Zhou Yi watched from a distance.

Ahead was a crossroads. The shuttle bus stopped at the junction platform, and there was a large crowd of people.

Many people were setting up stalls, making it look like a small market.

At this moment.

The Witch Hunter got into a dispute with a customer.

The other party was a human enhancer, carrying a meticulously crafted weapon box, gesturing with his hands, speaking in Western Continent language: "…Miss, these bullets are too expensive, and the craftsmanship is still immature, seriously damaging my gun's barrel."

"For such an expensive item, it should at least come with after-sales service."

The Witch Hunter replied, "I already said, these bullets are a new model, there are risks, no refunds after sale."

"I didn't say I wanted a refund."

The other party opened his weapon box, took out a black heavy sniper rifle, and pointed to the gun muzzle, saying, "My Class-A sniper rifle has suffered serious wear and tear. If not finding you, who else should I blame?"

"The bullet quality issues caused direct damage to my gun barrel. I have already asked an appraiser from the Shooting Ceremony Society for an assessment, and the bill for repairs has reached 14,000 Light Seeds."

The customer was evidently an Advanced Shooter.

He simply said: "Either we settle this privately, you compensate me half of the loss, 7,000 Light Seeds, and let's call it quits. Or we go public and have it evaluated at the Star Hub District court to get a fair decision from Star Axis."

The Witch Hunter suddenly became so angry she was fuming, her face visibly red: "How can you do this? We agreed beforehand..."

During battles, the Witch Hunter was cold and decisive, but she was clearly inexperienced with disputes, appearing flustered and anxious.

Zhou Yi asked Duke Destructive on his shoulder: "Are we at a disadvantage here?"

Duke Destructive said, "The outcome of transaction disputes is hard to say, but incidents like this might lead to a downgrade of the Witch Hunter's credit rating, temporarily forbidding her from setting up stalls, or even revoking her license. Although transaction control is relaxed now at the base, if an incident occurs and someone applies for court intervention, it will be handled strictly."

"Once the stall is lost, applying for a new one means waiting in queue, not only losing this prime location but also having difficulty passing audits due to credit issues."

Zhou Yi directly stepped forward to intervene: "My friend, here are 7,000 Light Seeds, how about ending this matter?"

The other party took the Guangna Box, checked the numbers inside, and nodded, leaving at once.

The Witch Hunter, however, was still in a heated state.

She sat at the stall, head bowed, seemingly sulking.

Zhou Yi sat down next to her: "Doing business is like this, there's profit and loss, and also risks."

"Clearly, I said beforehand, no refunds, there's risk..."

The Witch Hunter was somewhat dejected, slumping her shoulders: "Why is small business so hard."

"It's alright, a setback is a setup for a comeback."

Zhou Yi joked: "You are selling bullets? Could it be that you're skimming off the bullets I gave you to sell for profit?"

"No, I wouldn't do that!"

The Witch Hunter's eyes turned red: "The bullets you gave me, I've used them myself, I wouldn't sell them."

"So your bullets are... self-made?"

"Yeah..."

Zhou Yi was dumbfounded.

The Witch Hunter, who only liked eating bullets and shooting guns, has started making bullets to earn money.

Seems like the kid is really in a pinch.

"Why didn't you ask me if you were short on money?"

"I've already used too much money."

The Witch Hunter's voice was somewhat low: "Since I came to the Mars Base, started hunting the Killer Rats, I've died many times. Luckily, the Mars Affairs Department helped recover my bodies and got that old thing... to fix me."

"The wear and tear is real, the Warlord won't repair for free. I saw the repair bills, they have piled up to 3.9 million Light Seeds, all advanced by the Mars Affairs Department. This amount is already too much, I'm really embarrassed to keep dying..."

"I just want to pay off this debt."

So that's what it was.

Duke Destructive next to them said, "Chairman, the core cost has two parts."

"Besides sending it to the Warlord for repair, there's also equipment usage. Calling upon the Star Axis's Sky Patrol Telescope to accurately locate the Witch Hunter's accident site and rescue path. That equipment charges by the second, very expensive. But its precision and accuracy are the best, you get what you pay for."

Zhou Yi nodded.

When it comes to necessary expenses, don't skimp on them.

Fortunately, Mars Base's revenue is quite substantial now, otherwise, the Witch Hunter's expenses would indeed be somewhat frightening.

"But the bullets I make are not ordinary things."

The Witch Hunter picked up a box on the stall and handed it to Zhou Yi: "Master, look, this is absolutely worth the value, it can be used against Mars Killer Rats, it's a life-saving tool."

Zhou Yi inspected the plastic box in his hand, inside were neatly lined copper shells, without metal tips, but filled with highly compressed white granular material.

"Salt?"

Zhou Yi asked tentatively.

"Yes."

The Witch Hunter, shaking off her dejection, proudly pinched one of them with her fingers: "This is the salt bullet I made."

"On Mars, regular bullets are useless against the Killer Rats. At the very least, they are Light Core Bodies, so even ordinary A-level weapons only scratch them."

"I had been using the bullets provided by the old Warlord, but they couldn't hit the Killer Rats at all."

"Mars has a very high energy density. Killer Rats have a high-energy reactive force field on their surface, so when bullets hit the high-energy field, they are repelled and fall to the ground, having no lethal effect."

"During this experimental process, I died many times. Even though I would always fire when they struck the dust storm, even the attacks of a dying Light Core Body were more than I could bear..."

She caressed the copper-shelled bullet with her fingers: "After a long time of observation and exploration, I found a way. I discovered that Killer Rats cannot approach each other and maintain a certain safety distance, but dust storms can destroy this balance."

"When medium or large dust storms appear, the Killer Rats go crazy recklessly and attack those storms. During such attacks, they will collide and come into contact with each other."

The Witch Hunter gestured with her fists colliding: "When the bodies of the Killer Rats collide, large amounts of salt from their bodies dislodge and splatter—that's their blood."

"They don't resist salt. The force field is ineffective against it. Or rather, they don't consider salt a threat, seeing it more as part of their body."

"So I crafted bullets using Mars's local salt. I've already tested—Earth's salt won't work. It has to be salt from Mars's local mineral layers—ideally collected from the remnants of the Killer Rat bodies before they resurrect it, compressing some of it into salt bullets."

The Witch Hunter raised her right hand, squinting her right eye as her left eye focused, mimicking shooting at a distant target.

"Bang!"

"This is how I developed the salt bullet, capable of delivering a finishing blow to the Killer Rats and gaining powerful feedback."

Talking about weapons and bullets, she became animated and radiant: "Then I added my [Forbidden Altar] ability into the salt bullet. Once fired, it directly hits the Killer Rat, suppressing its instant-death feature and significantly reducing the danger level."

"The Killer Rats are still chaotic beasts, only reaching the Light Core Level. Their skill with power and techniques is poor, continuing to charge blindly with pure speed and strength."

"From then on, I could finally start finishing them off. I went around looking for Killer Rats and would shoot when they attacked the dust storm."

"My power has continuously grown."

"I feel very close to becoming a Light Core Body. So I turned salt into my element, which not only makes manufacturing salt bullets convenient but also provides a vast supply of salt in the universe, leaving no shortage of materials."

At this point, the Witch Hunter seemed to recall something, and her smile faded: "But the good times didn't last long. The numbers on the bills kept increasing, so I decided to sell the salt bullets externally."

"Many people wanted to buy them, mostly stronger shooters. Even if their personal levels weren't high, ranging from C to B, they would use A-level firearms. Shooters are inherently an attack-savvy group; it's not unusual for them to fight up a level."

"Previously, they had already been practicing their shooting skills using Killer Rats... With my bullets, they could even injure Light Core Level Killer Rats. Though this group always resurrects, it still excited the shooters."

"But the salt bullet wears out the gun barrels more, causing damage and jamming. I always make this point clear. Most people are reasonable, but there are also those who argue... and I have no choice but to eat the cost."

Zhou Yi examined the box of salt bullets in his hands: "How much are you selling them for externally?"

"2 Light Seeds per bullet."

Not expensive.

The Warlord's bullets are 1 Light Seed each.

Zhou Yi said: "How about this, you transfer the technology patent for the salt bullet to the company. The company will handle external sales, and you get 5% of the royalties. How does that sound?"

The Witch Hunter's face lit up with delight: "Really? That would be great. I'm actually not good at selling things... doing this kind of stuff is much harder than fighting."

"Let professionals handle professional matters. The company has dedicated staff for sales."

Zhou Yi smiled and then spoke to Duke Destructive on his shoulder: "If salt bullets can be sold externally, sell them. If not, we can develop them ourselves later. Salt is an information carrier on Mars. No matter what, it has to be developed. The Killer Rat group is also an entity that's unavoidable in surface mining. Having specialized weapons to handle them is also good."

"Understood."

Duke Destructive remained cautious: "However, Chairman, I need to do detailed research and verification before I can confirm the specific development and use of salt bullets."

"I won't interfere in specifics."

At this point, the Witch Hunter started packing up her stall, looking quite pleased, folding it into a large rolling suitcase.

"Master, I'm ready. I'll go with you."

She suddenly said: "Oh, I almost forgot something. Actually, salt has another function; it carries many consciousness fragments. This I discovered from the shooters, so when shooting the Killer Rats, it causes them to become rigid and dazed, essentially an attack on consciousness..."

"Honestly, I feel the Killer Rats actually enjoy being hit by the salt bullets. They don't resist or avoid it. They seem to enjoy the process. When shot, they instead become very stable and not berserk, just like when eating Light Seeds. Their eyes grow much clearer, and even death makes them happy..."

"They really are a bunch of weird creatures."

Zhou Yi couldn't help but think that Earth Killer Rats could temporarily restore consciousness stability through abundant Light Seed offerings, even awakening the memories of the old humans.

So perhaps the Mars Killer Rats could try something with salt and Light Seeds too?

If feasible.

These Killer Rats are all Light Core Bodies, guardians of the Salt Library, capable of directly using and reading salt... their value is immeasurable.

Zhou Yi immediately said to Duke Destructive: "We can try to push forward in this aspect."

"Yes, Chairman. I'll make arrangements right away."