Chapter 62 (Second Update)
Sister Hong huddled in the corner, her eyes fixed, her lips trembling, her hair disheveled. This look reminded An Rou of the day she saw her on the street.
However, An Rou didn't feel sorry for her at that time, but now, she felt quite pitiful.
He hugged the thigh of the destined person twice in a row, and without exception, fell straight from the clouds to the dust.
"Run, come here."
An Rou raised her chin and said, "Clean up Sister Hong's clothes."
Now Sister Hong's clothes were stained with blood and brain matter, and they had been wrapped in a pile of hay all the way, so some of them had dried up and were stinking.
Paopao glanced at the boss in surprise, but remained silent. He followed his instructions, took out a few gold coins, and sprinkled them on Sister Hong. He then operated the light screen. After clicking [Clean], Sister Hong's clothes appeared brand new, emitting a faint, sun-dried fragrance.
However, people are not living props, and the stains on their bodies cannot be removed with gold coins.
"Go get another basin of water and a towel."
After a while, Paopao brought the wooden basin into the house and placed it in front of Sister Hong according to Anrou's instructions.
"Boss," he said, not leaving immediately, but reporting his results honestly. "From the reward for strangling the ghoul, plus the gold coins dropped from that corpse, I've picked up a total of 7,643 gold. Also, two weapons and a support card."
As he said this, he was about to take something out of the prop column.
An Rou smiled and shook her head: "This is the income from the trial operation of the new business model, which is not included in the farm income. You have contributed a lot, so keep it and consider it a bonus for you."
Paopao's eyes lit up. Then he felt a little embarrassed when he remembered how much he had opposed the business plan designed by his boss.
"No need, boss. I've leveled up again and am now level 19..."
"Let's put it this way," An Rou said. "There's no mention of an upgrade in the salary I offered you. Since you brought it up, just treat it as...an employee benefit."
"...Then I keep it?"
"Keep it. We'll handle the next mission in a businesslike manner."
"Yeah, thank you, boss!"
Paopao went away happily.
An Rou closed the door and turned her attention back to Sister Hong.
As expected, the NPC could not escape the temptation of money. After hearing the conversation between the two, although she did not understand it all due to the sensitive words, Sister Hong had regained her senses with the bonus of more than 7,000 gold.
She raised her eyes and stared at An Rou, her lips trembling, unable to utter a word.
An Rou raised her hand and brushed the air in front of her, and a bunch of gold coins fell down.
"Remember what I said: the base salary is 1,000 gold, and bonuses are extra?"
Sister Hong stared at the gold coins on the ground and nodded gently: "It depends on my performance and your mood, Anrou."
"An Rou?"
"……boss."
She's still quite sensible. This means Sister Hong was just frightened, not stunned. This woman has a much better mental state than the average person.
No matter what disadvantageous situation you are in, you will find ways to find a step forward for yourself - Sister Hong's repeated actions also illustrate this point.
An Rou smiled and said, "That's good."
In terms of employee value, Sister Hong is actually much more useful than Sister Qiao.
"Sister Hong performed well today and was very lucky, because I am in a good mood now. So this is your bonus. But -"
An Rou took a step forward and stepped on the gold coin. "Before you take the money, you have to answer a question for me."
Sister Hong stretched out her body, knelt down in front of the gold coins, and a look of desire appeared on her face: "Boss, ask."
"If you can only choose one between money and men, which one would you choose?" An Rou narrowed her eyes slightly and spoke each word with clarity. "When I say men, I mean all those who are destined to be with you. Think carefully before you answer."
All NPCs love money - this game setting is far more complicated than it sounds.
What is money? Is it just shiny gold coins? Or is it the balance of different digits in an account?
No, power is money, and connections are money. Just like people in the real world, NPCs of different classes have different perspectives on issues.
Sister Hong went from having nothing to owning three shops, so it is impossible for her to be as short-sighted as the lower-class townspeople.
I had previously made a pact with Paopao only to protect myself and my property. Today, I attempted to make a pact with Xixi, hoping that he would pull me out of the quagmire of misery.
The question is whether Sister Hong herself can realize her true intentions.
“I…I…”
This question obviously exceeded Sister Hong's expectations. She murmured a few words in confusion and her fingertips fell on a coin.
It felt a little cold to the touch, but it was like a fire that instantly ignited the real Sister Hong.
"Money, I want money!"
Only money can help her escape from her difficult life, and only money can help her win over the powerful people in the wealthy circles. As long as she has enough money, she can even be on equal footing with the mayor and the gang's chosen ones!
Sister Hong's face was filled with greed and desire. She instinctively gathered the gold coins on the ground in front of her. It was a huge pile, and it was estimated that there were thousands of gold coins.
But she didn't dare to collect the balance, and looked up at An Rou: "I know that everything today was arranged by you, An... Boss, I will listen to you in everything. As long as I can make money, I will listen to you in everything..."
Having said that, the last sentence was a little hesitant.
An Rou guessed what she was worried about and smiled, "Don't worry, as long as you work for me wholeheartedly, I can not only give you money, but also a lot of money, more than you have before. And - I can guarantee that your life will be safe."
Sister Hong opened her mouth.
In a world where ghouls are rampant, even the Chosen Ones can't guarantee they won't fall into disaster. For example, didn't the Chosen One who almost made a pact with her today become a ghoul and die?
An Rou's tone was really too loud.
But inexplicably, Sister Hong believed her.
Before An Rou left, Sister Hong suddenly called her: "Boss, can I ask a question?"
An Rou looked back with a smile and nodded.
"You're already rich, yet you still want to take the risk of going against the Chosen One. Why...?"
An Rou's smile faded. She took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and smiled again: "Same as you."
Not only does she want endless money, she also wants this soul world where no one can threaten her life anymore.
——This sentence was not spoken out loud, but there was no doubt on Sister Hong's face. She understood.
To some extent, she and An Rou are the same kind of people. Or maybe...
An Rou walked out of the bungalow and looked into the dark night.
She and all the NPCs in this soul world share the same desire.
Maybe, An Rou thought, this is why she was dressed as an NPC?
"Boss!" Paopao came over quickly through the darkness. "The body is already in the tank."
An Rou smiled and said, "No need to hide it. When he resurrects, this soul will be divided between Wang Da and Zhang Da. Zhang Da has only tasted a bite of the player's soul, so he needs to consolidate it. Wang Da has just been divided and is in a weak state, so he also needs to replenish it. Oh, and Bao Bao..."
Last night, Baofu had split off five ghouls in one go, so he should have been in a weakened state. However, his level was high, and Anrou didn't see any signs.
She squatted down and touched Baofu's big forehead: "Baobao, thank you for your hard work. When we open again tomorrow, I will find a few more corpses to reward you."
Whenever An Rou returned to the farm, Bao Fu's big face would always follow her, appearing and disappearing on the ground. When he heard An Rou's words, his eyes slowly turned around: "Gulu——"
Paopao was a little surprised: "Boss, we have to go on business trip tomorrow? Isn't that too often?"
"If we don't do it more frequently, how will the restaurant's reputation spread?" An Rou said, "Let's get started. Once the warm-up is done, you can go home."
An Rou put a hand on his shoulder and handed him two thousand gold coins: "Today's overtime pay."
Paopao was still worried, but he earned nearly 10,000 gold in one day, not including the money from cashing in the props.
As the old saying goes, as long as there's a 300% profit, people aren't afraid of even death. Furthermore, the boss's "throw clues - create ghouls - strangle ghouls and players" business model not only earns system rewards, but also earns gold dropped by players, and even harvests corpses to feed the farm staff, thereby boosting the restaurant's business.
Kill four birds with one stone and make a huge profit without any investment.
-
The streets of Zhongsu Town were deserted after the recent ghoul scene. Paopao emerged from the shadows, glanced around, and entered a small shop.
No matter how rampant the ghouls get, there is only one kind of shop in this world that will never close - the pawnshop.
In the game, pawnshops are the official shopping malls, and they're found throughout Lengbing City. This small pawnshop is tiny, and can't even be compared to the two on Zhongsu Street. But it's fully equipped. On the right hand side of the door is a counter with two small windows, where items are bought and sold, commonly known as a "warehouse."
There was also a counter on the left, but only a window, through which one could see the upper body of the person inside, but not their face. In the memories inherited by the original owner, An Rou had no recollection of this counter, and upon learning about it from Paopao, she was quite shocked.
Because the NPC at the left counter can also see the player's screen. He has no name, but because of the role he plays, he is called "Data Officer" by the players, and the left counter is therefore called "Data Cabinet".
There was no one in the pawnshop, so Paopao went straight to the data cabinet.
"Buy or sell?" asked the data officer in the window.
"Sell."
As Paopao answered, a light screen popped up and stopped at the system notification interface. A checkbox appeared to the right of each notification.
Paopao checked the notification for [Hair Salon Ghoul].
"Wait a minute," the data officer said, then laughed. "One got away?"
"I'm still tracking." Paopao replied.
"Just asking. It's really new information, no one has sold it before. C-level task, 50 gold." The data officer put down a handful of gold coins on the counter.
After leaving the pawnshop, Paopao took a quick look around, making sure no one was around. He then used his Swift Wind Steps to run all the way to the small Western-style building in Guangyin Lane. He climbed up to the second-floor window at the back of the building and entered Anrou's room.
In front of the building, the spies of the Orli Guild were staring at the gate.
There was no light in the room. An Rou heard the noise and asked, "Is it sold?"
"Sold it. Each guild usually sends people to collect data after midnight. In another two hours, Oli should be able to get the mission details."
An Rou nodded: "Let's do the second step of warming up."
Paopao sat down beside her, switched the light screen to visible mode, and opened the forum.
I browsed through the [Lost] section and quickly found Haha's help post.
He was a solitary traveler with no guild to look after him. If he died during a mission, he could either survive the 12-hour resurrection period and hope that the ghoul would have left the battlefield by the time he came back online; or he could be safer and post a request for help on the forum to find someone to collect his body.
"Oh, ten thousand gold. It seems you have quite a lot of wealth." An Rou said with a smile.
Paopao thought for a moment and said, "Boss, how about letting him bear fruit twice first? If he's at the mid-level bronze level, his destiny should be enough to revive him several times."
An Rou shook her head and said, "Compared to this little money, it's more important to let Wang Da and Wang Er get a taste of the sweetness. Please reply."
The help post had already grown to over ten stories, and it was unclear if anyone would take on the task of collecting the bodies. However, for An Rou, this didn't matter.
The forum was anonymous, so neither the major guilds nor the game officials could crack the real ID. Paopao Fangxin took the nickname "Ghoul".
[Ghoul: Stop it, brother. Your body is no longer in the salon. I carried it away with all my hard work.]
Haha, he is always online and replies quickly.
[OP: I knew it! No wonder the corpse retriever couldn't find it, it turns out you stole it! Damn corpse thief, you bastard!]
Paopao clicked his tongue: "That's not an acceptable attitude."
Just when I was about to reply, Haha sent another message.
[OP: Please, bro, give me back my body. All the money and goods I dropped are yours, plus I'll give you another 10,000 gold! I really can't afford to lose my game rights!]
[Ghoul: What corpse thief would return the body? Have some fun, are you waiting to be wanted by the guild? I'm a kind brother, and I'm here to tell you so you don't waste your time. Go to bed early. Ah. Those who have jobs, work hard. Those who don't have jobs, hurry and find one.]
Seeing him press the send button, An Rou smiled and said, "You are quite good at irritating people."
Paopao complained, "I didn't mean to anger him. Boss, you know everyone's hiring right now, but they just can't find anyone because they're all busy playing games. Even in our neighborhood, the security booth has been empty for six months, and even at 20,000 yuan a month, no one's applying!"
An Rou was silent.
Logically speaking, there are only tens of millions of eligible gamers, which wouldn't significantly impact society. However, for over two decades, the myth of gamers getting rich quick has continued to emerge, drawing the entire society in. Students don't study hard, and those who work don't work hard. Even if they lose their eligibility and log off completely, their hearts are still tied to the game.
Her favorite pickled fish restaurant also closed down because it could not recruit employees.
ridiculous.
Haha, although not a high level player, he was still a veteran, knowing Paopao was serious. The major guilds had banned corpse stealing, but it was a clear path to wealth, and even though it would be posted on the world wanted list after being exposed, it still persisted.
It is impossible for a person who steals a corpse to return it.
Paopao waited for a while and asked Anrou: "Boss, he doesn't reply, what should I do?" The most important news has not been told yet.
Before he finished speaking, Haha suddenly replied.
[OP: Let me die knowing full well, how did you know we were given the clue to complete the mission? You followed us? Why?]
Run for fun, long press Haha’s forum ID and send a private message instead.
[Corpse Stealer: Brother, I'm kindhearted and will grant your wish. That restaurant holds a lot of mysteries, and clues to quests can be found there from time to time. Take the recent quests in Zhongsu Town, the Coal Shop Ghoul, the East Suburbs Ghoul... I always got the clues before anyone else.]
[Corpse Stealer: This is luck! ]
[Corpse Stealer: Hey, bro, what's your initial destiny value when you enter the game?]
[Emergency help (haha): ...120]
[Corpse Stealer: Bro, I'm 100 times more powerful than you! Haha, bro, this game isn't for you. Face reality as soon as possible!]
After sending this private message, Paopao felt inexplicably happy, and suddenly An Rou asked a question.
"Is your initial destiny value really 12,000?"
Paopao looked embarrassed and scratched his head: "60..."
Only half of what Haha had, without even a chance to revive. God knows how hard it was for him to survive until now.
Seeing An Rou's half-smile, Paopao quickly switched to the attribute page: "But after meeting the boss, my destiny value soared, and now it's really 12,000!"
"Oh." An Rou dragged out the last word.
After earning so much mission experience and so much money and items, it would be strange if the reward didn't increase.
An Rou patted his head and said, "Work hard. It won't be long before I can add a few more zeros to your destiny value."
-
It was late at night and the lights in all the shops in Wuyan Lane were off, only Hong Jie's Hair Salon was still on.
Perhaps the ghoul had damaged the circuit, and the dim light flickered from time to time.
Qiaojie sat awkwardly on the sofa, her face pale, not daring to look directly at the gentlemen gathered around her. Having been interrogated for so long, besides fear, she also felt a deep disgust.
Captain Li was well aware of this, after all, the other party's favorability towards him had dropped to 30%.
However, no useful information was obtained.
Could it be that the ghoul is really just hiding beside An Rou and has nothing to do with An Rou?
"Have you finished collecting data today?" Captain Li asked his men.
"Not yet..." The subordinate suddenly changed the subject's tone, "Here it comes."
The member responsible for collecting data finally visited all the pawnshops in Zhongsu Town and sent the task information to the team channel.
Zhongsu Town is located on the outskirts of the city, so neither players nor townspeople interact with the outside world much. The city walls lack gates, making the chance of ghoul quests there the lowest among the nearby towns.
Often, the daily data collection task report shows "0." Even during the recent ghoul outbreak in Zhongsu Town, no data was collected. After all, the choice of whether to sell data is in the hands of the players.
But today was an exception. Herring sent a complete mission details message.
[Task Name: Temporary Worker at a Hair Salon]
Mission Location: Hongjie Hair Salon, Wuyan Lane, Zhongsu Town
[Ghoul Level: C]
[Number of Ghouls: 0/2]
【Time limit: None】
Difficulty Rating: C
Gray font indicates the mission is complete. This low-level historical mission sells for a very low price at a pawn shop, but it's better than nothing.
[Dawn Darkness: Which pawn shop did you buy it from?]
[Herring: Minister, it’s Huangguanxiang.]
Huangguan Lane?
Captain Li was familiar with all the pawnshops in town, big and small. The one in Huangguan Lane was the smallest of them all, and it was usually seldom visited by any of the pawnshop owners.
He chose to sell the data in remote pawnshops. I guess the person who completed the task was a stranger and acted very cautiously.
Could it be that the other party witnessed the ghoul killing his two men and followed him all the way?
Captain Li shook his head. The mission details were too simple. If one could buy specific clues leading to the mission, the reference would be of the greatest value. Unfortunately, once the details were revealed, the clues became invalid, and the pawnshop wouldn't buy invalid clues.
He looked at Sister Qiao and piled the gold coins on the coffee table two cents higher. "I'll ask you again, where is Sister Hong?"
Qiaojie's expression was extremely complicated at the moment, seeming to be filled with fear and disgust. Her eyes fell on the gold coins, and a trace of greed surged up. But she didn't dare to take it, just shook her head: "I don't know, I really don't know..."
At this moment, a member of Ouli rushed into the store.
"Minister, someone has opened a bidding on the Internet, selling clues about Zhongsu Town!"
"Bidding? What's the task?"
"It's not a quest clue." The member said, also confused. "The person who issued the bid said it was an address. As long as we go there, we can find the quest clue."
address?
You can find clues if you go there. Is there such a place in Zhongsu Town?
The territory under his jurisdiction is becoming increasingly strange.
Before Captain Li could figure out what was going on, another member came running in: "Minister, the mayor wants to see you."
Things happened one after another, making him upset and confused.
But the mayor's sending someone to look for him in the dead of night meant the matter was of great importance. Maintaining good relations with the NPC management in his territory was his greatest responsibility as a minister.
“You go, no matter how much it costs, you must win the bid and get that address!
"You two should divide the money on the table. You've been up all night, it must be hard work."
After Captain Li finished his instructions, he left in a hurry without paying any more attention to Qiaojie.
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