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Upon hearing those words, Ma Lu let out a cold laugh, silently murmured "Sword Come" in his mind, and the Chef's Knife had already appeared in his right hand, pointing at the bug across from him.

"Tell me, when did you start parasitizing Lao Hei?"

"I haven't parasitized Lao Hei," the bug said, "I am Lao Hei, I've always been the one collecting goods in this plane."

It had thought that saying this would make Ma Lu hold back, but it only made Ma Lu's gaze grow colder.

"I don't care who you are, running around parasitizing others is no good deed. I wouldn't want to wake up and find myself turned into your vessel, all my hard-earned money and wife going to you. Might as well take this chance to finish you off permanently and put an end to this menace."

After observing, Ma Lu had realized that despite the bug's tough exterior, it was in a weakened state, especially since its host had died, which also harmed it, and it was likely still in its weak phase.

That's why it was hurriedly crawling towards Ma Lu, trying to deceive him with honeyed words and let his guard down for a surprise attack.

In other words, if the two faced off directly, the bug probably wouldn't stand a chance against him, especially with the Wandering Sorcerer by Ma Lu's side.

The Dimensional Pirates who had instantly killed Old Man Zheng were effortlessly exterminated by the Female Sorceress; this bug was even less of a concern.
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Thinking this, Ma Lu felt a great relief. Of course, he didn't get cocky and pursue it but just prepared to throw the Chef's Knife at the bug from a distance.

After all, he could endlessly recall the Chef's Knife, and he could wear down the opposite side gradually.

The bug, having realized the grim situation, became utterly frantic and blurted out, "You're not dead, I didn't parasitize crap! I'm only interested in corpses."

"What are you doing crawling out if you want corpses?" Ma Lu asked suspiciously.

"With heads! I want them with heads!" the bug was truly desperate, "How am I supposed to take in energy if I can't eat without a head? Without a brain, I can't control the body either."

The Female Sorceress spoke up at this time, "What it's saying is true. It's a Corpse Parasite, which can only reside in corpses. I've seen its kind in other planes; majority of them are quite friendly and dislike conflict."

"Great, finally someone knowledgeable. This is why I hate dealing with rookies; they are all fools, acting scared over every little thing," the Corpse Parasite nearly wept with excitement.

"Say that again, if you dare." Ma Lu played with the Chef's Knife in his hand.

The Corpse Parasite quickly shut its mouth, but after a little while, it started crawling towards the Female Sorceress again, "Since you know who I am, things should be easier. I'd like to discuss something with you."

"Go ahead."

"As you can see, my corpse is ruined. I must find a new corpse within two hours or I will die too."

"You want me to find you a corpse?"

"No need for trouble, I know where there are corpses; just take me there. I'm not in any condition to be seen on the streets or to travel far. If you help me with this, I'll make sure your compensation is satisfactory.

"With your skills, if you can continue to protect me afterwards, keeping those Dimensional Pirates at bay, I can pay you a substantial amount for your bodyguard services. How about that?"

Unexpectedly to the bug, the Female Sorceress shook her head at its generous offer, "Our community also has its principles; we don't meddle in conflicts between powers, nor profit from them. I won't be employed by smugglers or any within the Dimensional Pirates."

"What?!" the Corpse Parasite was dumbfounded, never expecting to find someone uninterested in Star Currency, "But you just killed that nasty Dimensional Pirate for me."

"She didn't do it for you, but for me," Ma Lu said, "We are friends."

"Exactly," the Female Sorceress nodded, "I was only protecting my friend."

The bug, hearing this, could only crawl back towards Ma Lu, its tone considerably more polite, "Young man, no, big brother, then please help me."

Ma Lu this time didn't step on it again, but simply spread his hands.

"But I'm just a rookie who gets scared easily."

"Ah, this…"

The boomerang came back too soon, the bug couldn't bear it, and with a heavy heart, could only say, "As long as you help me get a new body, I, I will pay you 2000 Star Currency, and I'll buy your goods at double the price from now on."

"Let me think…" Ma Lu's attitude seemed rather ambiguous.

"3000 Star Currency as a reward, plus 2.5 times the purchase price, no more. After all, we are a team, it's not just up to me, others definitely won't be satisfied with this purchase price, I'll have to add some from my own pocket, consider it a repayment for saving my life."

The bug gritted its teeth and burst forth a wave of gold coins harshly.

Although Ma Lu guessed that dragging on could fetch a higher price, this might also worsen his relationship with the bug.

Considering that both parties might need to cooperate long-term in the future, it wasn't necessary to spoil the relationship too badly. If he dictated extremely harsh terms, even if the bug reluctantly agreed now to save its life, it might not honestly stick to them in the future.

It was a smuggler dealing in the grey market, after all, so its moral standards couldn't be that high.

Thus, Ma Lu said, "Look at you, thinking I'm the type to take advantage of people in crisis. Just running an errand and demanding 3000 Star Currency? 2000 is enough."

Upon hearing this, the bug finally breathed a sigh of relief. And, being well-versed in the ways of Jianghu, seeing Ma Lu take a step back, it immediately said, "Since you're taking less money, let's stick with my suggestion for the purchase price then, let's go with 2.5 times."

"Alright, I'll sell all the extra ingredients to you from now on. Where do you plan to get the corpse?" Ma Lu asked cheerfully.

"I'll give you an address. Do you have a vehicle?"

Ma Lu nodded.

"That's great, I'm going back into the corpse, and you need to take this body as well, I have to return it."

"Return it?"

"Yes, this body is borrowed, so of course it needs to be returned. Moreover, Old Man Zheng just passed away this morning, and his children still need to hold a body viewing tomorrow."

"But Old Man Zheng's head is already gone," Ma Lu said, surveying the mess around him.

The Female Sorceress then spoke up, "I can try to use a spell to restore it somewhat, but since it's blown up so scattered, I probably can't achieve a 100% restoration."

"No worries, as long as it's roughly recognizable, just tell the family the body has decayed."

Meanwhile, two people and a bug were busy piecing together the head and moving the body onto the vehicle.

At the other end, Grandpa Ge, who had been playing with a spinning top with Old Man Zheng, had already packed away his whip and top and returned home.

He was in a good mood today, even opened a bottle of wine, happily drinking while boasting to his spouse and son about how heroically he had won over his good buddy Old Man Zheng tonight.

However, he saw his spouse and son looking at each other perplexedly.

Grandpa Ge sensed something was wrong and finally put down his wine glass, asking, "What's wrong? I finally beat Old Zheng once, why do both of you look so glum? Am I your dad or is he your dad?"

"Dad," Grandpa Ge's son hesitated, then spoke up with a trembling voice, "Uncle Zheng, he had a cerebral hemorrhage while eating breakfast this morning. He's... he's already gone. We were worried you'd be upset, so we didn't tell you right away."