As a veteran player, Ye Miao knew that if the game continued to develop, it was only a matter of time before larger territories annexed smaller ones, and conflicts between territories were inevitable. However, considering the situation in her own territory, she felt that now was not the time to engage in direct conflict with other territories.
There were less than three hundred people in the territory, with over two-thirds being non-combat players. What was there to fight for? Just focus on developing your territory while you can! Territory wars, win or lose, were a real headache. Take her previous battle with the Fearless Village, for example. While the fight was smooth and brief, how many brain cells had she used up?
So when it came to recruiting new members, she also came up with a "dirty development" method.
She opened the panel and counted. There were still more than 300 existing settlements and territories in the T City area. In other words, she only needed to dig two people from each territory to help her reach the goal of 800 people in total.
The next evening, Ye Miao invited Ren Guoqing and Wang Yong to his home after they returned from their business trip. He turned the map of T City to public mode and asked them to mark the territories they would visit on their daily business trips. He then discovered that although the two teams had almost completely different business routes, they both visited more than 40 territories, a total of 80 to 90.
According to this calculation, we only need to recruit about six people from each territory to achieve our goal.
Ye Miao calculated the situation in his mind and asked them with a smile, "Would you mind doing me a favor and giving out a random lucky draw card when doing business?"
"Raffle cards?" Both of them were stunned for a moment, then nodded in succession. Ren Guoqing asked, puzzled, "It's convenient, but why did the boss suddenly think of a lottery? What's the draw?"
Ye Miao smiled and said, "Draw the chance to join the village that got rich overnight."
Ren Guoqing and Wang Yong: "Huh???"
"If it's convenient for you, I'll make the cards and give them to you. When you go out to do business, you can give one to each customer who buys something. Or if you want to set a minimum transaction amount, that's fine too. I won't interfere with that."
"..." Although the two men didn't understand Ye Miao's thinking, Wang Yong quickly said, "That's great. Boss, you might not be aware of how famous 'Pure Land' is outside. Many people from other territories want to join but are afraid of the high threshold. They think they'll quit their old territories and fail the application here, ending up homeless. If they heard that buying something could directly qualify them to join Pure Land..." Wang Yong took a deep breath and laughed dumbly, "I'm afraid I'd sell out even if I were selling scrap."
"Hahaha." Ye Miao laughed out loud, and Ren Guoqing continued, "That's true. But... Boss, aren't you afraid that this will be too high-profile and attract too much hatred?"
Ye Miao shook his head: "I arranged it this way just to avoid attracting hatred."
She herself was a lord, and from the perspective of developing their territory, lords should be concerned with practical gains and losses. While such a grand lottery certainly created a sense of atmosphere and ceremony, the total number of winners was fixed, and if spread out across each territory, there would only be a few winners. For the lords, a few fewer people in their territory was naturally acceptable—even without her "pure land," there would still be daily turnover in the territory.
In contrast, if she started recruiting on a large scale, some territories with more extreme systems might cause a large-scale exodus of personnel - this "large-scale" number of people does not need to be too large, and twenty or thirty familiar players getting together to leave would be enough to make the lord unhappy.
She explained this to Ren Guoqing and Wang Yong, who both understood. Wang Yong was the first to say, "Then listen to the boss."
"Okay, then I'll give you the lottery cards before you leave tomorrow morning. I'll also prepare some encouragement prizes. You don't have to pay for them. Just think of them as boosting your player favorability in T City."
"That's quite fun!" Ren Guoqing said, with a look on his face that said, "You young people are full of tricks!" After a moment's hesitation, he said, "I also have some candies and snacks that you can add. I'll make a list and send it to the boss later."
Ye Miao: "Okay, thank you!"
Wang Yong refused to be outdone: "I have one too! I have one too! Hey, I used to give it to customers based on my mood, but now that the boss has done this, it's much more interesting."
The three of them hit it off immediately. After Ren Guoqing and Wang Yong left, Ye Miao went upstairs, found ink and paper, picked up the sleeping Pixiu, pressed his front paws in the ink, and stepped on the paper.
As a golden mythical beast, the Pixiu is not only rare, but also has runes under its four claws, which can be used as "anti-counterfeiting marks."
After printing, Ye Miao kindly helped the Pixiu clean its claws, then took the paper out to find the alchemist Lao Shuai.
Alchemy is a rare profession in the game, and of course its skills are not limited to refining cards. Some simple things can be made directly by consuming magic points, such as water cups, pens, and takeout boxes... Many stall owners in the territory come to Lao Shuai to purchase goods.
After knocking on the old general's door, Ye Miao placed two bottles of high-level magic potions and two bottles of physical potions on the table. He looked at the gift lists sent by Ren Guoqing and Wang Yong, and asked the old general, "Can you make a lottery card? The kind you scratch off?"
The old coach thought about it and nodded: "It should be possible."
Ye Miao: "Then make 5,000 lottery cards for me, using this Pixiu's footprint as an anti-counterfeiting label. 200 of them should say 'With this card, you can directly join the Get Rich Overnight Village', 300 should say 'A random white quality food', 500 should say 'A random ingredient', 1,000 should say '5 gold coins', 2,000 should say '3 gold coins', and the remaining 1,000 should say 'Thank you for your patronage'."
Old Marshal: “…”
You just asked for 5,000 cards. I have a reasonable suspicion that you are exploiting NPCs, and I have evidence.
Ye Miao thought to himself: Let’s try it with 200 people first, if the effect is good then continue, if not then find another way!
At 6:00 the next morning, Lao Shuai handed the cards to Ye Miao. Ye Miao divided them into two piles and placed them in two compartments of his backpack, each pile containing 2,500 cards. Then he went to the warehouse to get the rewards and gave them to Wang Yong and Ren Guoqing together.
At 8:00 AM, the two well-fed and well-drinking merchant teams left the territory one after another. Upon hearing that the boss had arranged a raffle, both teams were excited. Zheng Sisi rubbed her hands together and said, "Before the apocalypse, I loved raffles, opening blind boxes, and buying lottery tickets the most... I was a living leek! Just watching others win made me happy!"
Wang Yong jokingly pulled out a few cards and handed them to her: "Here, let me show you how to draw first and see what you can get."
"Oh my! It would be so embarrassing if I won the grand prize!" Zheng Sisi said embarrassedly as she took out a card and scratched it twice:
Thank you for your patronage.
"..." Zheng Sisi expressionlessly stuffed the card back into Wang Yong's hand. The teammates around her were already laughing. "Hahahahahaha! It's okay, it's okay. Luck is conserved! Next time the system issues a card pack, I'm sure you'll get an especially good gold card!"
The two teams separated after walking together for half an hour and headed for their respective destinations.
According to the plan, Ren Guoqing planned to run through three territories in a row today, sleep at the third one, and continue running tomorrow. Wang Yong, on the other hand, planned to run through four territories today and decide what to do tomorrow based on his mood.
At eleven o'clock, Ren Guoqing entered his first territory. This territory wasn't very prosperous. Although it was a settlement, it only had about fifty people. However, since it was not far from another settlement and a village, Ren Guoqing would stop by every time he went there.
The members of the territory have always welcomed this trading team. For this underdeveloped territory, the trading team is an important source of supplies.
The team's stall was quickly surrounded by players. A female mage was the first to choose a product and pay for it. Just as she was about to leave, Ren Guoqing called out, "Come on, let's draw a prize!"
"Huh?!" The female mage was surprised, "Why is there a lottery?"
Ren Guoqing picked up a handful of cards and held them out to her, saying, "A little something to give back to everyone. These are just small prizes, not worth much, just for fun."
"Thank you." The female mage smiled, took out a piece of paper and scratched it off nonchalantly. "What the hell?!"
Ren Guoqing, who was sorting the goods, looked up.
"What the hell?!" The female mage's scalp tingled and her heartbeat accelerated. She read the card over and over again before she was sure she was seeing it correctly. She held it out to Ren Guoqing and said, "Is this real?! Are you guys playing a prank on me?!"
It was clearly written on the card: With this card you can directly join the Get Rich Overnight Village.
...It was actually the first one to come out. This is probably what you call dramatic.
Ren Guoqing teased in his heart, but nodded calmly, "It's true. If you're willing, you're welcome to join 'Pure Land'."
“Oh my god!!!” The female mage screamed, ecstatic and not knowing what to do. She shouted with all her might as she ran away, “I’m going to the Pure Land! I can go to the Pure Land! Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!”
Her cheers immediately attracted even more players to the booth. Many players who were still hesitating whether to buy or not suddenly paid and eagerly reached out for the raffle tickets.
"Hey, I won 5 gold coins!"
“I only have 3 hahahahahaha is that a consolation prize?”
"Hey, hey, can you give me some white quality food? This looks good too!"
"Damn it, why am I saying thank you for your patronage..."
“Ahhhhhh, I can go to the Pure Land too!!!”
For two hours, everyone surrounded the caravan in a frenzy. At one o'clock in the afternoon, when Ren Guoqing led the team away, the female player who had originally won the jackpot had already packed up, left the current settlement, and set off on the road to the "Pure Land."
Dark night settlement.
The Buddhist lord Li Rang stared at the card in his hand for a long time, but finally couldn't resist the temptation and gathered all the members to his yard.
In the Dark Night Settlement, group meetings were unprecedented. Everyone was curious about what had happened. They discussed it among themselves in whispers, but did not dare to ask Li Rang rashly.
Li Rang waited in silence until everyone was present, then he cleared his throat and said, "It's been almost two months since the establishment of the territory. Thank you all for your continued support. Now, I have something to announce..."
The opening remarks that sounded like a farewell made the members nervous.
Li Rang coughed and held up his card. "Today, the caravan that rarely visits our territory is from the Pure Land. As everyone knows, they arranged a lottery, and I... won the grand prize."
The Dark Night settlement was small, and apart from Li Rang, no other grand prizes appeared. For a moment, everyone was puzzled: "What 'grand prize'?"
Li Rang laughed dumbly: "With this card, you can directly join the Get Rich Overnight Village, which is the Pure Land."
"I know I've never been a qualified lord. I established the territory simply to have a place to stay, but I also wanted to avoid being exploited. But the 'Pure Land'... you know, that place doesn't exploit its members." He spoke with increasing difficulty, pausing for a long time before continuing. "So, let our fate end here. I will leave for the 'Pure Land' tomorrow morning. As for the Dark Night Settlement, you can disband on the spot or elect a new lord. I will not interfere."
After finishing the words he had been thinking about for a long time in one breath, Li Rang finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The members were speechless, many of them unable to recover for a moment: Such a good territory, is it suddenly going to be disbanded?!
Li Rang felt selfish and ashamed to face them. Without a word, he turned and walked back into the house. The members stood there in shock before gradually coming to their senses and a new round of whispers erupted: "He's just leaving it like that?! Is this appropriate?!"
"Ah... I understand. I know a little bit about the legend of the 'Pure Land'. If the rumors are true, few people would not want to go there."
Some less-informed members were still confused: "What exactly is 'Pure Land'? Why haven't I heard of it?"
Others are very good at finding the key points: "What will we do if he leaves? To be honest, although we don't have much here and the slightest disturbance will cause prices to soar, I still like it..."
"Yeah, yeah. After all, we've been here for so long, we all feel like we belong. Besides, at least we don't exploit players here. Everyone lives based on their own abilities. If we were to go to another territory, it would be hard to say for sure."
"Don't be so pessimistic. What if we can enter the 'Pure Land'?"
"Such a wonderful territory, do you think anyone can just enter casually?"
The members chatted irritably for a long time, but in the end they couldn't come to a conclusion, so they had to disperse dejectedly.
The next morning, Li Rang got up before six o'clock, packed his luggage simply, and pushed the door open. As soon as he took a step, several figures leaning around the door suddenly stood up.
Li Rang stepped back in fear: "Who is it?!"
In the dim light, several members crossed their arms. "Boss, let's talk it over. Can you not just give up so abruptly? Or maybe just pretend to be dedicated?"
Li Rang: "...What scene?"
The member in front of him: "Can you send a message to the lord of 'Pure Land' and ask to apply for the merger of the territory?"
Li Rang was stunned.
He'd also heard about territory mergers; they'd probably happened numerous times around T City. Simply put, two lords would negotiate and merge their territories into one, either moving directly into one's territory or retaining the other as a "branch." Some merged lords would seek a deputy lord position, while others would simply request a one-time bonus. Everything was negotiable.
but……
Li Rang said solemnly, "Isn't it a bit shameless for us to negotiate a merger with Pure Land?"
"Alas, we also know that we are far behind them and are not worthy of them! So we don't want anything, as long as we can join!" said the members who came to negotiate.
Li Rang's heart: "..."
Inappropriate, right?
For them, joining Pure Land is already a huge benefit, so it's only natural that they can't ask for anything else. But the question is, from Pure Land's perspective, why would they agree to accept them?!
Seeing that he remained silent, the members who had come forward to complain kept pestering him: "Just give it a try! It's just a matter of sending a message! It won't cost you a thing! The worst that can happen is you'll be rejected, so if you want to leave, go ahead. We will never hold you back again!"
This sentence effectively convinced Li Rang.
Indeed, the worst that could happen is rejection. But it's the end of the world, survival is the most important thing, face is nothing!
Li Rang then retreated back inside, opened the lord's unique control panel, found the "Get Rich Overnight Village" section, and sent a private message to the other lord: "Hello, I'm Li Rang, the lord of the "Dark Night Settlement." Yesterday, I won a prize card from your merchant team to join the "Get Rich Overnight Village." I'd like to ask... can I bring my entire territory with me? It'll be like merging territories! We don't want any perks, just the ability to join!"
After the message was sent, Li Rang felt nervous but also excited.
It is not easy to make a few friends in the last days. If everyone can go to the Pure Land, he will certainly be happy.
At 7:30, Ye Miao, who had had a good sleep, lazily stayed in bed and played with his Pixiu for a while before getting up, stretching, and sitting on the bed to check the messages.
System: [Dark Night Settlement] Lord [Li Rang] sent a message.
The territory had been established for so long, but this was the first time Ye Miao received news from other lords. She was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly opened it. When she saw the content of the message, she covered her mouth in surprise and joy.
What?! Someone actually wants to bring their whole family along! That would make it even easier for her to achieve her goal!!!
After calming down, Ye Miao replied, "Sorry, I just got up. How many people are there?"
Li Rang hadn't closed the interface for nearly an hour. When he saw this line of small words pop up, he couldn't believe it: There's a chance?!
Then he quickly replied: "Including me, there are 44 people in total."
"So little..." Ye Miao smacked her lips and didn't rush to reply him. Instead, she closed the panel and sent a message to Wang Yong, asking him what his impression of the Dark Night Settlement was.
Wang Yong quickly replied, "It's the Dark Night Settlement. It's so small that we don't get to know the locals. We never went there before when we were doing business. We only went there yesterday to help the boss distribute the lottery cards."
[Ye Miao] Hahahaha thank you! You’ve worked so hard!!!
Then he asked, "So what do you think of their members and atmosphere?"
Wang Yong: How should I put it? It's pretty Buddhist and relaxed, I guess. It feels like everyone's just going about their own business, with no real sense of community or cohesion, but there doesn't seem to be any exploitation or oppression either. Compared to the Fearless Village, it's definitely much more normal.
[Ye Miao] What you said, who is not more normal than the Fearless Village?
[Wang Yong] Hahahaha, anyway, I think the Dark Night Settlement is okay, at least there is no obvious strange feeling.
[Ye Miao] Okay, thank you!
Then she closed the chat with Wang Yong and replied to Li Rang: "If you really don't want any extra benefits, I have no objection. You're welcome."
On the other side of the dialog box, Li Rang gasped: "Damn..."
He hadn't set the panel to be visible to everyone, so the members next to him couldn't see it. They were nervous: "What's wrong? What's wrong?!"
"The brave ones will die of overeating while the timid ones will die of starvation!!!" Li Rang turned off the panel and stood up. "Let's go to the 'Pure Land' together!!!"
"……real?!"
"Oh my god, did they agree?!" Several members who came to persuade Li Rang were so excited that they hugged each other and jumped, not even caring about stepping on each other's insteps several times.
Soon after, the good news spread, and the entire Dark Night settlement was in an uproar. About an hour later, all members left the Dark Night settlement and headed for their new home.
Li Rang walked at the end. After stepping out of them, he subconsciously turned around and looked at the territory behind him, feeling emotional: Alas, this territory that has been with him for nearly two months...it is really not managed very well!
At 10:00 am, not only Li Rang, but also many other members who won the grand prize yesterday arrived one after another, and the number of people in the territory quickly increased to 421.
Excluding Li Rang's team, there were approximately 90 people here who had been selected through a lottery. Ren Guoqing and Wang Yong would continue handing out the remaining cards today, and they should be able to gain quite a few new members tomorrow.
Well, the plan worked!
Ye Miao felt satisfied.
At this time in City T, the Sunset Bar had completely become a black market transaction scene. Several players banged on the table and bargained for prices, making so much noise that the proprietress covered her ears.
The player in the corner said with a loud voice, "10,000 gold! 10,000 gold is the lowest! Not a penny less!"
"You're fucking crazy! Just the qualification to join the Pure Land costs 10,000 gold! How am I going to survive there? Starving!"
"That's your business!" The seller clutched the card tightly in his hand. "This is the 'Pure Land'! If you're reluctant to part with the money, I'll go there myself!"
At the next table, another player with cards in hand glanced behind him and said, "Did you hear that? They're selling it for 10,000, so my 8,000 is pretty generous! You're not losing out!"
"But...but I still have parents. I need three cards in total. I really can't afford that much!" The female player opposite her rubbed the edge of her clothes in confusion. Although she felt it was too expensive, she didn't want to miss this opportunity. After hesitating for a long time, she looked up and negotiated with the other party, "Can we pay it in installments? I'll pay it back slowly."
"Ah..." The seller tutted his words, feeling a little soft-hearted. "Alright, we've been classmates for so many years, I know you wouldn't cheat me. I'll give you this card first. Keep it safe, and don't let anyone snatch it away!"
"Yeah, I know!" The female player's expression relaxed, and she thanked him gratefully. "Thank you! I'll definitely pay you back, don't worry!"
Near the bar entrance, the buyer suddenly slammed the table and said, "Damn it, do you think I'm easy to fool?!"
The seller was stunned and his expression flickered.
The buyer was so angry that he grabbed his collar and said, "I didn't get this card myself, but I've seen other people's cards in the territory! Their cards have rune watermarks, but yours don't have anything. This is called fraud!"
"No way!" the seller argued weakly. "How can I be accused of fraud? The one you saw is obviously fake!"
The buyer laughed angrily: "I was right next to him when he got the card from the Pure Land merchant and watched him scratch it! Stop the fucking nonsense and give me back my money before I do anything!"
The author has something to say:
Weak yang + low fever finally started.
I may need leave or update less in the next three days, depending on the severity of my symptoms. Please pay attention to whether there is a leave request.
Sorry!!!
If I stop updating tomorrow, all comments on this chapter before the next chapter will receive a red envelope.
If you haven't stopped updating, I'll give out red envelopes to 50 random comments.
I'd like to recommend my good friend Hui Sheng's urban secret love story "Miss Guan is Writing Love Letters Again"
Copywriter:
Campus male god Fu Shichuan is the person Guan Ying has had a crush on since high school.
All the love and excitement in girlhood are related to him.
Guan Ying turned this unrequited love into a novel, which became an instant hit because it was so true and was later made into a TV series and then a movie, earning her an eight-figure income.
She thought that this unrequited love would end there, but unexpectedly, she met Fu Shichuan again at a classmate's wedding!
The male god is still as handsome as ever, and Guan Ying's girlish heart is revived again.
She finally mustered up the courage to start pursuing Dafa.
The mother single solo player posted online asking for advice and anonymously shared her pursuit diary on the forum.
As the male god became closer to her, Guan Ying's posts also became popular on the Internet.
Publishers kept contacting me privately, wanting to buy the posts for a high price, compile them into a book, and then make a movie.
In response, the agent was shocked and said: "You actually made a fortune twice with the same man???"
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