Chapter 129 Mermaid Cruise
The young boy Bai Jin was much easier to appease than Xu Zhiyan thought.
He managed the 'love letter' thing with almost no effort.
Although the other party still had a faint blush on his face and refused to hand over the "love letter", he finally stopped asking about the pornographic content and sat aside obediently.
Just when Xu Zhiyan was planning to take a nap and continue exploring the cruise ship tomorrow, a new pop-up window appeared.
[It was detected that players exploited system loopholes to make huge profits. 】
[Congratulations to the player for triggering the mandatory task]
"?"
Xu Zhiyan frowned, having a bad feeling in his heart. He subconsciously touched his pocket, and found an envelope containing 500 yuan of salary.
Huge profits? Five hundred is huge profits?
Everything has two sides. When I got the change totaling more than 100 yuan, the system did not give any prompts. But after 500 yuan in cash was in my pocket, the system immediately issued a mandatory task.
If it were another player, he might become furious after seeing the words "mandatory task", but Xu Zhiyan was quick-witted and instantly realized the interesting deeper meaning behind it.
Why didn’t he jump out earlier or later? Why did he keep silent when he got the identity bracelet? Why did he jump out at this moment?
Does that mean that any amount of money beyond this amount is enough to disrupt the balance of the game in the next stage?
His thoughts were racing. Considering Bai Jin beside him, Xu Zhiyan made an excuse to go to the bathroom and opened the mandatory task panel.
[Mandatory Task: Tutor]
[Progress: 0 hours]
[Note: It has been detected that the player has obtained a new identity through a BUG method and is making huge profits. A mandatory task has been added. Students must be taught for 8 hours a day to obtain benefits. ]
【Tip: Not even a minute less will do. 】
Xu Zhiyan raised an eyebrow after reading it, then looked at the time and immediately raised a question.
"But it's already past seven in the evening. Even if I teach until midnight, it won't be a full eight hours. This is a system task delay, and it can't be considered my fault."
But the system is particularly strong this time.
【So today doesn’t count. 】
[If the player cannot complete the eight-hour tutorial tomorrow, the five hundred already credited will be recycled (if the player spends it in advance, any subsequent earnings will be directly confiscated until the account is paid off)]
Looking at the above content, Xu Zhiyan was almost laughing out of anger.
The comments always say he is a bandit, but compared with the main system, who is the bandit? Why do you have to take out the money you have put into your pocket?
“I don’t think that makes sense.”
If nothing unexpected happens, there are still two days left until the next stage of the mission, which means that the Burning Flame mission has only been completed for one day.
Working as a tutor for three days can earn him 1,500 yuan. If the system releases a new task two days in advance, he will probably have to spend more time on the new task and will not have time to earn the last 500 yuan.
If the current calculation method of the system is used, and today's amount is excluded, then he will most likely only get 500 yuan in the end.
However, Xu Zhiyan did not explicitly calculate the profits with the system.
Fearing that the main system would be shameless and simply not respond, he tried to come up with other solutions.
“Since the fault is not with the player, then as a system, isn’t it your responsibility to find a better solution?”
【After calculation, this solution is the best solution. 】
The system was cold and seemed determined not to let Xu Zhiyan make any money this time.
Seeing that this reply was so decisive, Xu Zhiyan had an idea in his mind. He thought that most of the problems in the next stage could probably be solved with money.
A successful businessman will not give up any opportunity to take shortcuts.
He suddenly analyzed the problem in full, not to the system, but to the players in the live broadcast room.
"I understand that games will set various difficulties for players, but I met a young master on the road. Not only you, but also the audience in the live broadcast room should have seen it. He took the initiative to ask me if I needed help. I just seized the opportunity given by this NPC!"
"If seizing an opportunity in the game is called profiteering from a bug, then as a system, when you take back my supplies, should you give me additional compensation for the bug?"
Xu Zhiyan spoke eloquently and analyzed the problem from many aspects.
"After all, everyone makes mistakes. I understand the frustration of bugs, but I have already spent a lot of time trying to capture this young master. Not only do I have to give up one-third or even more of my original income, but other players will be disappointed if I do this."
Talking nonsense is his skill.
It is difficult to convince this cold system by yourself, so the next step is to see the feedback from the live broadcast room.
Since the main system does not allow the spread of negative comments, it means that the main system cares about the large number of players being affected. Once there is something it cares about, it can be used.
These words really touched the hearts of the audience in the live broadcast room. Even though they knew that Xu Zhiyan said this mainly for his own benefit, they couldn't help but apply it to themselves.
【I think Xiao Baiwan is right. 】
[That's right! No one wants to encounter a bug. In the beginning, it was indeed that young master who took the initiative to post it, and he also took the initiative to give the money. I will not accept it if all the blame is put on the players! ]
【@Main system, do players have no human rights at all? 】
[Although I also think that the young master that Xiao Baiwan is hanging out with this time is too buggy, he is simply an ATM machine, but this is not his fault. ]
[+1, Master ATM volunteered, who doesn't like this kind of NPC? If the money given by the NPC can be taken away at will, then what's the point of having a relationship with the NPC? ]
[That’s right! I can’t trust NPCs anymore. I might as well just worship the system after entering the game! ]
[Alas, players have no human rights, woo woo...]
Although Xu Zhiyan really wanted to take out his phone to take a look at the live broadcast room, thinking that the main system was probably monitoring it, he could only wait for a while. After he estimated that the live broadcast room had already started to quarrel, he quickly proposed a compromise plan.
"Of course, I don't necessarily want to embarrass the system. I know the system must have its reasons for doing this."
He leaned against the sink, looked at himself in the mirror, and stated his plan as if he was making a casual suggestion.
"If it is indeed a bug, I won't be so shameless as to ask you to compensate me in full. Can we adjust the time of the first day?"
It is now past seven in the evening. Counting from eight o'clock, there are a total of four hours until twelve o'clock. The other four hours will be postponed to tomorrow. In this way, I need to teach a total of 12 hours tomorrow. As long as I teach for a total of 16 hours in two days, I can get two days' salary.
【……】
After the system heard this, a row of ellipsis popped up on the panel, as if it was calculating something. It took a long time before it agreed to Xu Zhiyan's plan.
【After identification, this proposal is feasible. 】
[But players must complete the 16-hour task, otherwise all balances will be reset to zero. ]
"no problem!"
Xu Zhiyan agreed decisively, but he was not very happy in his heart.
The system actually didn't ask for doubling the extension time after proposing it? It seems that it will be quite difficult to keep Bai Jin for twelve hours tomorrow.
When I returned to the side hall, Bai Jin was still waiting obediently.
Xu Zhiyan asked a few random questions and found out that he would be very busy tomorrow and might not even be back at night.
He rubbed the boy's hair calmly, staring at his red ears, secretly guessing in his heart, wondering to what extent this little guy in front of him could give in for him.
"Teacher, I am good at drawing. How about I teach you how to draw?" Xu Zhiyan narrowed his eyes and proposed his own teaching plan.
"Drawing?" The young man Bai Jin was stunned.
However, this inferior person in front of me has a gentle temperament and delicate appearance. It seems possible that he is an art teacher?
"Of course, but I don't know if there is an easel or something on the ship." He frowned and thought for a while, and immediately planned to ask the waiter to prepare it.
Xu Zhiyan quickly interrupted the other party.
"There's no need to prepare. I will teach you something new. Do you understand abstract art?" Most people can't understand it anyway. Just blow it after you're done drawing.
In Bai Jin's confused eyes, Xu Zhiyan silently apologized to all the abstract painting masters in his heart, took out the paper and pen prepared for him by the little snail housekeeper, and also took out a few colored pens, and the perfunctory art teaching officially began.
Half an hour later, a variety of geometric shapes outlined with minimalist lines appeared on the paper.
The structure is fragmented and the color is unbearable to look at.
Seeing that Xiao Baijin beside him was completely stunned, Xu Zhiyan cleared his throat and briefly described his creative ideas.
"In the past, most of the paintings you have come into contact with were based on realism, but abstract painting is different. We intend to break the concept of painting that imitates nature and create based on intuition and imagination..."
"Look at this painting. The contrasting colors of blue and yellow have a strong sense of subjectivity and individuality..."
Xu Zhiyan talked eloquently, and Bai Jin went from being confused at first to being in deep thought, and finally, he no longer looked at the painting, but just turned his head to stare at Teacher Bian, his eyes full of admiration.
Although I don’t know what the other party is teaching, it sounds amazing!
Receiving the signal that he had fooled the person, Xu Zhiyan, who had been making up stories until his mouth was dry, smiled, quickly ended his fabricated stories, and passed the pen and paper in his hand to Bai Jin.
He had a kind face and spoke quietly.
"Liberate your heart and try to draw what you want. The teacher is not trying to force you to draw anything. I am more like a key to open the window of your soul..."
“Okay, teacher.”
Bai Jin took the paintbrush and called him "teacher" sincerely.
Seeing how obedient the good student was, Xu Zhiyan collapsed on the sofa opposite him and felt that the subject he had chosen was really good.
After all, there are no textbooks at hand, so I can't teach any academic knowledge. Although he knows a little bit about playing a musical instrument, he is only half-baked and has only one song he is good at. The child has such a strong learning ability, what if he learns it in two hours.
The interior is warm and cozy.
Time passed quickly, and Bai Jin's painting was not very smooth at first, but after a few hours, he seemed to suddenly get it and chose to start painting realistic things.
Xu Zhiyan lay there doing nothing, thinking back over what he had experienced in the past few days. He was sure that the secret of the mermaid cruise had not yet begun, but the feeling that a storm was about to come was getting stronger and stronger...
But until everything is clear, he decided to keep his speculation.
Taking out his cell phone, Xu Zhiyan secretly glanced at the live broadcast comments.
Maybe the things discussed in the barrage have little to do with the game, so surprisingly there are not many mosaics!
But he never expected that his nonsense just now not only fooled Bai Jin, but even the people in the live broadcast room began to doubt whether he was an art master, and they had a dispute about it.
[I think Xiao Baiwan’s abstract painting is really something! ]
[Indeed, blue and yellow are complementary colors. The overall choice of this color tone represents his inner entanglement and contradiction as well as his dissatisfaction with reality! ]
[Tip: blue and orange are complementary colors. I don’t understand what the above person is talking about.]
[??? Are you sick? He was obviously drawing blindly, and he just made up his mind after he finished drawing, and you actually believed it? ]
[The above poster is really tasteless, don’t they understand art? ]
[Your dad knows how to survive in the game, what kind of bullshit art is this...]
[Stop arguing. Let's have a guessing contest to see if Xiao Baiwan is an art master.]
【Not necessarily???】
[Speaking of which, this little ATM spirit’s learning ability is really amazing. He actually completely copied the small million-dollar masterpiece at the beginning, hahaha]
When Xu Zhiyan saw the last address, he tried not to laugh and shook a few times on the sofa.
What the hell is this little ATM spirit!
So this is what Bai Jin is called in his live broadcast room!
But I have to say, it's really hard for him not to like this little slice that's so obedient and willing to give him money to spend.
Being a miser, he likes anyone who gives him money.
When Xu Zhiyan caught a glimpse of Bai Jin's replica of his painting, he was slightly shocked, just like the audience in the live broadcast room.
It was clearly his first time to come into contact with something, but he was able to replicate it exactly. This child is indeed very talented and his memory must be very strong.
Thinking of this, Xu Zhiyan tried to chat with Bai Jin for a few words.
"Xiaobai, do you still remember why you looked for a tutor two years ago?" He was a little curious about why Teacher Fang was cheated. If he was teaching a specific profession, he should not have been replaced.
Bai Jin, who was still drawing, paused with his pen in hand, shook his head stiffly with a confused expression.
"I don't remember."
"My memory is always confused. I only remember that the Leviathan would set sail every once in a while to hold parties on the sea. People from all walks of life were invited on board. They were somewhat different, yet very similar..."
Xu Zhiyan quickly raised his hand to interrupt him.
"Okay, you draw first."
He covered his ears with one hand, gave Bai Jin a soothing smile, stood up, and walked quickly to the bathroom.
As soon as he closed the door, Xu Zhiyan loosened his hand and saw that the palm that had just covered his right ear was stained with blood.
[Warning: Violations have been detected. Please do not exploit BUGs and jump across the penalty line.]
It turned out that just after Bai Jin said the words "various occupations", Xu Zhiyan felt a sharp tinnitus in his ears, especially his right ear, as if a hole had been drilled by an electric drill.
"Okay, got it."
Xu Zhiyan casually clicked on the panel and used a healing item on himself with a pale face to heal the injury on his right ear.
After that, he became much more obedient.
He painted until two in the morning. Seeing Bai Jin nodding sleepily in front of him, he didn't say any more nonsense. He just silently served him a stomach-warming soup that didn't taste very good, but was a great way to stay up late.
Young people are full of youth and staying up late is nothing.
Xu Zhiyan was afraid that the system would find out that Bai Jin was too cooperative during the day, so he put aside all his tasks and returned for him. He simply made a huge investment and decided to work for sixteen hours in one go. His heart was bleeding.
With this stomach-warming soup, and his constant praise and exaggerated guidance, the two of them persevered and painted from eight in the evening to twelve in the morning of the next day.
During this time, Xu Zhiyan would chat a few words whenever he woke up from sleep, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.
Bai Jin refused the waiter's reminders several times and simply turned down all invitations in the morning.
With the joint efforts of the two, Xu Zhiyan finally got the additional 500 yuan in payment in advance, but he also paid a price.
"Teacher, I think painting is really a good thing. I feel much better after learning from you."
Xiao Baijin looked at Xu Zhiyan with excitement, his eyes sparkling and seemed full of infinite energy.
"Very good, just as I thought."
Although he had used other potions to replenish his energy, the effects were definitely not as good as staying up late and sleeping. Coupled with the random comments he had heard all night, Xu Zhiyan felt a little dazed.
But the potion for staying up late is really expensive. He has already used up one bottle. If he uses two bottles for one copy, he will inevitably feel the pain.
Xu Zhiyan opened his panel, took a look, and sighed.
[Name: Xu Zhiyan]
[Status: Tired]
[Spiritual Threshold: 0-71]
[Current Spirit: 71]
[Features: Greedy]
[Skill: Absolute Safe Time (Primary)]
[Title: Ghost Agent, Corpse Fisherman]
So how can Greed help him acquire skills better?
In the afternoon, Bai Jin finally couldn't resist and was asked to leave by the waiter.
Despite his exhaustion, Xu Zhiyan first went to the steam turbine and asked about his teammates' situation. Everyone said that they did not encounter any special incidents. In the lower area of the entire ship, money was required to go anywhere. They did not have much money and had no source of it, so it was difficult to move forward.
Not getting any new information, he went to the fishing spot again to look for branch information, but unfortunately, the entire fishing spot was closed because the previous fishing boat was broken into pieces.
Having wasted the entire afternoon, Xu Zhiyan was in a bad mood and inexplicably anxious, so he simply went back to the sofa in the living room to catch up on his sleep.
Just before midnight he was awakened by a loud commotion on deck.
Pushing open the window and looking towards the deck, Xu Zhiyan frowned.
I don't know when the fog appeared on the sea.
It was thicker than the previous morning, and it was a black fog.
Before, he had wondered why, although it was a cruise party, the guests on the ship were as quiet as chickens. At most, they would occasionally come out for a stroll and find something they liked to do, but they rarely gathered together. Although the deck was brightly lit every night, it was not lively.
But today is a little different.
From the deck came the sound of melodious music and the guests' laughter; the lights dimly shone through the thick fog, bringing with them a strange and abnormal liveliness.
Just when Xu Zhiyan was wondering if there was something wrong why these guests suddenly went crazy, Bai Jin suddenly pushed the door open.
The young man was wearing a well-tailored suit, with a light sweat on his forehead and his chest heaving. He was holding a bag of bread in his hand, which seemed a bit out of place. It was obvious that he had sneaked back during the chaos while attending something.
"I have something to do for the next while. You, you must not leave here. Just wait for me in the room. I will lock the door from the outside. No matter who knocks on the door, don't make a sound and don't open the window."
He said this with a serious face and stuttered, then stuffed the bread into Xu Zhiyan's arms and emphasized the key point again.
"No one will break into my room. No matter who knocks on the door, don't open it."
Xu Zhiyan was amused by the boy's serious look and nodded, "Okay, I'll do as you say."
Although he said this, looking at Bai Jin's expression, he felt that the players would definitely be in big trouble next. How could he have a chance to stay in the room honestly?
Seeing Bai Jin heaved a sigh of relief, Xu Zhiyan saw the prompt on the game panel out of the corner of his eye, which seemed to indicate a new task had arrived, and he couldn't help but want to tease the little ATM spirit again.
"Is that all? It may have been a long time since we last met. Is there anything else you want to say to the teacher?"
He leaned very close to them so that they could each feel each other's breath.
Next, this child will definitely run away with a red face, Xu Zhiyan thought.
Unexpectedly, although Bai Jin's face turned red again, he did not run away immediately this time.
The young man in gorgeous clothes seemed to have made up his mind. He suddenly put his hands on Xu Zhiyan's shoulders and quickly kissed him on the lips.
Maybe it was too shy, so it was more like pecking than kissing.
“Wait for me here!”
Bai Jin said this and left the room like a bird.
Xu Zhiyan stood there in a daze, reached out and wiped his lips, refusing to admit that he seemed to have gone too far.
"Forget it, who doesn't love AMT?"
After muttering, he listened to the sound of the door being locked outside and turned his eyes to the new task on the panel.
Just as he thought, the main system had no intention of giving him the chance to earn the last 500 yuan. But it didn't matter, he had already got 1,000 yuan.
[Task 4: Burning Flame [Shared by Coal Burners]]
[Progress: Day 3 (Completed)]
[Reward: New Identity Bracelet]
It's just past midnight and Mission 4 is already over.
The identification bracelet on his wrist that belonged to the coal burner was no longer black, but had turned bright red, as if it were soaked in blood.
[Main Mission [Part 1]: Participate in the Cruise Party]
[Mission 5: Sea Snake Casino]
[Progress: 0%]
[Note: Your new identity is a gambler who came with the ship. You are keen to participate in any game, but your luck is always not good enough. You heard that the Sea Serpent Casino on the Leviathan has made countless unlucky people make money, so you decided to try your luck, hoping to turn over and become rich overnight. ]
[Hint 1: Winning or losing will determine the direction of the player's next mission. ]
[Tip 2: The money the player carries is the next gambling money.]
[Tip 3: After arriving at the Sea Snake Casino, you can view the winning and losing rules. Players are requested to leave from their current location immediately. ]
[Reward: Cruise Party Invitation]
At the end of the mission, a base map is attached so that players can immediately rush to the mission location from their current route.
After reading the mission, Xu Zhiyan actually felt like it was finally here.
No wonder he tricked Bai Jin into eating and drinking for free. The main system never said much, but once he got the money, the system immediately went crazy.
The amount of money players have does affect the new tasks.
Xu Zhiyan looked down at his own outfit and did not leave in a hurry. Instead, he went to Bai Jin's bedroom, opened the wardrobe and started to choose.
A moment later, a well-dressed young man with a top hat, a cane in his hand and a cold expression appeared in the room. His gold-rimmed glasses with a gold chain hanging from them made him look nothing like a gambler.
Xu Zhiyan, who was very satisfied with his appearance, climbed out of the window of the upper-class cabin and strode on the road with his head held high.
A black fog enveloped the entire ship.
Weird music was coming from the deck.
Xu Zhiyan was not afraid at all, his mind was full of thoughts on how to gamble one thousand yuan to make ten million.
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