Having gained experience from completing his first order, Abel now understood how to use the System effectively in the future.
He absolutely had to get as many positive reviews as possible!
To achieve this, the quality of the traded items was crucial... perhaps even the quantity mattered.
Beyond that, time was of the essence.
Therefore, the greatest challenge lay in fulfilling orders efficiently while maintaining timeliness, thus maximizing positive reviews.
This undoubtedly required him to be fully prepared at all times, capable of immediately providing high-quality or sufficient quantities of trade items, regardless of the order.
But this was something no single person could accomplish alone.
He needed his own manpower and influence, ample financial resources, and even a lofty position with privileges!
With a single command, he could mobilize vast resources in record time, ensuring thorough preparation. Then, by leveraging the System to enhance his own strength and acquire resources unavailable to others, he could create an unbreakable virtuous cycle!
Of course, this was merely the most perfect and ideal scenario.
Yet, even with nothing to his name, Abel now saw it as the ultimate goal he would strive for!
In that moment, a seed of ambition, brimming with wild aspirations, had been quietly planted within him.
Abel swiftly retrieved the newly acquired foot-strength-enhancing shoes from his System Inventory and put them on. He needed to arm himself by any means necessary.
The classic white-and-red high-top sneakers fit perfectly.
Hidden on the outer sides of each shoe was a dial that could adjust between three different power levels.
By stimulating acupoints on the feet with electrical and magnetic pulses, the shoes amplified muscle strength to its maximum potential.
Each use drained the internal battery, requiring recharging afterward.
Fortunately, there was no need to worry about a separate charger. A small solar panel on the shoe's upper surface could absorb and convert sunlight. Just six hours of direct sunlight would fully recharge the battery, making them incredibly practical.
Abel exhaled in satisfaction, but immediately tensed up and lay back down, feigning death.
Just then, another group of soldiers arrived with more corpses.
"What rotten luck, getting stuck with this job."
"Enough complaining. This should be the last batch. Hurry up and dump the bodies, then let's go back for a shower and grab some drinks tonight."
As Abel listened to the soldiers' conversation, an idea sparked in his mind.
He immediately suppressed the tremor in his heart. If the soldiers discovered he was still alive, they would likely finish him off without hesitation.
Fortunately, the soldiers were eager to leave. After roughly unloading the corpses, they hurried away without even glancing in his direction.
Abel couldn't help but exhale in relief.
'No, I can't wait any longer. I have to get out of here now.'
Recalling the soldiers' earlier conversation, Abel felt a surge of anxiety.
If that really was the last batch of corpses, it meant someone would soon arrive to burn everything to ashes.
If he didn't escape before then...
As if fate were mocking him, just as Abel was calculating the timing for his escape, two soldiers suddenly returned. Their voices carried from nearby.
"Hurry up, grab what you need and let's go."
"What are you worried about? Everyone else is gone. No one will notice."
"I just hate this place! It's disgusting and unlucky! He~tui! Damn it, didn't you say the corpse was dumped right here?"
"This is the spot, I even left a marker. It must be buried underneath. Hurry up and find it."
"You're a real sicko, you know that? Who thinks to hide something inside a corpse?"
"Hmph! We work our asses off to scrape together a little profit, and those bastards upstairs just wag their tongues and take it all, then toss us a few scraps to shut us up? Fuck that! Once we get these jewels and cash them in, we can find some little island and live like rich men for the rest of our lives!"
"Haha, you've got a point. Let's risk it!"
The two soldiers felt uneasy in this place, but greed drove them on. Men die for wealth, birds for food. Their faces were twisted with avarice as they searched for the valuable jewels hidden inside the corpse.
"This is weird. It's supposed to be right here, so why isn't it?"
"Are you sure you remembered the right spot?"
"Impossible! Fine, let's search the surrounding area..."
Lying on the ground, pretending to be dead, Abel felt his heart tighten as the footsteps grew closer.
If he were discovered, it would mean certain death.
Unwilling to take that risk, he immediately retrieved the [I'm Just a Passerby] coin from his System Inventory and activated it.
In the next moment, the coin shattered and vanished.
The [I'm Just a Passerby] effect took hold, drastically reducing Abel's presence.
A soldier walked right up to Abel, searching through the surrounding corpses, yet inexplicably overlooked him every time, never once touching him.
Otherwise, Abel's ruse of playing dead would likely have been exposed.
After all, no matter how hard he held his breath, his heart still beat slowly but powerfully, and the body temperature difference between the living and the dead was stark and easily discernible.
Seeing this, he couldn't help but feel grateful.
But not everyone shared his good fortune.
A soldier searching corpses in another direction suddenly cried out, drawing his comrades' attention.
"Found him! Huh? What the hell is this thing?!"
"Come quick! There's a kid still alive here?!"
"Hurry... grab him!"
Hearing the shout, Abel almost instinctively thought he had been discovered.
But when he cautiously opened his eyes, he saw the two soldiers had cornered a young boy wearing a black-and-white spotted hat between them.
"This kid... is that Trafalgar Law?"
Abel recognized him almost instantly.
In this world, they weren't just partners in the same church; Abel had even treated Law's father for Amber Lead Syndrome.
So, they were practically childhood friends?
Upon realizing this connection between his past self and the future Supernova, Abel hesitated.
If he continued to play dead, he likely wouldn't be discovered, greatly increasing his chances of survival.
But he wouldn't gain anything else.
He'd have to rely entirely on Law finding what he needed and leaving quickly. Otherwise, when the duration of his [I'm Just a Passerby] ability expired, things could change unpredictably.
If he chose to intervene, he'd immediately put himself in danger, though he was confident he could escape unscathed.
He wasn't a saint, driven by indiscriminate compassion to save everyone.
At that moment, he weighed the cost of saving Law against what he might gain.