Chapter 23: Upgrading the hot pot restaurant + encountering wandering again...
Zhu Yu stared at the man's face for a moment, then she remembered that late last night she felt that the fortress was too large and she might not be able to take care of it alone - not to mention that she also had the hot pot restaurant business to take care of.
So she casually posted a recruitment notice at the gate of the fortress, sincerely recruiting players with three years of work experience (crossed out) and relevant experience to serve as the fortress's housekeeper.
Recalling this, Zhu Yu blinked, led the person to the back door, leaned against the door frame and said with a smile:
"I am the owner of the Ice and Snow Fortress. You have come to the right person in the hot pot restaurant."
Chai Junliang was stunned for a moment before he realized that the NPC in front of him actually controlled both the hot pot restaurant and the entire ice and snow fortress at the same time.
In this way, this safe zone is almost entirely her territory.
Thinking of this, he stammered, "So you are the owner of the fortress? Then I...I mean, can I work here?"
Zhu Yu looked him up and down, then changed his tone and switched to HR's style:
"Being the steward of a fortress is not an easy job. You don't look very old. Do you have any relevant experience?"
Chai Junliang scratched his head and replied, "I studied hotel management for my master's degree overseas. I have about two years of internship and work experience. I should be able to do this job."
Zhu Yu nodded, thinking that his resume was not bad, and continued to ask:
"So what was your undergraduate major?"
"Civil Engineering..."
“Where did you do the internship?”
"…the hotel chain owned by my parents."
"Ah, I see...Oh, I mean, I see."
As Zhu Yu asked, he opened his personal dashboard to check:
[Player name: Chai Junliang
Player ID: 5360
Occupation: Repairman (good at using tools and repairing skills, able to quickly solve various fault problems.)
Note: Personal skills are characterized by the ability to improve the functionality and durability of equipment and to perform modifications and upgrades when necessary.
Occupational level: D
Experience: 683/1000
Stamina: 85/100
Strength: 8
Agility: 5
Intelligence: 6
Luck: 5
In the game of natural disasters, the player panel is the best resume.
Obviously, Chai Junliang's professional background was just what Zhu Yu wanted.
"Very good. I think you are exactly what our company... no, Fortress needs the most right now. I hope that after you join us, you can create more value for Fortress."
"Next, let's talk about your salary. I provide three meals a day, and the basic salary for a butler is 120 gold coins per day."
"If your shelter is damaged, you can stay in the igloo inside the fortress for free. If it's not damaged, you can also get a free pass to put your shelter in the fortress."
Zhu Yu then opened the map, circled an area, and explained to the new employee:
"After the hot pot restaurant and the fortress are merged, this area will be used as a staff dormitory. Currently, only one employee has moved here, so the area is more than enough to place your shelter."
Chai Junliang himself is a restorer. He had already purchased materials yesterday to repair and renovate his shelter, so after hesitating for a moment, he chose the latter. Then Zhu Yu helped him move his shelter to the staff dormitory area on the map.
With the addition of a capable general, Zhu Yu was in a good mood.
She watched the hot pot restaurant attract more and more customers due to its location adjustment, and decided to stay and help today, and then continue her expansion plan after closing in the evening.
Perhaps because of the surge in the number of players inside and outside the safe zone, after seeing off Chai Junliang, Zhu Yu received applications from several players seeking to apply for the positions of masseur and waiter at the hot pot restaurant.
After careful selection, she finally left three suitable candidates.
Players Bai Xiumin and Xun Rong are a couple who opened a massage parlor in real life.
Zhu Yu asked Bai Xiumin to demonstrate her skills on himself and found that her technique was skillful. After the massage, he indeed felt a lot more relaxed all over.
So she happily hired the couple and set the salary at 60 gold coins per person per day.
However, when choosing the waiter, Zhu Yu was a little dazzled.
After all, there is no threshold for this position, and the most players come to apply.
In the end, she chose a girl named "Mi Xiaotong" who had a round face and a particularly friendly smile.
There were two reasons that prompted her to make the decision: first, Mi Xiaotong had the highest luck value among the applicants, 7 points, the same as Zhu Yu; second, she had worked in a hot pot restaurant chain.
Zhu Yu was a little skeptical at first, but Mi Xiaotong simply improvised a dance that was very popular in front of everyone, which attracted a lot of players to watch.
Seeing how quickly she integrated into the work, Zhu Yu secretly wiped away the non-existent cold sweat and quickly slipped back behind the counter.
This group of e-people is so awesome. With this kind of energy, they will succeed in whatever they do.
After finally waiting until the hot pot restaurant closed in the evening, Zhu Yu checked the hot pot restaurant's settlement for today. The online income was 11,753 gold coins and the offline income was 6,983 gold coins.
Seeing that the total net profit reached 18,736 gold coins, she secretly rejoiced in her heart that she was lucky enough to have adjusted the location of the hot pot restaurant in time today, successfully stimulating the consumption of players in the fortress, which allowed the hot pot restaurant's offline revenue to once again break through the historical high.
After all the employees had gotten off work, Zhu Yu stood in the empty hot pot restaurant, ready to start the renovation.
Without other players present, she released System 996.
"Congratulations."
"What's wrong?"
"The Ice and Snow Fortress is a fully automated high-end shelter. In fact, you don't have to spend money to hire a housekeeper to help manage it." System 996 said lightly.
"That being said, didn't you notice what Chai Junliang's occupation is?"
Zhu Yu asked back, his tone slightly excited:
"He's a master of repairs! If he becomes the steward of the fortress, he will not only be responsible for the daily maintenance of the equipment, but also handle various damage issues. In this way, the maintenance costs of the fortress can be saved a lot."
At that time, Zhu Yu calculated with his fingers and found that the deal was very cost-effective, so he signed him so quickly.
"...Yes, host, you think more comprehensively."
System 996 was silent for a moment, and the light ball flickered slightly, as if approving of her actions.
It stopped making any sound and just floated quietly behind Zhu Yu, watching her expand the hot pot restaurant.
After this expansion, the hot pot restaurant's floor space has increased significantly and can now accommodate more than 200 tables.
What surprised Zhu Yu even more was that she found a staircase in the corner.
In other words, she now owns a two-story hot pot restaurant!
She walked up the spiral staircase and found that the second floor was designed as a private room.
Nowadays, the number of players in the safe zone has increased dramatically. Zhu Yu has seen many teams of six or seven people, and the private rooms on the second floor are perfect for team gatherings of players who want to have independent space without being disturbed by others.
Zhu Yu walked through the hot pot restaurant carefully, and after confirming that there were no other new facilities, he realized that the focus of this update would be the private rooms on the second floor.
She turned around and went back to the first floor, opened the hot pot restaurant's system mall, and replaced all the original windows with large transparent floor-to-ceiling windows.
In this way, everyone standing in the hot pot restaurant can clearly see the scenery outside the window.
Even on a cold snowy day, players can enjoy the piping hot hot pot while admiring the ice and snow scenery outside through the floor-to-ceiling windows and feel the sharp contrast between warmth and cold.
In order to prevent the cold wind from seeping in, Zhu Yu specially chose a large blue floor-to-ceiling window, which cost her a full 1,500 gold coins.
You get what you pay for. The large blue-quality floor-to-ceiling windows have double-layer thermal insulation glass, which can ensure the warmth indoors while isolating the cold wind from the outside, ensuring the players' dining comfort.
After completing the interior renovation, Zhu Yu came to the waiting area outside and prepared to build the massage area as soon as possible.
After all, if there is no workplace, she doesn’t know when her newly hired employees can officially start work.
After making the partition, Zhu Yu divided the massage area into two parts for men and women.
Although the massage area of Bai Xiumin and his wife is not large, it has everything.
There is a locker on one side of the wall for guests to store personal belongings; various massage oils and tools are placed on the top of the locker.
Various hot towels are neatly placed on the small table next to it, ready to use at any time.
Zhu Yu carefully arranged this area to ensure that professional and considerate services were provided to customers to the greatest extent possible within the limited space.
After all the renovations were completed, it was already late at night.
Zhu Yu turned off all the lights in the store, yawned, and left the hot pot restaurant through the back door with a sense of accomplishment.
When she dragged her tired body back to her cabin and opened the bathroom door to wash up, she couldn't help but be stunned.
The bathtub in front of him was emitting steam and there were slight ripples on the water surface, obviously it was freshly filled with hot water.
What's going on? A question mark slowly appeared above Zhu Yu's head:
Are cabins now automated to this degree? Isn’t this too thoughtful?
She shook her head, feeling a little unbelievable, then suddenly came to her senses and asked tentatively: "996, did you do this?"
After a moment, the voice of System 996 came calmly:
"Yes, host. When I detected that you were about to finish the renovation of the hot pot restaurant and return to the shelter to rest, I remotely controlled the valve in the bathroom in advance and prepared hot water for you."
"Ah, thank you so much," Zhu Yu couldn't help laughing, "You are simply the best life manager."
System 996 had been following Zhu Yu for quite a while, but this was the first time he had received praise from her. And it wasn't even the sarcastic kind from the past, it sounded very sincere.
Being suddenly praised by the host in a smiling tone, 996's ball of light expanded and contracted, and finally disappeared with a "bang".
Zhu Yu was very satisfied with the increasing stability and intelligence of System 996. She didn't care why it suddenly hid in the system space. She turned around and happily took out a bath ball from the small shelf next to the bathtub and threw it into the bathtub.
The bath ball slowly spreads in the water, releasing a light rose scent.
The warm water gradually turned into a soft pink color, mixed with delicate foam.
Zhu Yu took off his clothes, slowly slid into the water, and was instantly surrounded by water of appropriate temperature.
She stretched her arms slightly and closed her eyes gently, feeling the warmth of the water penetrating her skin, and every tense muscle gradually relaxing.
On a night with the temperature nearly 100 degrees below zero, it is a luxury to be able to take such a hot bath.
After soaking for about thirty minutes, she felt relaxed all over, so she stood up and dried her body with a towel.
After changing into loose and soft pajamas, Zhu Yu walked back to the bedroom, lay on the soft bed, pulled the goose down quilt over his shoulders, and slowly fell asleep.
******
[Extreme Cold Disaster: Day 16, Temperature: -95℃, Number of Players: 5663/10000]
Zhu Yu received the new armor sent by tailor Cheng Yuying early in the morning.
This armor is mainly made of the scales dropped by the Frost Lizard and the remaining piece of mithril, which is melted and sewn together. Some other miscellaneous materials are added to it, making this armor reach purple quality and have extremely high defense.
The armor flickered with a faint cold light under the light, and the scales were arranged in an interlaced manner, like a natural protective barrier.
After Zhu Yu put it on, he inexplicably felt that his sense of security was greatly improved.
While eating breakfast, Zhu Yu casually twirled an extremely sharp dagger in his hand, looking at the snow scene outside the floor-to-ceiling window and thinking about today's arrangements.
After a while, her gaze fell back on the dagger with a crystal clear purple blade. This was one of the rewards the game gave her when she was promoted to C-level last time.
There seemed to be tiny ice and snow flowing slowly inside the dagger, and feeling the slight chill coming from the light blue blade, Zhu Yu could only say that games must produce high-quality products.
After getting the dagger, she tried it on the body of the Frost Monitor Lizard. She only used a little force, and before she could use the dagger's skills, it pierced through the monitor lizard's thick scales.
Another reward the game gave her was an intermediate archery scroll (purple), which was absorbed early on, bringing a significant improvement to her archery skills.
Now that she had the purple-quality armor and dagger, Zhu Yu felt that she was doing well again - it seemed like a good day to go out, so she immediately decided to go out and fight monsters, and at the same time investigate the situation outside.
As soon as he walked out of the fortress, Zhu Yu was hit by a biting cold wind that was even stronger than usual and shivered slightly.
She looked up and saw that the sky was gray and visibility was extremely low. The scenery in the distance was blurred, as if the whole world was engulfed by the strong wind and blizzard.
Zhu Yu covered his face with his hands and squinted his eyes, trying to identify the road ahead.
After walking for a distance, she found that the snow under her feet was getting thicker and thicker, even covering her calves in some places.
Even though she was wearing durable boots, every step she took required considerable effort.
Zhu Yu couldn't help but quicken his pace, and when the wind and snow subsided a little, he ran into the snowy forest where there was less snow.
Just as she was wandering in the woods looking for monsters, a vague sound suddenly came from not far away.
Zhu Yu was startled, then he calmed himself down and listened carefully. It seemed that some creature was approaching.
She quickly adjusted her breathing and calmly clenched the bow in her hand.
As the sound got closer, she vaguely saw a figure in the wind and snow.
She relaxed her guard slightly, but remained alert and slowly moved forward.
When she got closer, she realized it was a man wrapped in a heavy cloak.
At his feet was a small cart piled with various items, some weapons and medicines could be vaguely seen.
That’s great! After almost half a month, she finally met the wandering merchant again!
She walked quickly forward and found that the homeless merchant she met this time was not the same one as last time. This homeless merchant looked more like a small rich man in real life, with a plump figure. His pair of small eyes immediately narrowed into slits when he saw her.
"Hey, customer, what do you want to buy? There are so many kinds of items in my cart! Come, come, let me introduce them to you--"
The wandering merchant spoke flatteringly and hurriedly lifted the blanket covering the cart, revealing a dazzling array of goods.
His stubby hands quickly picked up a bottle of potion and enthusiastically recommended, "This is a blue-quality cold-resistant potion. Use it and you won't be afraid of the cold in this icy and snowy place anymore!"
Zhu Yu only glanced at him, then smiled confidently at him:
"Show me your best goods. Don't worry about the money. I don't mind these few gold coins!"
"ah?"
"Okay, please wait a moment!" The wandering merchant's machine froze for a short while, then immediately returned to normal.
He just waved his hand, and a familiar virtual product column appeared in front of Zhu Yu.
This time, there are obviously more purple items in the merchandise column.
Zhu Yu glanced at it quickly, and when he was about to spend money to buy something, his hand suddenly stopped.
Wait, in this purple and blue light, that flickering orange light, could she be seeing things?
Zhu Yu's fingers trembled slightly as he clicked on the item, and the specific information immediately appeared before his eyes.
This is an orange quality weapon blueprint——[Customized Weapon Blueprint].
The introduction says that this blueprint has unique magic. The user only needs to enter the type of weapon they want in it, and it will automatically generate an exclusive weapon blueprint of orange quality.
Whether it is a long sword, battle axe, bow and arrow, or other strange weapons, this blueprint will provide the best recipe according to the needs of the user.
This optimal recipe not only meets the needs of weapon crafting, but users can also write down existing materials and props on the blueprint in advance. The blueprint will give priority to these materials when generating the recipe, thus saving users time and energy in finding materials.
With such powerful abilities, it is worthy of being one of the highest quality items in the game.
Of course, the corresponding price is definitely not something that ordinary players can easily afford.
Zhu Yu glanced at the price tag below and was instantly shocked by the long string of numbers - ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands! A full 90,000 gold coins!
Even though Zhu Yu was considered a "small rich woman" in the game, this price was enough to make her feel painful. Her small treasury would shrink by half in an instant after this purchase.
You know, some players now can’t even get together a thousand gold coins.
However, orange-quality items are hard to come by, and the probability of encountering a wandering merchant is too low. It is unknown when the next such opportunity will come.
Zhu Yu took a deep breath, hesitated for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth and bought the blueprint.
She couldn't let go of the glittering golden drawing in her hand, secretly thanking herself for having encountered this treasure when her small treasury was at its fullest.
Suppressing the excitement in her heart, she exhaled slowly, picked up the blueprint, and concentrated on writing down the weapons she needed most and some rare materials in her backpack that might be useful.
After a while, words began to appear on the blank blueprint, and lines of material lists and production steps gradually appeared.
[Dragon Bone Bow Blueprint (Orange)]:
1. Rapid Fire: When activated, the player can shoot five arrows in a row within 5 seconds, and the shooting speed of each arrow is increased by 70%, while the critical hit chance is increased by 45%. It is suitable for quickly dealing continuous high damage when the enemy's defense is weak.
2. Dragon Breath Condensation: Every time you charge and shoot, there is a certain chance to condense the power of "Dragon Breath", making the arrow have a dragon breath flame effect, causing continuous burning damage to the target after hitting, causing an additional 30% damage per second, lasting for 5 seconds. This effect has a cooldown of 20 seconds.
3. Dragon Bone Tracking: After locking onto a target, the arrows shot from the bow will gain the "tracking" effect, automatically tracking the locked enemy. Even if the enemy moves quickly, the arrows shot will bend and track until they hit. Cooldown time 30 seconds.
Wow, the price is worth it, these three skills look really powerful.
However, when Zhu Yu looked at the materials needed for production, the enthusiasm in his heart immediately cooled down a bit.
Even though she was mentally prepared in advance, she still couldn't help but be shocked - in addition to some basic materials, this dragon bone wood bow actually requires the torso or bones of an A-level monster*1, purple-quality dragon bone wood fragments*2, and the core material for making the bow is actually an orange-quality flame crystal!
...Excuse me, is this last piece of flame crystal sure to appear in this extremely cold natural disaster copy! ?
However, Zhu Yu could accept the formula generated by this blueprint. After all, she had all the other materials. She had just enough dragon bone wood, and she could get the torso dropped by A-level monsters if she tried! This way, she didn't have to bother looking for other materials.
Thinking of this, Zhu Yu's mood improved a lot.
Considering that she had just spent a large sum of gold coins, she decided to buy some blue-quality items.
Zhu Yu flipped through the merchandise column and actually found some very practical items.
For example, the disguise potion she had always dreamed of - although it tasted bad and the effect could only last for 10 hours, it was affordable, costing only 200 gold coins per bottle.
Zhu Yu simply spent 1,000 gold coins to buy all five bottles of stock from the wandering merchant.
Finally, her sight fell on a cloak of blue quality.
The cloak is white, so it is not easy to be discovered when walking in the snow. It is made of thick material and lined with soft plush, which is just right for the biting cold wind.
Zhu Yu bought it at first sight and threw his old coat, which he had worn for a long time, into his backpack.
Having been in the game world for so long, she has changed into boots, vests, scarves and other clothing, but has yet to find a suitable coat. Now, she finally has a coat that looks good and has warmth-keeping function.
After finishing shopping, Zhu Yu reluctantly said goodbye to the wandering merchant and walked towards the depths of the snowy forest.
The edge of the cloak swayed slightly with her steps, and the layers of cloth wrapped her tightly.
Zhu Yu hid his hands in the wide cuffs of his cloak, with only a part of his wrists showing when he occasionally raised his hands.
As she was walking and playing with the fluff in her sleeves, she suddenly heard an urgent cry for help.
"Help... Is there anyone? Please help us!"
Zhu Yu suddenly stopped and listened attentively.
After confirming that she had heard correctly, she quickly pulled her hands out of the sleeves of her cloak, tightly gripped the bow in her hands, and carefully moved in the direction where the sound came from.
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