Chapter 56 (Second Update)
Zhongsu Town is the territory of the Orli Guild. An Rou created a huge fanfare to attract players, and Orli members naturally bore the brunt of the attention. Most of the IDs I just saw had the Orli emblem attached.
I just didn't expect that [Dawn Darkness] and [Mantis] would come in person.
One was a Gold, the other a Great God. An Rou glanced at the two's levels, a puzzled look in her eyes: "I didn't understand what Captain Li just said."
Captain Li and Tang Lang exchanged a glance before rewording, "I'm just curious. Most of the larger restaurants in Lengbing City serve a wide variety of dishes. How did Boss An come up with the idea of specializing in pickled fish?"
An Rou remained silent.
His previous words were, "I saw a similar pickled fish specialty store when I traveled to China, but I didn't expect to see it in the game as well."
——China, games, are all sensitive words that NPCs cannot capture.
Yong'an Restaurant specializes in pickled fish, which naturally sparked suspicion among players. Unexpectedly, the first person to raise doubts was the head of the Ouli Zhongsu branch, a foreigner.
But An Rou didn't regret taking the risk. Her reason was simple: she wanted to test the player's sensitivity. Otherwise, to avoid exposing the NPC's facade, she'd be so cautious and daring not to do anything out of the ordinary. It would be too restrictive.
How can the farm grow bigger?
Faced with the inquiring gazes of the two high-level players, An Rou felt the urge to use them to test her business model.
Knowing too much will kill you.
She glanced at the two people's levels again from the corner of her eye.
No, unless Baofu is present, no new employee can defeat them.
It’s better to explain it according to the prepared draft.
"To be honest," An Rou said, a bit startled, "Yes... he made it and let me eat it. The taste... is unforgettable."
After she finished speaking, she avoided their gaze with a little embarrassment.
Captain Li's expression changed, and he was shocked: "Remove the ink?"
An Rou remained silent.
"Impossible?" Tang Lang whispered, "That guy has a reputation for being a loner. No one has ever seen him smile. How could he possibly cook for an NPC?"
Captain Li had the same idea, but when he thought about it, since Chu Mo could give An Rou so much money, it was not impossible for him to cook an extra meal.
However, further confirmation is needed. After all, An Rou didn't mention the pickled fish at the mahjong table that day.
Just as he was about to ask, a series of footsteps came rushing down the stairs.
"Captain Li!" Heng Bobao saw An Rou's timid look with her head down and shouted, "You're bullying An Rou again! I'm going to tell Dad!"
It's this girl again. A hint of impatience flashed across Captain Li's eyes.
An Rou dodged them and went to Heng Bobao: "No, no, Captain Li didn't bully me. They came to the restaurant to eat."
"Really?" Heng Bobao looked suspicious.
Tang Lang had been trying to figure out how to please the town leader these days. His eyes lit up, and he spoke with a smile before Captain Li could. "Of course it's true, Miss Heng. We're here to try the pickled fish."
Then he shouted loudly outside: "Brothers of Ouli and Yinlai, come in and have dinner. This meal is on me!"
Most of the people lingering outside the door were players from the two guilds. Upon hearing this, they cheered and rushed in.
Twenty or thirty people instantly filled the first floor living room, making it bustling with activity.
Heng Bobao's mood brightened up. "That's great, Anrou. The restaurant's reopening is just as successful as the bun shop!"
With so many players, they would have ordered at least a dozen pickled fish dishes, spending thousands of gold. Unfortunately, An Rou frowned.
Heng Bobao was puzzled: "What's the matter? Don't you welcome guests from the gang? It's okay, I'll ask them to leave right away!"
"Forget it." An Rou held her back and glanced out the window.
There were a few wanderers lingering outside, but when they saw the guild players pouring into the store, they all shook their heads and left. And these were exactly the customers An Rou had in mind.
We can only wait for this wave of guild players to finish eating and leave.
"An Rou, your pickled fish is so delicious! I have never eaten such delicious pickled cabbage and such tender fish!" Heng Bobao pulled An Rou to the second floor.
An Rou was very understanding: "If you like it, just tell the waiter and eat as much as you want."
"Really?! That's great, An Rou, you're so kind to me..."
Heng Bobao was chattering, but An Rou's eyes were already blank and she suddenly stopped.
Heng Bobao was not paying attention and almost tripped over the stairs.
"Bo Bao, I have to go out for something urgent. Please take your time eating."
"Ah? Why is that? You won't eat with me..."
An Rou didn't bother to comfort the young lady and quickly walked down the stairs. She caught a glimpse of the guild players next to her and stopped again.
She took a deep breath and walked out of the restaurant calmly. Only when she could no longer feel the gazes on her back did she quicken her pace and walk towards the car parked at the intersection.
An Rou slammed the car door and looked blankly again. She felt a sudden pain in her head and didn't see anything.
What's going on?
She tried again, but it still didn't work, so she simply imagined the face of someone who had become rich, and successfully saw the picture with distorted lines.
The picture shows Paopao's face, its outline is distorted, and you can still see that he is still frightened.
An Rou started the car, stepped on the accelerator, and sped towards the farm. At the midpoint between the town entrance and the farm, she saw Paopao, looking distraught.
The pale, terrified face of the rich man lay on the ground like a big pancake.
"boss……"
"What's going on?!"
An Rou's tone was unusually harsh, causing Paopao to flinch.
The moment she connected with Zhang Er's consciousness, she saw a shaky image, as if a reporter was running at full speed with a camera. In the center of the lens was a farmer.
——An NPC.
"I, I don't know either! Many NPC farmers take this road, and we've run into quite a few along the way. Who knew Zhang Er would suddenly rush up..."
Paopao is talking incoherently.
"It's my fault. I saw him staring at passersby a long time ago. I should have taken him back to the farm directly..."
An Rou frowned.
She had already guessed it on the way here. Zhang Er, having become a ghoul, left the farm for the first time. Having never tasted a soul before, he encountered NPCs one after another, and finally couldn't suppress his instinct and rushed forward.
Simply put, onboarding failed.
An Rou looked at Paopao with deep eyes. His clothes were torn and there was a scar on his shoulder, bleeding profusely.
I guess he had a fight with Zhang Er in order to stop him.
She asked, "Where is the person? Did you kill him?"
Paopao was stunned for a moment, then said, "No...it wasn't me. I can't beat it. It was Brother Baofu."
At the time of the incident, Zhang Er's mind was filled with the farmer's soul. In the crisis, Paopao was forced to take action and successfully killed Zhang Er's physical body. However, it then transformed wildly, and Paopao was unable to defeat it. He could only watch as it devoured the farmer's soul and rushed towards him again.
Bao Fu arrived in time and broke it into countless pieces with the bone knife without any hesitation.
An Rou glanced at the scattered traces of liquid on the ground, suppressed her thoughts, and said, "First, drink the life potion to heal the wound, and then cover up the traces on the ground."
Before he finished speaking, the rich man's face disappeared leisurely.
From a far distance, two close and short screams were heard.
An Rou and Paopao exchanged a glance. Paopao, not even bothering to drink his life potion, pulled her along, using his mobility skill to run. Before they even reached their destination, they could already see specks of light floating in the air.
——The player loses his game qualification, and his body disintegrates into white spots of light!
And there are two groups!
"Baobao, what's going on?"
Baofu grunted, unable to offer an answer. To it, the matter was simple: it saw two Chosen Ones heading in its direction, so it called for them to be eaten.
"Boss, look!"
Paopao picked out a card from the scattered gold coins. Although it was also black, it was not an auxiliary card.
An Rou had seen this kind of card before. Among the items that had leaked from other players' bodies, there had also been some cards with guild emblems printed on them—the so-called guild identity cards. It was because of this that the guild emblem would appear in front of a player's ID.
And on this card right now, the emblem of the All Power Guild is depicted!
An Rou glanced towards Zhongsu Town, then turned back to look at a line of black city wall visible in the distance.
It was morning, not the time for the soldiers on the city walls to change shifts. This dirt road out of town wasn't a major thoroughfare, and aside from farmers working in the fields, it rarely saw any players.
In other words, these two Oli players were most likely following her!
An Rou couldn't help but think of Captain Li's repeated tests. It was basically certain that they were sent by Captain Li.
On one hand, the employee training failed, and on the other hand, Captain Li was still suspicious. An Rou felt a headache. She couldn't help but glare at Bao Fu: "Bao Bao, you killed me!"
The two Oli players who were following her died suddenly. Is there anything more suspicious than this?
The rich man's eyes rolled slowly around and he grunted.
Paopao didn't think as deeply as she did, and his expression was a little confused, but seeing the boss's gloomy face, he didn't dare to say anything.
Soon after, the car stopped at the farm gate. Seeing An Rou walking in aggressively, Paopao couldn't help but say, "Boss, this business model won't work. Ghouls are too uncontrollable..."
An Rou turned around suddenly: "It won't work? Then what kind of business will work? Tell me!"
That same day, Paopao was harshly questioned by his boss for the second time. He retreated timidly, but this also aroused some of his youthful temper, and he poured out all the worries he had over the past two days.
"A lot of businesses are feasible! Boss, you have a farm now where you can grow vegetables and grains, raise chickens, ducks, fish and meat, and you can sell all of these!
"You now have a bun shop, a hair salon, a bathhouse, and a restaurant. If you manage them well, which one can't make money?
"Even if the boss wants to make a fortune from players, I can go out and find out where there are quests. Just like T21, we can secretly lurk at the quest site, pick up the bodies, and then secretly transport them back to the farm and hide them. The risk is much smaller!"
"Why do you have to raise your own ghouls and create your own quests? Zhang Er is already pretty good, he can talk and lie, but in the end, doesn't he still pounce on living people?
"Luckily, we were just outside the town, and thanks to the help of Brother Baofu, we didn't get into any big trouble. I can't even imagine what would happen if I brought Zhang Er to a town full of people!"
An Rou didn't say a word the entire time, listening to every word. When Paopao didn't say anything else, she asked calmly, "Are you done?"
His running energy faded, and he slumped his shoulders in guilt. He pleaded, "Boss, let's not do something so risky. Even if we just pick up corpses, we can still make a lot of money."
"So, you want me to follow you everywhere, and let Baofu follow you everywhere?"
"...Isn't that possible? Brother Baofu has a ghost trick to hide, so he can go out even in the daytime..."
"Of course not!" An Rou suddenly interrupted him, "This is my home, my father is in Zhongsu Town!"
Paopao was stunned for a moment, and naturally thought of An Younian.
He had long seen that An Rou had unusual feelings for this NPC. However, no matter how much she felt for him, he was still just an NPC.
He carefully considered his words: "Boss, I know your original intention in playing this game, maybe it's to commemorate..."
An Rou interrupted him again: "No, you're wrong. Paopao, I'm not reminiscing. For me, this game is far more than just 'playing' a game. I live here, I live here, it's..."
She suddenly stopped.
Paopao waited for a moment, then followed up with the question, "What is it?"
An Rou closed her eyes and asked herself.
Is Paopao trustworthy? — Judging from our interactions so far, the answer is yes.
But should I trust him and tell him that I am an NPC?
No.
Any secret is no longer a secret once it is known by more people than yourself.
Past experiences have taught An Rou that in this world, she can only trust herself. Of course, now in the Soul Realm, there are two more people - An Younian, who is data, and Bao Fu, who is both data and a ghoul.
Paopao, after all, is a human being.
"I've made up my mind." An Rou opened her eyes. "The Ouli Guild has become suspicious. In order to divert their attention, a mission must be created tonight at the latest. As for you—"
"Think carefully before you object. I don't mind immediately disqualifying you from the game."
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