out S-rank dungeons!

What's the basis for this?

"Well... after all, there's a huge flow of people in this kind of place every day. I hear a lot of conversations between NPCs here."

Each NPC here has a unique personality, demeanor, and life story. For example, slightly wealthier captains or crew members might talk about how much game they caught that day, their recent income, and whether their families are currently arguing about money. Or, upper-class individuals, nobles, and merchants might chat about how their business is going, what styles of clothing and jewelry are currently fashionable, and some political developments...

Just listening to their conversations, you can meet quite a few people in a day. And I always feel like the system is deliberately letting the players hear it. There must be some special purpose in creating so many unique NPCs.”

After listening, Song Yuan thought for a moment and then got up to leave: "That makes sense. The four of you can stay here and rest."

Qiao Ran quickly stood up to see her out: "Hmm? Why? Where are you going?"

Song Yuan left after saying, "Go and sell the prey we caught last night."

......

Last night's group of mermaids, because of the limited preservation technology at that time, fishermen usually used salt and wooden barrels to pickle them, layering salt and fish, to preserve them.

However, this also destroys the original flavor of the ingredients, and it was only a last resort in those days.

However, Song Yuan's team had Zhao Xufeng with them. Therefore, when transferring the prey into the cabin, Zhao Xufeng conjured an endless supply of ice from his magic hat:

However, the ice blocks were hollow and very large, making it inconvenient to bury the bodies. But this was definitely the most useful of all Zhao Xufeng's many useless props—as long as these large ice blocks were broken, and then layers of ice and fish were added for safety, it would be fine.

Therefore, when Song Yuan found the restaurant owner with whom they had reached an agreement the day before, the meat was still fresh—albeit all dead, with not a single live fish. But the restaurant owner was still very happy, because these "mermaid bandits" were considered very high-end ingredients here.

Song Yuan was puzzled: "Why? They don't even look that good!"

"My God, you still don't know what an amazing prey you've caught!"

The explanation was still given by the enthusiastic waiter: "These mermaids often ambush passing ships. They are very intelligent, and their songs can bewitch ships, turning them into mindless fools."

Their brains are highly prized ingredients, and their skin and scales can be used to make armor and handicrafts. Many restaurants are happy to buy them at high prices.

Such ferocious prey is extremely rare in the market. Catching so many proves you must be a very brave sailor!

Song Yuan took the money he handed her and realized that while it wasn't enough to buy all the game, it was still a considerable sum. Song Yuan told them to take away their share of the game and asked, "..."

"Where in your village can I find a collection of books? The larger the collection, the better."

The enthusiastic waiter winked: "Books? The village bookstore has them. What kind of book are you looking for?"

"A dictionary," Song Yuan thought for a moment, trying to describe what she was looking for as clearly as possible, "the kind of very old dictionary that records ancient characters."

"Oh? Then you can check out the flea market stalls." The clerk offered a better option, "Some of the older stalls sell antiques—some of which haven't been sold for years, including books."

Song Yuan: "Where is that market?"

The waiter pointed her in the right direction and kindly told her exactly how to get there.

After the transaction, although these merfolk weren't caught by Song Yuan, the restaurant owner and waiters still showered her with compliments. They even begged her to think of them first if she ever caught something so good again.

However, despite the waiters' enthusiasm, doing business with them was simply too unprofitable. Later, Song Yuan raised the price by a full two times and, with the remaining prey, visited several fish restaurants. The owners' eyes lit up, and they decisively bought them.

Every time money was exchanged for goods, Song Yuan felt that she had quoted too low a price. In the end, even when she asked for an exorbitant price, increasing it tenfold, people were still willing to buy.

It is evident that when the restaurant owner and waiters initially purchased goods from her, they took advantage of her ignorance and drove down the market price of the goods she possessed.

And so, Song Yuan saved up enough gold coins, counted them, and handed them over to the madam. The madam was surprised that she could get so much money in such a short time, and although she was reluctant, she eventually let Qiao Ran go with them.

"Wow! We're finally free! Where do we go next?"

Qiao Ran finally left the tavern, raising her arms in celebration under the sunlight.

As soon as they left the tavern, the five of them found the nearest small inn. Except for Song Yuan and Qiao Ran, the other three were exhausted. After agreeing to set sail again once they had translated the contents of the ancient text, the three of them fell into a deep sleep.

Song Yuan stepped out of the hotel, frowning at the strong fishy smell emanating from the street:

"Let's go to the market first. Besides mermaid meat, they also sell used books. We can look for a dictionary that corresponds to that article at the bookstalls."

"Okay~ But has the fishy smell on the street always been this strong? This is the first time I've been out on the street since I entered this instance."

"Pretty much, just a little more serious than usual."

Song Yuan looked at the plumes of smoke rising from the restaurant. Because it was lunchtime, almost every restaurant was preparing mermaid dishes, which was why the fishy smell on the street was so strong.

In reality, the stench at the market is even worse than that of a "food street":

If the mermaids in restaurants are killed simply because of people's appetites, then the reasons for the deaths of the mermaids in the market are relatively more varied.

Those mermaids who were killed cleanly and decisively were considered lucky. In the market, what was more common was this scene: male or female mermaids who looked very much like humans, with beautiful and three-dimensional features, were kept in tanks, their hands were tied, and their fish tails and snow-white upper bodies were covered with scars, like ornaments for people to choose from.

These mermaids serve various "purposes." They can be pets, food, toys... it all depends on what the buyer decides. Some of their tails even have writing carved on them: the method of carving is to remove scales. Each scale is removed one by one, revealing the pink flesh underneath, until a complete image is formed.

There were also people killing and slicing fish on the spot. Screams and wails filled the air. The various parts of the mermaid were neatly arranged on the stalls: hands, internal organs, eyeballs, brain...

These parts look so much like humans that it's like a living hell. No, this isn't even human! Anyone with a lot of guts couldn't possibly visit a place like this!

It's fortunate that Xu Tai'an and Zhao Xufeng didn't come out with them, otherwise they would be dead by now.

They hadn't walked two steps when Qiao Ran began to feel suffocated. His legs were uncontrollably weak, and his heart seemed to be upset. He couldn't help but take out a perfume bottle from his system inventory, spray a small amount on his chest, and waved his hand to let the fragrance disperse, which made him feel a little better.

He looked down and saw that Song Yuan was in much better condition than him, with almost no adverse reactions. She also didn't bother paying attention to the fish stalls, giving them a cursory glance before looking away.

Noticing that he was staring at her, Song Yuan suddenly looked up and asked, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"