Chapter 63
Heng Ba Tong wrapped himself in a silk robe, leaned back in a recliner, sipped a sip from a purple clay teapot, and looked calm and composed.
He didn't look like he was in a hurry to find someone to question.
He opened his eyelids and said, "Captain Li, what do you think?"
Captain Li smiled his usual elegant smile. "The mayor is right. Since our Zhongsu branch has chosen to take root in Zhongsu Town, we naturally have an obligation to strangle ghouls and protect the townspeople."
Heng Batong waved his hands. "There are tens of thousands of people in this town. What's the big deal if a few get eaten by ghouls? The key isn't protection, but business! Captain Li, everyone was worried recently. How many bosses have lost their business and come to me crying."
"I know your gang makes money by killing ghouls, so why not come to Zhongsu? Outside of Dongjiao City is a land of no life, so there are as many ghouls as you want. Many gangs would envy that."
These words made Captain Li curl his lips.
That old fellow, Heng Batong, was a typical example of someone who spoke without hesitation. While there were many ghouls in the Land of No Life, they were all unranked ghouls, barely even at C-rank. Their experience points were negligible, and their rewards were meager, barely enough to fill the gaps in the guild's resources.
Furthermore, Zhongsu Town is Ouli's territory, and only within this small tract of land can they assert their claim to the mission. How can there be any such thing as territory in the Land of No Life? Every time we hear of ghouls appearing somewhere, guilds and vagrants rush in, smelling the fishy smell. But how much of it ends up being eaten by their own members?
Now, after completing their daily quests, the members of the Zhongxu branch rush off to search for clues elsewhere. If it weren't for the guild's salary, many would have quit.
However, these complaints naturally cannot be directed at the head of the town in front of us.
"The mayor is right," Captain Li said with a smile, changing the subject. "The mayor seems to be in a good mood. Could something happy have happened to him?"
Heng Batong smiled, sipped his tea, and said nothing.
The butler's report at dinner time came to mind: "It's been a long day, and except for the gang members who stayed for lunch for Madam's sake, there haven't been any guests at other tables!"
"Not a single table?"
"No! Ding Liang saw it for real!"
With just a few words of conversation, Heng Batong's mood turned from gloomy to cheerful and he is still in a good mood now.
140,000 gold, that shabby restaurant wasn’t sold at a loss!
"Captain Li," Heng Batong put down his teapot and lit a cigar. "I heard you took your gang to the Wing On Hotel this morning to show your support."
Captain Li understood and said with a smile, "Madam is the one who came out to calm the situation, so of course Gang Leader Tang and I have to give her enough respect."
"That's right, but women—" Heng Batong paused, "If you show any more affection to my wife, I'll be unhappy. This won't happen again, understand?"
"I wouldn't dare. The mayor has been wrongly accused," Captain Li said. "Don't worry, mayor. I will definitely convey your wishes to you."
Heng Batong was finally satisfied. He stood up, chewing on a cigar, and straightened his robe. "Alright, if the matter of the ghoul wasn't urgent, I wouldn't bother Captain Li with making this trip so late at night. I don't have the peace and freedom that Captain Li has, and I'm alone. I have to hurry and accompany my wife."
Captain Li's eyes darkened.
After walking out of the mayor's house, he checked the team's news.
The bidding time is tomorrow morning. It seems that I won’t be able to get the mysterious address where I can find the mission clue tonight.
[Dawn Darkness: Terminate surveillance of the Yongan Hotel. All members are prohibited from dining at the hotel.]
[Herring: Minister, why is that? Anrou is the mayor's man?]
If that's the case, they should take better care of the restaurant business. Ordinary people can't afford to eat pickled fish that costs hundreds of gold, but they, the players, can still afford it.
[Dawn Darkness: On the contrary, Hengbatong hates to see a restaurant doing well. If he sees someone eating in the restaurant, he will stop them.]
[Herring: ...Okay, got it!]
【Dry Water: Received.】
Other online members then responded in the team channel.
Captain Li was about to put away the light screen when Herring sent a separate message.
Herring: Minister, are you not monitoring the restaurant anymore? Where's that NPC?
Captain Li knew he was referring to An Rou. He pondered for a moment and slowly exhaled.
Perhaps, the two members' disqualifications and the ghoul hidden in the hair salon were really just coincidences for An Rou. After all, none of the information she had found pointed to her.
[Dawn Darkness: I won't monitor anything. I'll be participating in the online auction tomorrow and will be online later.]
If there really is a place where you can repeatedly wait for clues, this is the most important thing at the moment - for the game.
The mayor’s teasing words are still fresh in my mind, “I am a lonely man.”
Captain Li put away the light screen and used his mobility skill to fly back to the Ouli Club. The club was a converted hotel with hundreds of bedrooms, all of which were densely packed with bunk beds, specifically used to accommodate offline members.
Captain Li’s private room is the cleanest. It is a suite with only one bed in the bedroom.
Five minutes later, he opened his eyes in the holographic cabin.
After nearly 20 hours of soaking in the neural sensor, my skin was already wrinkled. Fortunately, the holographic cabin had a constant temperature function, so it was not too cold.
Captain Li pushed open the hatch, put his feet on the ground and adjusted himself for a moment before heading towards the shower room. As he passed the door, he paused.
The door was slightly open.
He opened it carefully, and a small figure fell to the ground. He was caught in time by his arms and carefully placed on the ground. He went to the bathroom to get a dry towel, wrapped his son in it, and carried him to bed.
The dancing light just hit the little face, quiet and peaceful, like a sleeping little angel.
Captain Li stared at it for a moment, then turned to look out the window. In the distance, flames shot up into the sky; a building had been set ablaze for some unknown reason. If it weren't for the custom-made soundproof glass, the roar of the fire truck would have been heard long ago.
He finally sighed, his eyes returning to his son's sleeping face.
With a damp hand, she touched her son's hair and whispered, "Happy birthday."
-
The next morning, An Rou went to the bun shop to comfort the frightened An Younian, telling him not to be afraid of the ghouls and to just focus on selling buns. Then she went to the hair salon and found Qiao Jie sleeping on a hard wooden sofa. After a brief comfort, she gave her five thousand gold coins to repair the salon's exterior wall.
Building a house out of nothing is very expensive, but the actual cost of buying materials and labor is just a gap, and five thousand gold is enough.
"Boss An, have you seen my cousin?" Qiaojie asked worriedly.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, I took Sister Hong to the farm to help out, and she'll be back in two days." An Rou said, "Sister Qiao, the hair salon is closed today. Find someone to repair the wall and help the bun shop hire a worker. You decide the wages, but the person must be honest and hardworking."
“…Okay, okay.” Qiaojie agreed.
An Rou drove to Yong'an Hotel.
As soon as I entered, the shopkeeper Jin came up to me cheerfully and said, "Boss, our restaurant opened yesterday with great success. We took in 15,320 gold in total. After deducting costs, we made a profit of about 5,000 gold!"
Then his face fell, and he was worried. "However, yesterday, it was mainly because of the two gangs that spent the most. Apart from them, there was only one table of customers... Boss, if no one comes to eat today, then we will lose money..."
"I'm not in a hurry, why are you in a hurry?" An Rou said with a smile, "Don't worry, business will only get better in the future."
"Better...better?" Shopkeeper Jin was full of doubt, but when he thought about how the boss inexplicably sold three large portions of pickled fish to two customers last night, he felt that the boss's words were naturally reliable.
But he couldn't figure out how to revive the business of a restaurant that had a bad reputation and exorbitant prices.
Shopkeeper Jin stood behind the counter, anxiously waiting until noon. Unable to bear it any longer, he walked to the front door and took a look. Every other restaurant had already packed up, but his own was completely deserted, with not even a fly in.
What should I do? !
The boss said he didn't get enough sleep that night and went to sleep in the private room upstairs. He didn't dare to disturb him.
Shopkeeper Jin stamped his feet and just as he turned around, he heard a loud shout from outside.
"Pickled fish! Pickled fish! The best pickled fish in Soul Realm! Take a look, taste it, it's specially made for those with destiny!"
Shopkeeper Jin was startled and turned his head to look, only to see a tall young man standing outside the gate. The sunlight shining on his body made his silver-white armor extremely dazzling.
The one with destiny?
Was he seeing things right? Was this Chosen One trying to drum up business for his family?!
Shopkeeper Jin rubbed his eyes, only to see the young man turn around, smile at him, then raise the big paper loudspeaker again and continue shouting.
"Sour fish! Super delicious sauerkraut fish!"
Shopkeeper Jin felt the man looked familiar, vaguely resembling his boss's secretary. But a closer look revealed a different impression. That secretary was supposed to be fair-skinned, with well-proportioned features. The man before him had dark skin, thick eyebrows, and a large mole on the side of his nose. He might have looked passable among ordinary people, but compared to the other Chosen Ones, he was unattractive.
Shopkeeper Jin subconsciously smoothed the hair around the black mole on the side of his nose.
Hey, what a coincidence. This was the first time he saw a Chosen One with the same mole as himself.
But what exactly happened to this destined person?
Shopkeeper Jin was puzzled and hurried upstairs.
There was a rocking chair in the private room, padded with snow-white, fluffy fox fur. An Rou sat comfortably on it, rocking slowly and taking a nap. Closing her eyes, the faint smell of pickled cabbage lingered in the air, and she felt as if she were back in her childhood, sitting on the swing in her grandmother's yard, carefree and carefree.
"When your father comes back from fishing, grandma will make delicious pickled fish for Rourou." Grandma smiled at her as she took pickled cabbage from the tank.
So when she was interrupted by Manager Jin knocking on the door, she glanced at him with some displeasure.
"Boss, there's a man downstairs named Mr. Destiny..."
"I heard that." An Rou calmed down and smiled. "I ran into him this morning and I just mentioned that the store's business was not doing well, and he offered to help promote it. It would be great if all the Chosen Ones were as enthusiastic and kind-hearted as him, don't you think?"
Shopkeeper Jin opened his mouth but was speechless.
The Chosen One...is passionate and kind?
I don’t know about others, but he has never heard of this in his life.
"You go out and do your work. Business is so bad. I'm trying to find a way to leave me alone." An Rou said this lightly, without any sincerity.
Shopkeeper Jin didn't dare to question it, and went out while saying "Oh" repeatedly.
His usually sharp mind had never been so confused before. The boss said that business would definitely improve, and then said that business was not good and he was looking for a solution. Could it be that the destined person at the door was not the boss's "solution"?
After running around and shouting for a while, there was no one on the street, not even the Oli players that the boss said might be watching. However, many passers-by stopped to watch.
They were in awe of the identity of the Chosen One and did not dare to get too close, whispering to each other from a distance.
Paopao shouted even louder, and even the waiters in the restaurant rushed to the window, looked in, and were completely confused.
Finally, a player passing by the intersection noticed this place and turned over.
"Dude, what are you doing?"
An Rou heard the sound and quietly looked down from the second-floor window. She squinted her eyes to see the ID above the player's head: [Deer Antlers].
I didn’t see the specific level clearly, I only saw the word “Silver”.
Lu Jiao looked Paopao up and down and said cheerfully, "Big Brother, you've ended up working in a restaurant, haven't you?"
"You know shit!" Paopao lowered his voice, "I'm here to complete a mission!"
"You better take a break. Everyone does quests and searches for clues in secret. Why are you being so blatant, as if you're afraid others won't know?" Lu Jiao was clearly unconvinced. "It's true that Zhongsu Town just released a quest, but it was already completed yesterday, making us all come here for nothing."
Paopao was stunned.
Did we make this trip in vain?
It turns out that this person is the corpse retriever that Haha was looking for!
A corpse thief meets a corpse rescuer. What a wonderful fate!
Paopao glanced upstairs casually, and Anrou nodded to him.
He was troubled, looked at the antlers several times, and asked, "How many people are there in total?"
Lu Jiao also looked at him suspiciously: "Why are you asking this? Dude, you are not from the guild, right?"
"No, no, don't take it personally." Paopao's ID flashed above his head. "Three bars, bronze."
A flicker of disdain flashed in Lujiao's eyes, but he patted Paopao's shoulder with a familiar hand. "Your level's a little low, buddy. Have you formed a team yet? If not, you might want to consider joining mine. If you can't find a quest on the guild's turf, they've already swept the town clean. Take yesterday, for example, those two stray dogs who got lucky and dug up a clue, but what happened in the end?"
Lu Jiao tutted his words and said, "You are just making things easier for others. You were killed by Ou Li behind the scenes."
"Yesterday? Oli?"
"You don't know, do you? We're corpse-recoverers. We took a job last night, and when we got there, we saw it was full of Oli players. We didn't get the bodies, and we wasted the money we spent on the transfer. It's obvious that those two found the clues and were targeted by Oli. So, money is hard to make, but shit is hard to eat. It's better to be a corpse-recoverer than to be in the guild's territory."
Paopao's curiosity was piqued: "But didn't you say you didn't succeed?"
"If you can't find any bodies this time, you can probably find some next time. It's not like every area is under such close guild scrutiny like Area 8. For example, Areas 10 and 11 of the Gal Guild, and Area 12, the headquarters of smaller guilds, are plenty of places to salvage bodies. We're short on people, so if you're interested, take on a few jobs and your level will rise."
If it were the old Paopao, he would have happily agreed if someone offered to join the team. However, after working with the boss for a while and being influenced by him, he had developed some devious thoughts.
When the other party spoke, his eyes would occasionally glance at the armor on his body, and his thoughts were almost written on his face.
This group of corpse retrievers also do the dirty work of killing people and stealing corpses.
But Paopao had a clear self-awareness and didn't think he was any cleaner than the other party. Black eats black, fair play.
He hesitated and said, "But I do have a clue. After I finish this mission, I will join you?"
"Stop talking nonsense..."
The sound of the deer antlers was infinitely prolonged, and in front of him was a light screen in the Paopao visible mode.
[Quest clue: In that forgotten corner, there is a ghost.]
[Related Quest: The Ghouls Wandering in Zhongsu Town (Relevance 10%)]
The font is solid black, indicating that the clue has not yet expired.
Lu Jiao grabbed Paopao's arm and said, "Brother, where did you get the clue? - Hush, don't tell me yet."
He glanced around warily, "What are you looking at? Do you have nothing to do?! Go eat and earn money!"
At his sudden roar, the crowd gathered in the distance hurriedly dispersed. No one dared to offend a destiny-giver. Shopkeeper Jin, who had been leaning against the counter, peering out, quickly crouched behind it upon hearing the noise.
Lujiao then looked at Paopao eagerly, "Brother Three Stripes, you're alone, right? It's risky to do a mission alone, so it's safer to have someone to cooperate with you. Shall we team up?"
This time he showed his sincerity and displayed his ID and level.
Paopao didn't have the skill to see through other people's light screens, so he found out that the other party was actually a silver level. Although it was a low-level silver level, it was still a whole level higher than him.
He hesitated and glanced upstairs inadvertently, but did not see An Rou in the second-floor window.
"Brother, do you think my level is not high enough?" Lu Jiao's face looked a little ugly.
In terms of rank, who could be higher than the boss? Although the boss never revealed his ID, Paopao firmly believed that An Rou was at least a great god!
He calmed down and began to act according to the script: "How dare I, Brother Lu? I'm just afraid that you will look down on me for being low-level..."
"Hey, you're kidding! Which great god didn't start out as nobody?" Lu Jiao patted his shoulder warmly. "Don't worry, if we work together, we'll definitely get this mission done! I won't bully you either, we'll split the work 50-50!"
"But doesn't Brother Lu still have teammates?"
"Well, it's just a small mission, don't take them with you."
How can I not bring it? The boss wants to do something big this time.
Paopao was worried: "It's not that I don't trust Brother Lu, it's just that it's a bit difficult to find the complete clue. To be honest, the clue was leaked by the owner of this restaurant. I pestered her for a long time, but she refused to say more. It took me a long time to come up with this idea to attract business for her."
"What does this have to do with her business?"
"Brother Lu, didn't you read the forums? This restaurant just opened yesterday and they've been getting a lot of flak for being too expensive. Business is terrible. When I went up to look for the owner, she was so worried she'd locked herself in her room and wouldn't come out."
Lujiao looked at the Yong'an Hotel doubtfully, then saw the big-character poster on the wall and couldn't help but gasp.
"300 gold for a single serving of pickled fish?! She must be crazy because she's broke. If her business isn't bad, who's going to be bad?!"
Seeing Paopao scratching his head, Lujiao thought for a moment and said with a smile, "It's not difficult, it's not difficult. Don't we have the two of us here? Look, there's not even a fly in the restaurant. If we just sit in and order two orders of pickled fish, we'll definitely improve the boss's favorability. Wouldn't it be easy to get the clue?"
"Brother, I've already tried it, so the clue correlation has only increased to 10%..."
"...What was the earliest clue?"
"Ghosts are appearing..."
"Damn, spending hundreds of gold only to find a 'forgotten corner'? There are so many corners in such a big town!" Lu Jiao calculated. "The correlation level must be over 50% to find it. If that's the case, we're going to have to spend thousands of gold?!"
Paopao smiled sheepishly: "I'm short of money, so I thought of a way to help attract business."
"What's the favorability level now?"
“60%…”
Lujiao frowned and pondered for a moment, then had to admit that running away seemed the most reliable solution. Different NPCs had different ways of increasing their favorability, and since the restaurant owner was worried about poor business, the solution was, of course, to help attract more customers.
He pointed in front of him.
Paopao knew he was operating the light screen by his movements, so he asked, "Is Luge here?"
"Of course we're going to call people!" Lu Jiao said, "How much business can we attract just the two of us? Let's call the brothers over first!"
Paopao curled his lips secretly.
He just said that he would not bring his brothers to do the mission, but when he encountered difficulties, he thought of his brothers.
There really wasn't any camaraderie among the yakuza. It was safest for the boss to treat them as target customers.
The person was nearby and quickly arrived at the scene with a swift pace. After the two heard Lu Jiao's brief explanation of the situation, their cold gazes turned into burning enthusiasm. They showed their IDs enthusiastically and called him "Paopao" and "brother".
One of them is called Balpi, and the other has a more normal name, Lin Ci. Both are high-level bronze players, only one step away from silver.
"Brother Three-Bar, this business of recovering corpses is the fastest way to gain experience. Eight out of ten orders involve rescuing people from ghouls. Come on, follow us and within two months, I guarantee you'll be promoted to silver."
While Balpi was speaking, Paopao had already accepted Lujiao's invitation and joined this temporary team of wild guests.
Lu Jiao asked, "Brother, are you relieved now? You said the restaurant owner is upstairs. Is that upstairs in the restaurant?"
"Yes, the private room on the left side of the stairs on the second floor."
Before Lujiao could say anything, Balpi had already walked into the restaurant in disbelief. He ignored the shopkeeper Jin who came to greet him, and with a flash of his body, he used his movement skills to rush to the second floor.
The others hurried to follow.
Balpi pushed the door, but it was locked. He called out, "Boss, open the door. I have something to ask you."
"Order downstairs, sit wherever you want." A lazy voice came from inside, and it seemed that they were not going to open the door.
Balpi couldn't stand it any longer and knocked on the door: "Just asking..."
Before he could finish, a notification popped up on the screen.
[Yong'an Restaurant owner's favorability -10%, current favorability 45%, repulsion.]
"Wow, this woman has quite a temper," Balpi said, then raised his voice, "Boss, two large portions of pickled fish, please!"
"Four servings." Lin Ci added calmly, his voice loud.
"I told you to order downstairs!"
The boss's voice sounded a little impatient, but the 5% increase in favorability showed that this was the right path.
Balpi looked at Paopao and asked, "How's your impression level?"
After looking around, Paopao had the highest favorability rating of the four, at 60%. He also mentioned that he bought a second helping of pickled fish, and his favorability rating remained unchanged.
Lin Ci analyzed, "In other words, the boss isn't looking at the average customer spending, but the customer volume."
"But this pickled fish is too expensive!" Balpi said. "Look at the attitude of the owner. What high-end restaurant would have such poor service? No wonder business is so bad and they're getting scolded!"
"Okay, stop talking nonsense."
Lujiao stopped Balpi from cursing and said, "In my opinion, Brother Three Stripes' method is the most reliable. It will help the restaurant attract customers and improve the boss's favorability. Ah Ci, what do you have in mind?"
Although Lin Ci wasn't the highest-ranking member of the team, he served as its think tank. He walked to the window, looking at the sparse crowds on Wangliu Third Street, pondering for a moment.
"Two steps. First, find a way to divert people to Wangliu Third Street. Second, find a way to divert people to the store."
"Both of your steps are not easy!" said Balpi.
Lin Ci shook his head: "The first step is not difficult, as long as you are willing to sacrifice your face. The difficult part is the second step. Pickled fish is so expensive, how can anyone be willing to pay for it?"
"What if..." Paopao said weakly, "What if the mission clues are revealed?"
"What a joke! We finally got a clue, and you're giving it away?!" Balpi cursed. "If you don't want to do this, get out of here and stop giving us bad advice!"
Lujiao also frowned, agreeing with Balpi's point of view.
The attitudes of the two men once again confirmed Paopao's guess: they didn't consider themselves as their own people at all. They were afraid that once they got the complete clues of the mission, they would stab them in the back, so that they could take the mission for themselves and make a fortune from the corpses.
However, Lin Ci suddenly said, "No, it's not necessarily a bad idea. As long as it's done properly, it's a quick and effective solution!"
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