At five o'clock in the evening, Dou Yuehui and Sun Haolun not only had enough to eat and drink, but also returned home with a full load.

When the two came out, they actually didn't have much stuff left. Dou Yuehui handed over all the good equipment, and sold the remaining few pieces of white junk equipment and unused food and medicine, and exchanged them for gold coins and brought them out, for a total of about 800 gold.

Sun Haolun was even more resentful. After hearing that there was another way out, he decided to muster up the courage to give it a try. He did not give anything to the foreigners. He did keep a lot of equipment, food, and medicine, but he had fewer gold coins than Dou Yuehui, only more than 500.

After a stroll around the market, Dou Yuehui spent 100 gold to buy 2 bottles of intermediate blood-replenishing potions and 3 bottles of intermediate mana potions, saving 250 gold compared to the regular prices in the Fearless Settlement; she also spent 110 gold to buy two servings of bone broth ramen and one portion of egg fried rice, both of which were blue quality and were unaffordable in the Fearless Settlement.

Then she picked out some cost-effective materials, gave them to Zhang Xu, and spent a huge sum of 100 to order two sets of blue clothing.

After paying the money, Dou Yuehui was still in a daze for half an hour - 100 gold to order two pieces of blue equipment, is this reasonable?

Finally, after looking at the balance, she bought a thatched hut to live in without any pressure.

As for Sun Haolun, his equipment and medicines were still useful for the time being, so he spent 50 gold coins to buy a thatched hut, and then took out a budget of 300 to buy food.

Butter bread, raspberry jam, winter melon meatball soup, Kung Pao chicken, marshmallows... Ever since the apocalypse, Sun Haolun had never dared to imagine that he would ever be able to eat these foods again in his lifetime. But now he can put them all into his backpack as supplies for the next three days of monster hunting!

The thatched huts they bought were adjacent to each other. On their way back from the market, they stopped at the entrance to chat for a while. Sun Haolun sighed with mixed feelings, "We've only been in the Overnight Riches settlement for a few hours, and I already feel like life is so much better than in the Fearless Settlement. Am I such a loser?"

No future? Dou Yuehui didn’t think so at all!

She smiled widely and said, "You just think this place is so much better than the Dauntless Settlement? I think this place is simply paradise!"

"Hahahahahaha!!!" Sun Haolun burst into laughter, and the two of them went into their houses with happy moods.

The next morning, the two began a round of "interviews" according to An Yan's previous instructions. After comprehensive consideration, they joined Yi Hang's team to participate in the territory defense battle. When the Zerg crisis was over, they would join Zhang Tingting's monster-killing team to kill monsters.

Dou Yuehui was a bit uneasy when she met Zhang Tingting. She had been pampered by the Fearless Settlement for too long, and now that she had witnessed the friendly atmosphere of the Overnight Rich Settlement, she couldn't help but ask Zhang Tingting, "As the team leader, don't you take a cut of the members' monster-killing work?"

Zhang Tingting was asked a complicated question: "To be honest, the boss doesn't take a commission, so if I do, do I have any shame?"

"Besides, when defeating a boss, the rewards are distributed fairly according to contribution. If I feel I'm being taken advantage of, I should just say so. Why should I take a cut?"

"Don't be angry if I say something unpleasant—you people from the Fearless Settlement, do you have any brains..."

Although she had laid the groundwork in advance, the kind-hearted Zhang Tingting still did not finish her words and stopped at the right time.

Sun Haolun scratched his head honestly: "You're right, I also think there's something wrong with our brains now. It could be PTSD or it could be Stockholm syndrome."

Zhang Tingting: “…”

Now that you admit this, I feel a little embarrassed.

After three well-organized fights, the morning was already gone. Dou Yuehui took out the egg fried rice she'd bought the night before, while Sun Haolun settled on the more luxurious Kung Pao Chicken with rice. Afterward, they went to look for Chu Cheng together.

Dou Yuehui sighed as she walked, "I didn't expect that killing bugs here would be more fun than in the Fearless Settlement. No one's competing for monsters, and I don't have to work for others. Even as a priest, I can easily unleash my skills and still get quite a few rewards."

"Yes." Sun Haolun breathed a sigh of relief. "And this settlement seems to have better luck than the Fearless Settlement? The frequency of insect swarm attacks is obviously lower than that of the Fearless Settlement, and every time they come, they almost only attack one side, making them much easier to deal with."

The two of them walked to Chu Cheng's red brick house while chatting and knocked on the door.

Chu Cheng was cooking braised pork and abalone in the kitchen while the insects were attacking. He heard the door open and walked out. He was surprised to see Sun Haolun and Dou Yuehui. "Looking for me? What's going on?"

"Yes, Boss, I used to love watching you play!" Sun Haolun praised him with admiration, then restrained his smile and said seriously, "Boss, we may be a little abrupt, but we really have a business deal we want to discuss with you."

"Business?" Chu Cheng's expression was slightly serious as he looked at the two people in front of him. He didn't know what the two newcomers who had just joined the settlement wanted to talk to him about.

At five o'clock in the evening, as night fell, the last wave of Zerg was defeated. According to previous experience, there should be no new ones coming.

The three teams dispersed, some eating, some resting, and the small market became bustling. Chu Cheng returned to the residential area with his backpack, knocked on Ye Miao's door, entered the house, and placed a dish and a bowl of rice on the table.

Braised pork with abalone, served with rice.

The familiar dishes made Ye Miao hungry all of a sudden: "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Chu Cheng sat on the chair next to him. "Besides delivering the meal, I have something else I want to discuss with you."

Ye Miao: "What's the matter?"

"Well...business." Chu Cheng said.

"Business?" Ye Miao's curious reaction was exactly the same as Chu Cheng's at noon. Chu Cheng didn't keep her in suspense and got straight to the point, making Ye Miao's mouth curl up.

She knew yesterday's ads would work! The Fearless Settlement was so unruly, and every member was on edge. Those ads were enough to be the straw that broke the camel's back, completely alienating the ordinary members who had been oppressed from the Fearless Settlement!

Sun Haolun and Dou Yuehui are also very smart!

When she first accepted An Yan, she had decided to use him as a breakthrough point and slowly disintegrate the Fearless Settlement through his mouth. An Yan did exactly that, and within a few days of joining, he had already recruited Dou Yuehui and Sun Haolun to join the group.

But An Yan was still a child, inexperienced, and simple-minded. He simply thought this place was a good place, and wanted to bring over his friend who had helped him. He was worried that his friend might be in danger, so he came to her for help. It was very difficult for him to open his mouth, and he didn't want to owe too many favors, so he only dared to bring two people.

Dou Yuehui and Sun Haolun were different. They acted like adults, using money as a tool for favors. When they received a message from an old friend in the Fearless Settlement asking for help, they simply told him, "You can come over, but you'll have to pay for an escort."

No matter from which angle you look at it, this condition is perfectly reasonable - before the end of the world, you had to pay to ask someone to run errands to buy something. Now that the big guy comes forward to save your life, isn't it reasonable to charge some hard work fee?

Having tasted the sweetness, Sun Haolun also made an even more tempting offer: "With the big boss escorting you, Xu Wu won't dare to do anything to you. You can keep all your equipment without handing it in. It's a huge profit!"

Therefore, anyone who came to them agreed readily without exception.

Sun Haolun was a real down-to-earth guy. He only approached Chu Cheng to discuss this deal so he could get his approval and help the other members out of this mess. He had no intention of profiting from the price difference. He told Chu Cheng everything, "Each person will pay 3,000 gold for the trip, with a minimum of five people in the group. Is that okay with you? If you think it's too low, you can add more. We're open to negotiation."

Ye Miao was stunned when he heard the price: "A guaranteed 15,000 gold for one trip?! Isn't that too much?!"

"It depends on what you say." Chu Cheng said slowly, "3,000 gold is indeed a high fare, but it is life-saving for them, and their lives will change dramatically from now on. It's worth the money."

Ye Miao took a deep breath and said, "But the Fearless Settlement exploits its members severely. Will they be unable to come up with the money?"

Chu Cheng pondered, "I was worried about this myself, and I've discussed it seriously with Sun Haolun. Sun Haolun said that in order to meet the supply deadline, every member of the Fearless Settlement is desperately trying to save money and resources. Generally, supplies are turned in every ten days, but if you're determined to leave, you won't turn in the accumulated resources. Saving 3,000 gold between two supply deadlines isn't difficult for most members."

"Is that so?" Ye Miao nodded slowly, "Then I can take this job."

"Well, let's talk about the profit." Chu Cheng smiled lightly, "I charge 1,000 gold per person per trip. You give me a few thousand for each group, and we'll divide it privately. The rest, since you're the leader of the settlement, is all yours."

Ye Miao felt that he had taken advantage of her: "This is inappropriate..."

"Suitable." Chu Cheng said calmly, "We encountered three waves of Zerg on the way back and forth yesterday, and you were the one fighting almost all of them. They were willing to come here because you manage the settlement well. Otherwise, how would we make this money? 1,000 gold is a lot of money just running errands back and forth. We have the self-cultivation to be salty fish."

Ye Miao: “…”

There seems to be some truth to this.

She silently calculated in her mind: if five people went on a trip, they would earn a total of 15,000 gold. If all five members of Chu Cheng's team went, they would share 5,000 gold, leaving her with a net profit of 10,000 gold...

She then asked, "What if we send 10 people in one trip?"

Chu Cheng: "10 people, 30,000 gold, we still get 1,000 each, the rest is yours."

That’s 25,000…

Ye Miao was dizzy by this account: Oh my god, if we round it up like this, we are using the money earned from demolishing the Fearless Settlement to upgrade the village, and then using our own village to completely defeat the Fearless Settlement.

What is this called? One fear, two ways?

So delicious!

She happily made up her mind, "Okay, that's it! The profits are up to you, but I'll cover all the medicine and food expenses along the way!"

"Deal." Chu Cheng accepted it happily, lowering his eyes, "Try the braised pork."

"I've eaten it before, I like it!" Ye Miao happily picked up a piece of meat and ate it with rice.

After taking two bites, Ye Miao pondered, "Is it convenient for me to order food from this chef?"

Chu Cheng: "What?"

Ye Miao: "I have to pay for everyone's meal. Since the profit is high, we can eat more luxuriously. If it is convenient for you, can you help me make some connections? The price is negotiable, as long as the chef is willing to cook it."

Chu Cheng thought for a moment and said, "Then let's make it 200 gold per meal."

"Gold quality?!" Ye Miao was shocked for a moment, then shook his head. "That's inappropriate. Golden food is too rare nowadays and is considered a rare commodity. If it's someone from our territory, prices are low here anyway, so it's okay if it's cheap. But for outsiders, you can't take advantage of your good relationship with them and let them suffer."

To be selfless, Ye Miao felt bad; to be selfish—hey, senior chef! She really wanted to maintain a good cooperative relationship and place long-term orders in the future!

Chu Cheng was silent for a while, and then he simply gave up and opened the panel to show her.

[Name: Chu Cheng]

[Combat: Level 100, Cooking: Level 92, Harvesting: Level 15, Planting: Level 13, Healing: Level 12.]

[Health: 12000, Magic: 17000]

[Physical Strength: 5000, Attack Power: 7000, Agility: 6000, Defense: 2200]

Ye Miao: “???”

After staring at "Cooking Skills: Level 92" for three seconds, she suddenly realized: "You made this yourself?!"

Chu Cheng had a blank expression on his face: "Yeah. My mother is the head chef for state banquets, and my father is also a senior chef in his team. It was an accident that I went to practice sports."

Ye Miao: "Then why didn't you say so earlier???"

Chu Cheng: "I don't know either." He coughed awkwardly and said seriously, "'He's from the territory. Prices are low here anyway, so it's okay if it's cheap.' 200 gold each, deal?"

"...It still doesn't work." Ye Miao said frankly, "Although gold quality may seem only one level higher than purple, gold is actually the highest level and its attributes are much better than purple. Let's calculate the money according to the normal ratio. That way, when the territory members have other gold-quality food in the future, they can make more money."

Her words left Chu Cheng unable to refute, so he nodded: "Okay."

Ye Miao mentally estimated that in the game, gold-quality equipment was often extremely priceless, and if a player wanted to sell it, it would often be marked "negotiable." While consumables like gold-quality food and medicine, while not as valuable as equipment, were still reasonably priced several times that of purple-quality items.

Currently, purple dishes like Kung Pao Chicken and Twice-Cooked Pork in the territory sell for around 100 gold. Ye Miao looked at the excellent properties of the abalone braised pork and quoted a price: "500 gold per serving."

Chu Cheng: "500 gold, one golden dish, one purple dish, and rice."

Ye Miao: "A golden color will do."

"Then I won't do it." Chu Cheng said coldly, standing up and about to leave. "Find another senior chef yourself."

"Hey, hey, hey—" Ye Miao hurriedly called out to him, "Okay, okay, okay, five hundred gold, one gold and one purple, two dishes, plus rice!"

"Deal." Chu Cheng smiled with satisfaction.

Ye Miao rolled her eyes. In business, she had never seen a situation where the buyer raised the price and the seller then lowered it.

The matter of the "bodyguard team" was finalized. Ye Miao rubbed his hands at the huge profits and was ready to set off at any time.

However, compared to the grand ideal, the reality is a bit bleak - since there is an upper limit on the number of people in the settlement, they only have 5 vacancies left at most, which is enough to make a small profit first.

Chu Cheng told Dou Yuehui and Sun Haolun about this time-limited issue, and the two of them told the truth to all the friends who had previously conducted "business consultation". Then, Chu Cheng and Ye Miao saw that night that Dou Yuehui had created a group for everyone.

The group’s name is: Happy Smuggling Team.

Ye Miao noticed this group because the message notification was popping up. Clicking it, he saw that the group was already flooding the screen with messages.

Some people are getting excited:

[Zhang Ying] What?! Only five people?! Then I can pay the deposit now!

【Luo Yun】I can pay the full amount directly, I believe the boss will not cheat me!!!

Some people can't help but complain:

[Xiao Wendong] There are only five vacancies, yet they're promoting it so loudly... Don't take on a job you don't have the skills to handle...

[Du Chuan] Indeed, I thought I could definitely escape this time. Seeing my hopes dashed is heartbreaking.

Then the complaint immediately provokes a counterattack:

[Liu Xuehong] For such a great place, of course we have to fight for the spots. It's normal, I understand!

[Jiao Taotao] Yes, yes, I understand. But please, count me in! My child's supplies are ranked last, and I can't survive!

[Liu Yingjie] I'm the second to last, but I'm also begging you all to take a look! I kowtow!!!

“…” Ye Miao flipped through the records with a complicated expression.

There were 23 people in the group, including her, Chu Cheng, Dou Yuehui, and Sun Haolun, but the four of them didn't talk much, and the other 19 were talking like crazy. The records in the group were refreshed very quickly, making Ye Miao worried that she would miss key information.

But, 19 people! There are less than 100 people in the Fearless Settlement, and 19 people joined this group in just one night!

Ye Miao felt a surge of pride.

The screen was still being refreshed, and Chu Cheng sent a private message.

[Chu Cheng] If I create a group like this, I'm worried that Xu Wu will plant spies there.

Ye Miao was slightly stunned, then replied with three words: That makes sense.

According to the game mechanism, members of the same territory cannot attack each other. If everything is arranged properly, when members exit the Fearless Settlement, their people will be waiting outside and directly escort them to the Get Rich Overnight Settlement, without worrying about what Xu Wu will do.

If that were the case, Xu Wu's spy wouldn't be a big deal. Since there was no chance of action, the spy's only purpose was to cause trouble for Xu Wu.

But the problem is that as the owner of the territory, Xu Wu has the authority to directly kick people out. The kicked members will be immediately removed from the territory by the system. If Xu Wu kicks out the assassination dragon, they will not have time to pick them up.

Ye Miao made a prompt decision: "Explain privately to Dou Yuehui and the others, and then disband the group. I will select five people based on what everyone just said in the group. We will add them as friends and chat privately, and pick them up tomorrow at noon."

[Chu Cheng] That’s a solution.

[Chu Cheng] But I have an immature idea. Boss, do you want to hear it?

[Ye Miao]? What?

That night, the team set out in the dark, first patrolling the surrounding insect nests, destroying two new insect nests that were being established, and then turning towards the direction of the Fearless Settlement.

At seven o'clock in the morning, Xu Wu heard about the undercurrents in the territory and was so angry that she gritted her teeth.

Of course, she was confident. As one of the most powerful settlements in T City, her people were always replaced by new ones as soon as a wave of people were kicked out, and there was a high chance that the new members would be of a higher level.

But even so, a team with a broken morale is never a good thing. Especially since the other party had become rich overnight, Xu Wu had new and old grudges and could not tolerate such a thing.

Xu Wu immediately decided to make an example of someone and asked for the name of the person who had brought the news. Seeing the person's anticipation, she slowly said, "You can take back all the materials you turned in this round. You don't have to submit them for the next two rounds, and the taxes will be waived as well."

Du Chuan, who came to report the news, breathed a sigh of relief.

He wasn't Xu Wu's spy, and had originally joined the group with the sincere intention of joining the "Get Rich Overnight" group. But yesterday, when he heard they could only accept five people, he immediately realized his chances were slim. After careful consideration, he made the decisive decision to seek another path.

In the end times, it was important to be good at seizing opportunities. He used this information in exchange for Xu Wu, exempting him from paying taxes and materials for three installments. This not only meant that he would be able to relax during the three installments, but also meant that he could save some money and not have to worry too much about paying the next two or three installments.

As for what happens next, we can talk about it later. Anyway, he was very careful when he came to tip off the place, so no one knew it was him. If he gets rich overnight and there is a vacancy in the settlement, he can still move there.

"Zhang Ying, Luo Yun, Jiao Taotao..." Xu Wu opened the member panel and found these three names.

Du Chuan said that these three were the most active in the group, and she planned to use them as a scapegoat, and let the others go for now. As for whether these three people were betrayed because of an old grudge against Du Chuan, she didn't really care. After all, they were not high-ranking members, and she would suffer if they were wrongly killed.

The next second, Zhang Ying, Luo Yun, and Jiao Taotao suddenly received a system prompt: You have been removed from the [Fearless Settlement], please leave within 15 minutes.

"What?!" Zhang Ying, who had just woken up, jumped up and stared at the prompt in amazement for a long time. Slowly she guessed: someone must have sold her out.

Outside the Fearless Settlement.

This time, they left Li Chenqi in charge of the settlement's defense, while the remaining five set up camp in the open space west of the Fearless Settlement. Their tents were situated in a rather precarious position; any closer would have put them within the attack range of the arrow towers. However, relying on their high level, they clearly didn't take the lowest-level defensive structures seriously.

Twenty minutes ago, a swarm of insects attacked. They didn't want to get involved, but the place where they set up their tents was right in the path of the insect nest. If they didn't fight, they would be beaten. So they had no choice but to grab their weapons and clear out this wave of threats for the Fearless Settlement.

After defeating the insect swarm, Chu Cheng lit a bonfire between several tents, and everyone sat around it, relaxing. Yi Hang opened the lunch box Chu Cheng had distributed and found gold-quality braised pork with abalone, purple-quality sizzling eggplant, and steaming hot rice. He immediately devoured it, sighing as he ate, "Boss, you're so handsome! It's so hard for us to get Chu Cheng to cook a meal!"

Chu Cheng raised his eyebrows: "You are the one who talks too much. There will be no food tomorrow."

"No, no, no... I was wrong!" Yi Hang immediately admitted his mistake, "Chef, you are the best, really!"

Before he finished speaking, a scream came from a distance: "Help!!!"

Ye Miao paused in deep thought, then suddenly turned around to see three players being hunted. Feather arrows, silver darts, and other abilities bombarded them from behind, leaving them with no time to defend themselves and only desperately trying to escape.

"Let's go." Several people stood up at the same time. Ye Miao drew his sword with both hands and took the lead to meet them.

【-1700】

-1500

-1600

They all saw their health plummeting. As a warrior, Luo Yun had more health and was still relatively healthy, but the two mages, Jiao Taotao and Zhang Ying, were nearly collapsed.

"Still running!" The players who came out to chase them from behind had a teasing mentality of killing their opponents. They cast their skills slowly, not hitting them every time, slowly wearing away their emotions.

"Thunder and lightning!" A mage got tired of playing and decided to end the chase. He jumped up and raised his hand to use his ultimate move.

In an instant, silver-white electric light came from the sky and gathered between his hands. As his hands turned, it smashed towards the three people fleeing in front of him.

The three of them felt the heat of the lightning, their spirits plummeting. Then, the next moment, the fatal pain they had imagined didn't occur. Instead, there was a clang behind them, followed by the crackling sound of electricity.

The three of them turned around in surprise. Ye Miao was facing away from them, and his crossed arm guards accurately blocked the electric current attack.

After 7 seconds, the spell was cast, and the mage on the opposite side looked at her frozen, dumbfounded.

"I'm free today, so I'll play with you guys." Ye Miao smiled faintly and muttered to himself, "The overlap of reality and illusion."

The author has something to say:

Anyway, you guys should have been almost drained by me, so don't worry about owing more and more hahahahaha

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I'll give out red envelopes to 50 random comments on this chapter.