Chapter 48 (Second Update)
A trail of dust traveled down the dirt road.
“Ding Di——”
When approaching the farm, An Rou couldn't help but honk the horn twice, and then hurriedly glanced at the city wall in the distance.
The soldiers on the city wall were indeed attracted by the situation, and two small figures looked over curiously.
Fortunately, they didn't come down.
An antique sedan, a thing obsolete for centuries, is incredibly expensive in the game—100,000 gold—and it doesn't even move as fast as the player's movement skills. Who would spend 500,000 gold in real life on a mere transportation tool?
Therefore, only a few wealthy NPCs can drive.
An Rou also considered that she would have to travel frequently between the farm and the town in the future, and she couldn't let Paopao carry her every time, or ride on a human-powered tricycle that was as slow as an ox, so she gritted her teeth and bought one.
Although it was useless, she was still very excited when she actually got in the car - is there any cooler way to show off wealth than this?
"It's not that I want to show off, but as the wife of the boss of several major industries, I have to show off."
An Rou chuckled to herself, opened the door, and got out of the car. Paopao was still helping out at the bun shop; she had returned alone.
Time was very tight. In order to complete the decoration of the bun shop overnight, she and Paopao purchased building materials and home furnishings, and at the same time took advantage of the plasticity of daily props and used gold coins to complete the parts that could not be completed immediately, such as laying water and electricity.
After working until midnight, An Younian, who couldn't sleep well in the small western-style building, came over and was shocked by the brand new look of the bun shop. He then started to knead the dough and make the filling, preparing for the opening this morning.
At that moment, An Younian, Paopao, and Qiaojie, who had rushed over to help after hearing the news, were still busy in the shop. An Rou hurried back to the farm before the shop opened.
The reason is simple - look how many corpses are left after one day and two nights.
An Rou walked quickly towards the sauerkraut shed, took a look at the neatly arranged pickle jars, and called out "Baobao".
[So hungry——]
Bao Fu's drawn-out voice of consciousness sounded, and at the same time, a huge, frightened face appeared at An Rou's feet.
An Rou tapped its forehead with her toes in annoyance: "Why are you hungry? You eat so much every day, you won't die from being full!"
Of course, she knew that when Baofu said "I'm so hungry," he wasn't actually hungry. If he was hungry, he wouldn't have dragged out the words so long, but would have said a series of quick "I'm so hungry."
Words like "so hungry" and "so cold" seem to be branded in the ghouls' souls, making them only able to utter such monotonous catchphrases - why do they sound a little off?
Ghouls...are they so hungry for souls, do they also have souls?
An Rou was stunned for a moment, and saw Bao Fu hold out a bone knife, tap a pickle jar, and then use a little force to move the heavy wooden lid halfway open.
She came to her senses, put a stool next to the vat, and brought over two wooden barrels and placed them beside them. Finally, she dug out a fine steel net from the hay beside the pickle shed pillar.
——This is a weapon, an orange weapon that was swallowed by the rich at the T21 mission site.
The fine steel net had a long handle similar to a spear, tipped with a circular fine steel mesh, studded with spikes both inside and outside. Paopao had demonstrated to her that once the weapon skill was activated, the fine steel mesh would expand, covering the stone. Then, activating the skill again, it would shrink, and the stone would be instantly pierced by the spikes, leaving it riddled with holes.
If it were to fall on a person... you can imagine how terrifying it would be.
However, An Rou had no energy and could not activate any skills, so she simply used it as a large colander. As for the usage scenario, it was now.
She stood on a stool and stirred the pickle jar twice with a steel strainer, and the body in the jar was indeed gone.
It shattered into points of light and went offline completely.
An Rou looked at Bao Fu: "You didn't eat?"
Baofu made a dull gurgling sound in his throat - Anrou didn't allow him to roar.
If it were Paopao, he would definitely not understand the meaning of "explosive wealth". An Rou also did not understand the gurgling sound, but she could inexplicably understand the meaning of "explosive wealth".
Didn’t eat.
The players soaking in this tank have used up all their chances of resurrection and are completely offline.
An Rou sighed and poured the gold coins that she had fished out with the steel net into the wooden barrel.
The pickle jar is too big and too deep to be cleaned out by yourself. The gold coins that have sunk to the bottom of the jar need to be separated from the poisonous water by running around.
"Which other one?" she asked Baofu.
Half an hour later, An Rou put down the steel fishing net, sweat breaking out on her forehead from exhaustion.
Under Baofu's guidance, she searched 13 pickle jars, but without exception, the bodies were gone. Baofu only ate three of them. In other words, 10 players had exhausted their resurrection opportunities, their Life Points dropped below 50, and they were completely offline.
An Rou sat on a stool, her back against the vat. Next to her were two wooden barrels filled with gold coins. She had a good harvest, but she was having a headache.
The rich man swam over, opened his mouth wide, and swallowed the barrel. A moment later, with a loud splash, the gold coins and the barrel were spat out onto the ground.
It is already an SS-level ghoul. It has eaten many souls in recent days and its body has expanded. Naturally, it is not afraid of a little arsenic poison. It is just used by An Rou to purify the "fruits" fished out of the poisonous water.
An Rou looked at the pile of gold coins and props without moving.
112 bodies, but after only four days, only a fraction remained - 12.
She originally thought that it would be enough to feed Baofu for several months. After all, from her previous observations, it only needed to eat a soul every two days before it would not starve quickly.
Damn it, I actually forgot that players will be resurrected naturally!
In the game, players can be offline for a long time, but they cannot be "dead" for a long time. Even if they don't use the resurrection card, they will be automatically resurrected after 12 hours.
This time it was relatively good. In two days and one night, only 13 of them were completely offline. The first two days were the most terrifying, with 30 to 40 coins disappearing every day. Although she made a lot of gold coins, An Rou's heart was also cold.
Paopao had her look at the forums. The day after the T21 mission ended, the [Lost Ones] help section was flooded with requests for help, all offering bounties for finding the bodies. Fortunately, some Ouli players believed the bodies were stolen by the Gal Guild, while others believed the bodies were stolen by the Ouli Guild. Both sides even started a separate post on the Million Floor, catching everyone's attention.
An Rou was glad at that time that no one came to her farm.
But it wasn't long before she lost her joy. The number of players whose bodies were scattered was increasing, far exceeding expectations.
Paopao explained that a player's eligibility for the game was determined by their destiny value, which had a lower limit of 50. Once it fell below that, they would lose their eligibility and their game would be over. And every time a player died, their destiny value was cut in half.
An Rou calculated for a long time based on the information he found, and came up with a rough estimate:
Most Iron players have a Destiny value below 1000, and at most have 4 resurrection chances. Without using a resurrection card, based on a natural resurrection time of 12 hours, they can probably last for 2 days in a pickle jar before being completely offline.
Above Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Great God, and Super God, each rank's theoretical Mandate value increases tenfold. The data may seem vastly different, but the algorithm of halving and halving the value doesn't improve the lifespan much.
Bronze takes 3.5 days, Silver takes 5 days, Gold takes 7 days, and even the Great God takes only 8.5 days. As for the Super God… forget it. Having personally witnessed Chu Mo’s combat power, An Rou doesn’t dare to aim for the Super God.
Furthermore, these were only theoretical figures. Before falling into her hands, these players had all died several times, and their Life Points were not at the theoretical maximum for their corresponding levels.
Analyzing the number of deaths and collapse times of some players, the passengers of T21 are mostly bronze and silver players, with a small number of gold players - most likely the corpses that have persisted until now and have not disappeared.
However, it was already the fifth day, and they couldn't hold out for much longer.
An Rou sighed again.
Planting a money tree is a risky task, earned at the cost of one's life, and it can only grow for a few days. Who would be willing to accept that?
It’s just the way the game mechanics are, there’s nothing you can do about it.
Bao Fu suddenly grunted and pointed the bone knife at a pickle jar.
An Rou took a deep breath and exhaled slowly: "Eat, eat, eat, eat a few more meals, and you'll be hungry again."
It wasn't that another surviving corpse had disintegrated, but rather that Baofu, with his keen hearing, had detected a corpse resurrecting. Within seconds of being suffocated and poisoned, the bone knife pierced through the wooden cover and accurately stabbed into the player's brain. A faint soullight shone on the white bone knife.
An Rou raised her wrist, and saw an exquisite white ladies' watch, which was also newly bought.
It's already 7:15 and the bun shop is scheduled to open at 8:00.
She collected all the gold coins on the ground and buried all kinds of props randomly under the hay. Before leaving, she touched Baofu's huge forehead.
"Remember, if someone from Heaven's Will comes in, ignore him. If he finds you, he'll just eat you."
An Rou walked out of the farm and returned to the car. The antique sedan, with its rounded rear end, emitted black exhaust as it drove towards Zhongsu Town.
Her advice to Baofu was well thought out. Admittedly, some players discovered Baofu and simply killed them, using them as food reserves for Baofu. However, this would lead to a huge problem: triggering the game quest.
Even if a player dies temporarily, he can still go to the forum and is very likely to spread the task clues.
If you were eaten by a ghoul, you'd lose your game eligibility and be unable to log into the forums, so the risk of your farm being exposed would be much smaller. As for the fact that many guilds with national backgrounds have offline contact information, there's also the risk of exposure...
An Rou couldn't think about so much for the moment, so she decided to take it one step at a time.
The car drove into the town with a high profile, immediately attracting countless envious glances. Although most of them were NPCs, it was enough to change An Rou's mood and make her happy again.
This is the presence of the rich!
An Rou hummed a song and parked the car at the entrance of Wuyan Alley. It was a little more open here than in the alley.
Wuyan Alley was already packed with people, the crowd even spilling over to the hair salon. Beyond the jostling crowd, the five golden characters "Nianfeng Baozi Shop" gleamed brightly on a black sign.
When discussing the renovation plan, An Rou briefly considered converting the bun shop into a bright, modern restaurant, provided An Younian's wishes were met. However, it was ultimately just an impulse.
It is too eye-catching. Players can tell at a glance that this is not a store opened by an ordinary NPC and it is easy to cause trouble.
It will open soon.
"Excuse me."
An Rou tried to go in. A man in front of her glanced back impatiently. He had originally decided not to give way, but after seeing An Rou clearly, he quietly moved his feet.
It’s not that I know An Rou, but An Rou’s outfit today is a bit intimidating.
She didn't wear the white cheongsam Heng Bobao had given her, the one that clearly indicated she was a daughter of a wealthy family. Instead, she wore a purple silk dress with a high slit. She wore matching high heels, their uppers adorned with sparkling crystals. Her makeup was much heavier, with a bold lipstick. Her already long, thin eyebrows were further elongated, almost reaching her temples.
The lively almond eyes no longer look weak and innocent under the royal sister's makeup.
She has transformed from a young girl into a female boss with a sharp aura.
The crowd automatically parted to make way for Paopao, who was fiddling with firecrackers. He saw them and greeted them with a smile, "Boss."
He also changed his clothes to avoid being recognized as a player at a glance. Therefore, to the people around him, this sound was not abrupt but rather very harmonious.
Qiaojie came out holding a box of matches in her hand and said, "Little...Boss An."
Without anyone's reminder, she changed her words automatically. But her face no longer had the timid look she had in the past - An Rou had given her 10,000 gold in advance as wages early in the morning.
Money gives courage, that's all.
An Rou smiled and nodded, then walked over and asked softly, "Where's Dad?"
"Brother An is in the kitchen, and the first batch of buns will be steamed soon." Qiaojie replied.
Now that the second floor had been converted into a living room, a lot of space had been freed up on the first floor. An Rou simply moved the kitchen inside, connecting it to the back door. In the past, there was no such thing as a kitchen in the store; making buns, steaming buns, and cooking meals for the family were all done at the front door, which was crowded and messy.
After the entrance was cleared, the whole store felt much brighter.
After a while, An Younian, wearing a white apron, walked out quickly and said happily, "Rou Rou, the buns are ready. Are we ready to open?"
An Rou nodded. Seeing this, Paopao was about to set off firecrackers, but was stopped by An Rou.
She cleared her throat, walked to the door and stood still, looking at the customers gathered outside: "Before the Nianfeng Baozi Shop officially opens, I have something to say."
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