"Is that so?" Sun Chen frowned, looking troubled. After a moment's thought, he added, "What if we don't go with so many people? We're just shopping anyway. I can go by myself and give the team members a day off. If no one goes out, won't you have enough manpower?"
"That's the theory," Zhang Tingting nodded. After a moment's hesitation, she decided she couldn't cheat anyone, so she told Sun Chen frankly, "But I still have to make it clear. The monsters have been going crazy lately. Although their levels haven't increased, they're appearing in places they shouldn't be. The journey from the territory to City T is three or four hours, and I can't say for sure if high-level monsters will suddenly appear. At our current level, we should be able to take down monsters at level 60 or 70, but what if the system goes crazy and creates one at level 80 or 90..."
Zhang Tingting gave Sun Chen a complicated look and said, "We still have to prepare for the worst. After all, we are in the end times, and everyone is at risk of death."
"Hmm..." Sun Chen fell silent.
He could tell that Zhang Tingting's words were like a "disclaimer clause". She said it simply to make him aware of the possible dangers and not blame anyone if something happened. As for really encountering such an extreme accident, it was actually a low-probability event.
But Sun Chen was a coward who just wanted to survive. Even though he knew it was just a "disclaimer clause", he was still scared when he heard such words. He even started to imagine the tragic scene of his head being twisted off by a monster.
"...Let me think about it again." Sun Chen laughed dryly.
"That's fine." Zhang Tingting looked him over. She briefly wondered if she'd said something too scary. Should she try to make amends? Then she thought, forget it. This situation has been pretty crazy and scary lately. Who knows what this broken system will do? If Sun Chen is willing to stay close to the territory and not stray too far, then that would be the safest option.
Sun Chen was in a dilemma: if he didn't go, he wanted the land; if he went, he was afraid of death.
Or should he ask Ye Miao to buy it? He felt embarrassed. Everyone said that traveling merchants were elusive. Just one person could appear anywhere in T City. Just imagine how difficult it would be to find him.
After hesitating for a long time, Sun Chen finally decided to give the decision to Ye Miao - he planned to first ask Ye Miao whether she agreed with him buying the land. If she agreed, he would go for it; if she disagreed, then he would simply not think about it anymore and there was no need to be in a dilemma anymore.
Having made up his mind, Sun Chen returned to his territory that evening and knocked on Ye Miao's door. Ye Miao had just returned from killing monsters. After listening to Sun Chen's explanation, he immediately said, "Sure! But the farmland takes up a lot of space. How are you going to pay the rent?"
"Hmm..." Sun Chen rubbed his hands nervously. "How about using the harvest to offset it? We'll keep the same 50-50 split for the land the boss bought before. And for these I bought myself, I'll give the boss 20%?"
"One percent is enough." Ye Miao smiled. "If you have more land, you should hire more helpers. If you can help the territory find jobs, I won't ask for more commission from you. If you replace the players with NPCs later, we can discuss it separately."
"Okay, okay, okay!" Sun Chen nodded repeatedly. He had no intention of replacing the player with an NPC.
NPCs save money, but it seems that the proportion of NPCs with farming skills is extremely low. He wants to open several teams of dozens of people, and he doesn't know how much money it will cost. It's better to use players so that he can make more friends. More friends, more paths!
After discussing the farmland issue with Ye Miao, Sun Chen went to the reception hall to apply for an announcement.
[Sun Chen] Seeking a bodyguard team, combat skill ≥ 80. Destination: City T. Hire time: 1 day, commission: 3000 gold coins.
Note: You are only responsible for the safety of the round trip. After arriving in T City, the team can freely kill monsters and then return together.
Such announcements would be submitted to Ye Miao first, and only made public after Ye Miao approved them. She usually approved them directly with one click, but this time, having just met Sun Chen, she subconsciously took a closer look. Seeing Sun Chen's recruitment needs, she hesitated for a moment and rejected his request.
The next second, Sun Chen sent a message: "Boss, why did you reject me? I don't dare to go out by myself!"
[Ye Miao] I'll take this job, okay?
【Sun Chen】???
[Ye Miao] We can provide level 100 melee two-handed swords, level 100 archers, level 98 archers, level 95 archers, level 93 archers, level 92 archers, level 90 assassins, and level 77 control mages. Which ones do you need?
Sun Chen could guess who the people she mentioned were by looking at their levels.
[Sun Chen] Hahahahaha, boss, don't be like this! I'm so embarrassed!
[Sun Chen] Boss, you see, the commission is just this much. It's not appropriate to have too many people. Just arrange a few of them. It's okay as long as they can come back alive.
Ye Miao wanted to say: Then I can do it alone.
But considering that they could all make money together, Ye Miao held back. She replied to Sun Chen kindly, "It's okay. Why don't we all go? We can kill monsters together, and escorting you can just make some extra money."
[Sun Chen] Is this appropriate...
There are too many big guys around, and he really feels guilty.
[Ye Miao] There's nothing wrong with that. Actually, spawning monsters in T City is worth it. It's just too far away, so we're often too lazy to go. Hahahaha. Plus, your 3,000 gold makes it even more worthwhile! When are you planning on leaving?
[Sun Chen] What about tomorrow?
[Ye Miao] Okay, see you at the territory gate at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning?
[Sun Chen] Okay! Thank you, boss! You're the best! I'll give everyone dinner tomorrow!
Ye Miao didn't want to refuse his kindness, but considering the quality of her own meals, she told him: "No need, hahahahaha, you're welcome! I have a meal subscription service now, and I have delicious food every day!"
She was being tactful, but Sun Chen could see that they had high-end restaurants.
So he typed with a wry smile: "Hahaha, okay, I don't care anymore. See you tomorrow, Boss!"
"See you tomorrow." After replying, Ye Miao closed the dialog box with Sun Chen and started sending messages to his teammates.
Of the people she considered her "team members," Chu Cheng and his five-member team were her accustomed teammates, and Fang Yuming had also been collaborating quite a bit recently. But Deng Wei was actually more familiar with Zhang Tingting. After hearing that she was offering to escort Sun Chen, she privately messaged her to express her refusal. She felt that this was originally intended for Zhang Tingting, and while Sun Chen's decision to replace her was fine, it wasn't appropriate for her to come and earn the money.
[Ye Miao] So that’s how it is. Okay, I won’t force it!
[Deng Wei] I see that the team members on Sun Chen's side don't seem to be resting either. They will still come out to pick fruits. We just need to protect them as usual tomorrow. Come on, boss, kill the monsters!
The next morning, everyone gathered at the entrance to the territory after lunch. They followed their usual route to City T, but halfway through, they encountered a wave of monsters they had never seen before.
【Name: Fantasy Butterfly】
[Level: 90]
[Health: 10000, Mana: 17000]
[Attack: 7000, Agility: 5500, Defense: 3500]
Judging from the color of the name, it is not a boss, but just an ordinary wild monster.
In the monster setting of Fantasy World, while both monsters and bosses have levels, they're actually two separate systems. Generally speaking, within the same level, big bosses are stronger than small bosses, who in turn are stronger than wild monsters. Wild monsters are roughly the same level as players of the same level. A level 90 player can either draw or narrowly defeat a level 90 monster in a one-on-one fight.
So when there is a level 100 boss in the team, the level 90 Illusion Butterfly becomes a fragile target.
The Illusion Butterfly's skill, [Haunting Illusion], creates an illusion for the player. Once hit, the player will be severely disrupted, significantly reducing both attack power and agility. However, this skill has a long cooldown and a long lead-in. Seeing the giant butterfly begin to flap its wings, Ye Miao pounced on it, stabbing wildly with his sword. Before the Illusion Butterfly's skill could even begin, he was dead.
Before the corpse vanished, the dead butterfly collapsed to the ground, its wings spread out in a large patch. Ye Miao, splashed with slime, fiercely climbed up from the colorful butterfly's corpse. The scene was eerie and terrifying.
Three minutes later, more than a dozen of the illusion butterflies were dead. Everyone gathered their equipment and continued on their way calmly.
Sun Chen recalled the attributes of the Illusion Butterfly and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with lingering fear: "Zhang Tingting does have a point. A level 90 monster, if it weren't for the top boss leading us, we would be dead!"
At 11:00 am, the group arrived in City T.
There weren't many monsters in T City, and they were mostly in fixed dungeons. Out of caution, Ye Miao led the team and followed Sun Chen for two blocks. Seeing that the situation hadn't changed, they split up. The combat team went to the dungeon to kill monsters, while Sun Chen went to find the traveling merchant.
Time flies when everyone has their own things to do. Ye Miao and his group cleared three dungeons in a row and it was already past three o'clock when they emerged. Fang Yuming mentioned that two new dungeons had recently appeared in T City and suggested they go together. However, after clearing one, it was already past four o'clock when Sun Chen sent a message saying he had purchased farmland from a traveling merchant and asked Ye Miao where to meet up.
Ye Miao paused for a moment, "Sun Chen's combat skills aren't great, and it's always unsafe to stay alone for a long time. Let's not go to that dungeon today. Let's go find Sun Chen directly and then go back."
Considering that it would take two or three hours to get back to the territory, and there might be other monsters to kill along the way, everyone had no obsession with the remaining copy and all agreed on Ye Miao's plan.
Ye Miao asked Sun Chen for his coordinates, and Sun Chen directly sent the location, which showed: Happiness Riverside Bridge.
The Happiness River is a river that runs through T City. It is very wide in most places. The "Riverside Bridge" is located in an area with the heaviest water flow. It was originally an overpass for vehicles to pass. After the end of the world, due to the lack of gasoline, most cars were useless, and this bridge became a shortcut for players.
Sun Chen waited idly under the bridge, and soon found that the number of people crossing the bridge was decreasing.
There weren't many territories in T City, and most were in the suburbs, far from here. So around four or five o'clock, most players would leave T City and return to their respective territories, and the city would return to quiet.
Perhaps it was because the desolate street scenes of the end of the world were so creepy, but the longer Sun Chen waited, the more he felt a chill down his spine.
He calmed down and analyzed the situation, thinking it might be because the viaduct was too wide and the tunnel behind him was pitch black, which was why he felt so scary. So he stood facing the tunnel... and after standing there for three minutes, he felt even more terrified.
It turns out that people have a psychological resistance to darkness!
Sun Chen shook his head, turned around, and still stood with his back to the bridge arch.
Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps behind me.
Click, click.
Sun Chen turned around suddenly. The sound of his footsteps was still echoing in the dark bridge tunnel, but no one was visible.
Scary!!!
He took a few steps forward nervously, a little further away from the bridge hole. But he didn't dare to go too far away, for fear that Ye Miao would come and not be able to find him.
Snap, Snap——
The footsteps sounded again. Sun Chen held his breath and looked at the bridge hole again with horror, but he felt someone suddenly pulling the backpack behind him.
"Hey!!!" Sun Chen subconsciously grabbed his backpack and lowered his eyes to see that it was a little girl.
The little girl was filthy, her clothes covered in mud and blood, and her face was bruised. She desperately tugged at Sun Chen's backpack, even after being spotted, refusing to let go, using all her might to snatch the bag away.
"Let go!" Seeing that the other person was a child, Sun Chen was no longer afraid. He also didn't intend to hurt her, so he pulled against her, "What's wrong with this child! Give it back to me!"
The little girl's face turned pale, her thin lips were tightly pursed, and she was very stubborn in holding on and refused to let go.
"Let go!!!" Sun Chen was a little anxious and raised his voice unconsciously.
"Xiao Ge!" An adult man's voice came from the dark bridge tunnel. Sun Chen was startled and his hands loosened.
Zhao Xiaoge took the opportunity to pull hard, and the backpack that had been pulled for a long time finally got out of her hand. Before Sun Chen could come to his senses, Zhao Xiaoge had already run towards the bridge hole.
"stop!"
In his backpack were not only equipment and medicines, but also the high-quality farmland that he had just spent all his family's wealth to buy, with a total value of nearly 200,000!
Sun Chen immediately ignored everything else and started chasing after him.
After chasing for a few meters, a man appeared in the darkness. His clothes were tattered and his equipment was obviously old and seemed to be running out of durability.
But Sun Chen could still see that it was purple quality equipment.
He felt despair, but the next moment, he heard a familiar voice: "Sun Chen!"
Ye Miaoyao saw him chasing the little girl into the bridge hole and felt something was wrong. She immediately drew her sword and gave chase. As she ran into the cave, Chu Cheng released an arrow. The arrow, wrapped in a gust of wind, accurately grazed the man's ear and pierced the bridge pier.
Then, three more muffled clicks were heard, and three silver darts landed on the ground in front of the man. Combined with the previous arrow, it was undoubtedly a powerful demonstration.
"Sun Chen." Ye Miao ran to Sun Chen and asked while taking a breath, "Are you okay?"
"Don't, don't come over here..." Zhao Yin panicked and pulled Zhao Xiaoge behind him. Only then did he notice that Zhao Xiaoge was holding something in her hand. He turned around and took a look, then hurriedly said, "Go and return it to the owner!"
Zhao Xiaoge held the backpack tightly and refused to let go.
"Give it back quickly!" Zhao Yin's voice was stern, and Zhao Xiaoge's eyes suddenly turned red, but she still stubbornly held the backpack and stepped back step by step.
"Xiao Ge!" Zhao Yin reached out to grab it, and in desperation, slapped Zhao Xiaoge on the back.
[-120]
"Hey, hey, hey, don't hit the child!!!" Ye Miao hurried to persuade him.
Just kidding, in the normal world, some parents with good intentions might be able to use scaring to scare their children, but the game system doesn’t care about you so much. If you dare to hit it, it will really make you lose blood!
How much health does a little girl have? Ye Miao was worried that Zhao Yin would beat someone to death.
"Give it to me!" Zhao Yin was still fighting with Zhao Xiaoge for the backpack. With several big men standing behind him, he couldn't think straight. His only worry was that if the backpack wasn't returned, both he and his daughter might die.
Seeing Zhao Yin raise his hand again, Ye Miao stepped forward helplessly and held him down: "Calm down!"
Zhao Xiaoge was so scared that she fell to the ground and dodged backwards. Chu Cheng frowned, walked forward, hugged her, and reached out to take Sun Chen's backpack.
Seeing his father being held down, Zhao Xiaoge was so frightened that he didn't bother to grab the backpack. Chu Cheng handed the backpack to Sun Chen: "Check if anything is missing."
"Probably not..." Sun Chen opened it and took a quick look, "She doesn't seem to have taken it yet."
Seeing that the things were retrieved, Ye Miao finally breathed a sigh of relief. She pursed her lips and looked at Zhao Yin who was being held down by her: "It's not easy in the end times. Since you didn't lose anything, we won't make things difficult for you. I'm going to let you go now, don't mess around, do you hear me?"
This "don't mess around" obviously means "don't hit the children" on the one hand, and "don't be stupid and confront us" on the other hand.
Zhao Yin nodded, and Ye Miao let him go, taking two steps back cautiously. Chu Cheng also let go of Zhao Xiaoge, who immediately ran to her father, hugged his arm, and huddled behind him.
Ye Miao looked at them speechless.
This kind of scene always makes people feel soft-hearted, but there are too many such things in the end times. When it comes to kindness, we should not only know when to stop, but also see if it is on the right track.
Take the father and daughter in front of her, for example. She could see that they were short of money and supplies, and she had the money to give them something. However, in the current environment, even if she gave them something, how many days could they survive?
After a brief hesitation, Ye Miao opened his mouth and said, "Show me your attribute panel."
"...What are you doing?" Zhao Yin looked tense.
Ye Miao: "I already know you can't beat me. You won't be at a disadvantage if you show me your specific attributes. There's no need to be so nervous."
Zhao Yin hesitated for a moment, then resigned himself to his fate as he showed the panel to the people in front of him.
【Name: Zhao Yin】
[Combat: Level 47, Planting: Level 35, Gathering: Level 16, Healing: Level 11.]
"...What's going on?" Yi Hang laughed dryly with a complicated expression, looking at Zhao Yin. "Your attributes are not bad. You can find food in any territory you enter. Why are you wandering around with your daughter? Do you think your life is too long?"
Ye Miao didn't have the heart to complain, so he said more directly: "We have a territory, and the environment is pretty good. If you are willing to join, you can come with us now."
"No..." Zhao Yin knew that his life was in danger, but thinking about his past experiences and his wife's tragic death, he gritted his teeth and refused. "Even if I die, I will never enter those territories again!"
"..." Seeing his attitude, Ye Miao frowned and turned to leave without trying to persuade him anymore.
Chu Cheng sighed lightly: "Don't rush to refuse, do you know 'Pure Land'?"
In the darkness, Zhao Yin's eyes trembled: "What?!"
Ye Miao ignored him. Chu Cheng glanced at her back and said, "This one is the lord of the Pure Land. Are you sure you don't want to consider this for your daughter?"
"I..." Zhao Yin's mind went blank as he stumbled out, "I'm going with you! I'm going with you! Can I really join the Pure Land? Are you guys lying to me?!"
Ye Miao rolled his eyes helplessly, turned around, and displayed part of his panel information.
[Name: Ye Miao]
[Territory: Get Rich Overnight Town (Owner)]
Zhao Yin stared at the panel in shock for a long time without saying a word.
Ye Miao looked at him calmly: "Are you leaving or not? We are going back."
"Let's go...let's go, let's go!" Zhao Yin nodded frantically, turned around and ran a few steps into the bridge tunnel, hugged his daughter, and his whole body trembled with excitement.
On the way back to the territory, Ye Miao didn't engage in much conversation with the father and daughter. Instead, the team members were all full of kindness. Sun Chen, whose bag had been snatched earlier, brought out several snacks for the girl. Such a variety of snacks were rare, not only for wanderers, but also in other territories. The little girl was stunned.
The girl devoured her food ravenously. Fang Yuming was afraid she would choke, so he offered her water and drinks. The other archers, however, restrained themselves and did not join in feeding the little girl, but they did share some of their food with Zhao Yin.
Chu Cheng casually asked Zhao Yin what had happened before. Zhao Yin ate the pizza in his hand with tears in his eyes, and told them intermittently how he was bullied in the territory and how his wife died in the high temperature.
"Fuck, this is too bad." Yi Hang was shocked. "Are you talking about the high temperatures a while ago? Can the territory really just watch you die of heatstroke without even being able to afford a cold drink?"
"Yeah..." Zhao Yin's eyes were filled with pain. "High-level players have everything they need and don't care about the lives of small players at all. Back then, if small players wanted to buy cold drinks to cool off, they could basically... only afford the ones from your Pure Land Caravan. But even the Pure Land prices are not cheap for us, and the caravan doesn't go there every day, so..."
Upon hearing this, Li Chenqi couldn't help but defend himself: "The price of Pure Land is considered cheap no matter where you look at it, right?"
"...You misunderstood." Zhao Yin smiled bitterly. "It's not that I think the price of Pure Land is too high, but under the model of Tianju Village, we really don't have much money left in our pockets, so we can't afford anything."
After he finished speaking, he looked at Sun Chen, his eyes filled with guilt: "I'm sorry, brother... The child hasn't eaten well in the past few days and is very hungry. I didn't keep an eye on her for a while, and she..."
"It's okay, it's okay." Sun Chen waved his hand to show he didn't care. "In the past, if you were in court, your situation would be considered 'emergency self-defense', let alone in the end times. Hey, I see you have both planting and gathering skills, right? Are you interested in helping me farm? The salary is 50 gold coins a day, with meals provided, and if the harvest is good, there are occasional other benefits."
"Is it convenient..." Zhao Yin was a little reserved.
"What's the inconvenience?" Sun Chen said generously, "I just bought some new farmland and was planning to go back and post a notice to expand the team. Your level 35 planting skill is pretty good, so I'll take you if you sign up directly."
"That's great!" Zhao Yin was so excited that tears welled up in his eyes. Ye Miao, who had been silent for a long time, listened quietly to every word they said, and finally tilted his head: "The cheapest thatched cottage in our town is priced at 50 gold coins."
Zhao Yin was startled, and before he could even sigh at the bargain, Ye Miao said, "I can provide you with a room to stay in first. Remember to come and pay when you have money in a few days. Also," she said as she dug into her backpack and pulled out 500 gold coins and handed them over, "This is an interest-free loan. You can buy food and equipment with it. Pay it back within 10 days. Is that okay?"
Zhao Yin quickly did the math: Based on the salary Sun Chen offered, he could earn exactly 500 gold coins in 10 days. The team also provided meals, meaning there were no expenses.
But besides that, he should still have time to kill monsters himself, and the drops he gets can be sold for money. Under the premise of "no interest", as long as he works hard, he will have no pressure to pay off the money on time.
It can be said that Ye Miao provided this money just to help them improve their lives!
"No problem, no problem!" Zhao Yin agreed repeatedly, his heart almost overflowing with gratitude.
Ye Miao calmly handed the money to him and entrusted Sun Chen to take them to familiarize themselves with the territory. Sun Chen patted his chest and smiled, "Don't worry, Boss. I know this even if you don't tell me. I guarantee that they will feel the warmth of our 'Pure Land'!"
At 7:40 in the evening, the group returned to the town of overnight wealth.
Sun Chen paid the bodyguard fee of 3,000 gold coins as promised, and then ran to the farmland to pave the newly purchased land.
Zhao Yin took Zhao Xiaoge to the thatched hut that Ye Miao had given them to rest for a while, and met Sun Chen at the door half an hour later.
According to the setting of "Fantasy World," washing your face and bathing aren't necessary in the game. Clothes' cleanliness is determined by their durability, and the player's cleanliness is determined by the environment. So, after a half-hour rest in the clean thatched hut, Zhao Xiaoge was a spotless young woman. Zhao Yin also felt neater, and even his clothes, which had a single-digit durability, didn't look so worn anymore.
"You're a pretty little girl. Don't live under a bridge pier anymore!" Sun Chen touched Zhao Xiaoge's forehead and joked with Zhao Yin. After a pause, he said, "Come on, I'll take you to the market so you can buy some new equipment."
"Okay, thank you!" Zhao Yin took his daughter's hand and walked towards the market with Sun Chen. When they were still dozens of meters away, they were shocked by the prosperity of the market.
In fact, since the Pure Land is well-known, and an important part of its reputation is the abundance of supplies and good prices, the members of T City have now heard a little about the situation in this market.
But now, Zhao Yin understood what it meant to "seeing is believing".
How could there be such a wonderful market in the apocalypse? A wide variety of food, a dazzling array of equipment, all at very friendly prices—it was just as good as any market in the normal world!
Sun Chen enthusiastically introduced them: "There are scattered stalls here. If you have something to sell, you can come and set up a stall. There is no rent. Do you see those rows of houses over there? They are newly upgraded stores. The rent is 3,000 gold coins. There are all kinds of stores."
"Look, this is He Kailai's restaurant. He's a famous chef in our territory. He mainly sells stir-fried dishes, which go well with rice or noodles. Purple-quality dishes are around 100 gold, and blue-quality dishes are around 30 to 40 gold each. You can come and eat when you have some spare money."
"This is Hu Haomiaolin's restaurant. It's a husband-and-wife business. They also sell stir-fries, but they also have a wider variety of staple foods. You can eat anything from ramen to vermicelli. Their signature dish is probably the bone broth ramen."
"This, this... you must remember this shop! It's a clinic! Doctor Fang, who sees patients here, used to work at a top-tier hospital, and the pharmacist is her friend. Hey, our boss is amazing! When he first built the shelter, he didn't blindly pursue combat effectiveness, but instead got these two talented people first. You can't deny it!"
"And this one, this one's probably a food stall... You know, like a food court? There are several vendors in there, selling snacks, candies, preserved fruits, and other things. Kids love it."
Sun Chen kept talking as he introduced himself. Zhao Yin felt dizzy looking at the bustling scene in front of him.
Too strong, how could there be such a place in the apocalypse...
Before they knew it, they had roughly strolled to the edge of the market. Zhao Yin was so shocked that he didn't even bother to buy anything. Instead, Sun Chen picked and chose a few things and put them in an ordinary white backpack and handed it to Zhao Xiaoge: "Here, take it. There are some food in it. Keep it for you."
"No, no, no!" Zhao Yin quickly declined.
Sun Chen said without hesitation: "Take it. It's a tradition in our territory for old members to give new members some welcome gifts. Besides, the boss specifically asked me to show you around, so I have to show some appreciation!"
"How inappropriate..." Zhao Yin's face flushed. A few hours ago, his daughter had snatched someone else's things, and now she wanted to accept someone else's gift.
But before he could say anything more, Sun Chen suddenly grabbed his wrist and quickened his pace: "Follow me!"
Sun Chen rushed to the door of a small market hut in two steps and stopped Zhang Xu who was about to leave: "Brother, no matter what you say today, you have to do me a favor."
"...What are you doing?" Zhang Xu frowned.
He and Sun Chen are cousins. They have had a good relationship in the past and helped each other more often after the end of the world. But he is not very happy to see Sun Chen now.
Because he was about to get off work, and the person Sun Chen brought in was obviously equipped with very old equipment, he reasonably suspected that Sun Chen wanted him to work overtime!
As expected, Sun Chen boldly pushed him back into the shop and began to chatter, "Let me introduce you. This is Zhao Yin, and this is his daughter, Zhao Xiaoge. They were exploited so badly by their previous territory that they ran away. They were wandering under the bridge in T City, and luckily the boss found them. Look at his equipment, it's so old it's about to break! Help! Get him a new one!"
Zhang Xu, his mind racing with the lawsuit, sighed and flipped open the small notebook he used to schedule orders. He glanced at it and told him, "If you order now, come back a week later to pick it up."
Zhao Yin: "Okay..."
"No, you don't understand what I mean." Sun Chen squatted beside Zhang Xu and said, "Brother, you are my brother, can you help me and make one directly? Or you can even have it in stock. I need it for tomorrow, right?"
"We don't have any in stock. The caravan took it away today." Zhang Xu frowned. "I don't allow people to jump the queue here, and it's almost time to get off work!"
"Help me, please," Sun Chen said shamelessly. "These two still owe the boss money." He winked at Zhao Yin frantically, "The daily interest rate is 50%. If you don't pay it back quickly, the debt will snowball. It's really not a good thing!"
Zhang Xu: ...I don’t believe you at all.
A newbie can't make ends meet and asks the boss to lend him money, with a 50% daily interest rate? Does Sun Chen think he doesn't know the boss?!
So he faced Sun Chen and rolled his eyes fiercely.
But in the end, Zhang Xu still couldn't stand it, and for the first time ever, he worked overtime and got two pieces of blue equipment for Zhang Xu.
The regular price of blue equipment in the outside world is 300 to 450 gold coins. Zhao Yin looked at the only 500 gold coins in his pocket and asked carefully, "How much is it in total?"
"150 for one, 300 for two." Zhang Xu gave him an impatient look. "If you don't have money, use it first. You can pay me back when you have money. Okay? Let's go, don't delay me from getting off work."
Zhao Yin: “…”
Sun Chen didn't bother to be polite with Zhang Xu. He took the equipment and stuffed it into Zhao Yin's hand: "Take it. You can return the money later."
"Well, thank you then..." Zhao Yin took the new equipment as if in a dream. When he looked up, he found that the anti-involution master Zhang Xu had already walked away.
After leaving Zhang Xu's shop, Sun Chen expertly locked the door for him, then took the father and daughter to the territory's official grocery store, introducing them. "There are three grocery stores now. One is in the residential area, one is near the market, and one is at the main gate. Um... you don't need to look at the other things inside for now, just remember that they have low-priced meals. If you only buy food here, you can eat a lot with only thirty or forty gold coins a day. But of course, the variety will be smaller!"
"Thirty or forty gold coins a day?!" Zhao Yin was stunned.
Taking advantage of the fact that there was no one else in front of the sundry shop, he personally opened the panel and took a look. He couldn't help but gasp: "Pure Land is really... too powerful."
"Well, eight out of ten new recruits will be as useless as you." Sun Chen patted Zhao Yin's shoulder without any hesitation. "Just get used to it. Work hard in the future, and things will get better."
"Okay..." Zhao Yin's smile became a little dazed. Sun Chen looked at the sky and said, "It's getting late. You should go to bed early. See you at the farmland tomorrow."
"Okay, I will come on time!" said Zhao Yin.
For the first time after so long since the end of the world, he saw hope.
In a villa building not far away, Ye Miao was lying on the spacious bed in the bedroom, flipping through the territory panel and doing some reflection.
The Pure Land is well-known, and when players want to go here, they will feel that there must be a high entry threshold, so they dare not rashly leave their original territory and apply to join the "Pure Land". She already knew this.
But she didn't think it was bad because she couldn't accept everyone and didn't want to receive thousands of applications every day and waste a lot of time screening them.
But Zhao Yin’s situation today made her feel...are the players’ imaginations going too far?
Zhao Yin's Combat Skill was level 47, and his Gathering Skill was level 35. While not considered a high-level player, he was actually quite capable for a regular member. Yet, he'd rather wander around with his daughter than even consider applying. How high did he think the threshold was?!
At this point, it will more or less affect the development of the territory, and will invisibly cause the territory to lose many members who could have joined.
But in this kind of gaming world, the number of members is undoubtedly a crucial factor in territory development. Especially for a territory as comprehensive as hers, she must continuously absorb talents from all walks of life and not let people be deterred from her territory.
She had to do something to turn the situation around.
The author has something to say:
Zhao Yin: Even if I die, I will never join the territory again!
Ye Miao: This territory is the pure land.
Zhao Yin: A message was withdrawn.
I'll give out red envelopes to 50 random comments on this chapter.
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