Chapter 75
When Bajie arrived at the place, the outside of the Yong'an Hotel was already packed with people, and the entire intersection was bustling with people, blocked by players.
At the entrance of the store, a waiter was calling out, "Numbers are being released! Numbers are being released! Please take your numbers in order and have your meal!"
The noise of the crowd suddenly reached a new level, and everyone rushed to squeeze in.
Queue? Nonexistent.
Since everyone was there for a mission, no one would leave empty-handed from the moment they sat down, from opening to closing. Before setting off, Bajie had already scoured the forums for relevant posts, preparing a thorough strategy.
With a thought, he activated his movement skill and moved through the crowd like a fish.
Bajie's mobility skill wasn't the "Gas Step," the most common in Lengbing City, but a surprising bonus gained during a minor quest: "Wind Through the Forest." When fully activated, it wasn't even half as fast as Gas Step, but it was a great advantage in finding gaps in a dense crowd, allowing him to maneuver through them.
After a while, he came to the store door from the outside.
He was delighted and was about to step over the threshold when he was stopped by a two-meter-tall strong man.
Ah Hu: "The store is full, there's a queue." Even when facing the destined one, he remained serious.
Bajie was anxious: "I bought a lot, eight copies!"
Ah Hu: "Big portion or small portion."
Bajie glanced at the big-character poster on the wall and gritted his teeth: "Big portion!"
Ah Hu turned around and said, "Boss Jin, eight large portions of pickled fish, takeout."
Bajie thought he could get in and was about to beam with joy, but he was taken aback when he heard the words: "Takeout... takeout?"
Ah Hu: "You're alone, and you're ordering eight servings, but you're not taking them out?"
"I want to bring it to my brothers, but..."
Before Bajie could finish his words, his gaze paused and stopped in front of him.
[Yong'an Hotel waiter Ah Hu's favorability increased by 20%, currently at 70%, friendly.]
What does this mean? I didn't mention my favorability when I ordered it, but I told them I was bringing it to my friends. And suddenly my favorability went up? Could it be that the notification on the light screen is delayed?
While he was puzzled, Bajie was pushed aside by Ah Hu's big hand: "Wait here. Other customers, please clearly indicate whether you want to take out when you get your number."
Takeout was out of the question, and there weren't any players like Bajie who bought eight portions. In the end, Bajie was left carrying a bunch of makeshift food containers, one hanging around his neck, looking bewildered and wanting to cry.
Borrowing eight times, eight times, the reason why he changed his ID to this one is just because of one word: poor.
He made eight friends in the game, and whenever he needed money, he would borrow from all eight of them one by one, and he would always be able to borrow money. For example, this time, he borrowed from everyone again to get together 3,000 gold, which he used as "operation funds."
I bought eight servings of pickled fish and my pockets were empty.
No... he hasn't bought his own share yet!
In a daze, Babei was pushed out of the periphery by the players. With a sad face, he put the pickled fish into the life prop column.
It seems like this trip was in vain. Let me take these pickled fish back to my brothers and consider them as interest...
He was thinking absentmindedly, turned around, and saw a beautiful cheongsam woman walking towards him. The moment they passed each other, he heard the other person muttering something in a low voice.
"I wanted to go to Xiangji to buy some tobiko rice balls, but I forgot they were closed a long time ago. But why are there still people living there..."
[Quest Clue: The Mysterious Guest at Xiangji Snack Shop]
[Related Quest: The Ghoul Hiding in Zhongsu Town]
Bajie stared at the mission clues on the screen with wide eyes for a long time. After reacting, he turned around in panic to look for someone, but among the dense crowd of people, there was no trace of the cheongsam woman.
Fifteen minutes later, Bajie finally found Xiangji Snack Shop in the northwest of Zhongsu Town. Half of the signboard was missing, so it must have been vacant for a long time.
A bucket of cold water doused his excitement—five players arrived at the same time from all around him.
What's going on? Besides him, is there someone else who got the mission clue?!
An hour later, a huge explosion was heard in Xiangji Snack Shop, and a huge fleshy flower broke through the four walls. A circle of stamens was densely packed, and each one was a pale, wriggling human hand.
A shrill scream was heard in the center of the flower, and blood splattered.
The townspeople nearby were alarmed, not even bothering to put on their shoes as they fled their homes, screaming and disappearing into the night. The Ouli players scattered throughout the town noticed the commotion and rushed over from all directions.
When Ku Shui led the team to the scene, Rouhua had already disappeared. Bajie and two other players were walking out of the ruins. Even with their faces covered in blood, their happy expressions could not be concealed.
Six players arrived at the same time, and after a stalemate, they decided to form a makeshift team. They had originally thought that with only one ghoul in the snack bar, the mission reward wouldn't be enough to split among six people. Unexpectedly, one of them was unlucky and was split apart by the ghoul.
Two others were equally unlucky and died during the mission. In the end, Yajie and two other players shared the two ghoul rewards.
They were all relatively low level, so the three of them split the spoils, which was a pretty good haul. Eight Jie got 5,000 gold, a red weapon that had exploded, and a small level increase.
Delicious.
As for the two teammates who had died temporarily, who cares? They were buried in the rubble, and no one wanted to waste time digging. Without even a second thought, the three of them automatically disbanded the team, not worried about the other party chasing them later.
Unexpectedly, as soon as I walked out of the ruins, I was surrounded by Oli.
Ku Shui crossed his arms across his chest and squinted his eyes. "You're lucky! What rewards did you get?"
I feel very sad.
Over the past few days, the Yong'an Hotel has revealed several quest leads, and some members of the Su branch have participated in these quests and tasted success. However, Ku Shui, due to his earlier offense against the Yong'an Hotel, was personally banned from entering the hotel by the director, and has been unable to participate in any quests since then.
Bajie became nervous: "What do you want to do? Can the guild rob you?"
Ku Shui didn't bother to waste time talking to them. With a wave of his hand, the members of Ouli rushed forward. The three of Bajie had just finished their mission, and their attributes were at a low level. They were completely unable to resist.
Fortunately, at this moment, a voice sounded.
"Ku Shui, stop!"
All the members of Orli froze, retreated like a tide, and put away their weapons.
"Minister." Ku Shui lowered his head to hide his resentment.
Captain Li glanced at him coldly, then walked up to Bajie and smiled gently. "Don't get me wrong, Zhongsu Town welcomes all players to complete quests. However, since the quests are discovered on Ouli's territory, I hope you can proactively provide the quest details after completing them. It's a small request, isn't it?"
Bajie: "After completing the mission?"
Everyone knows that once the mission is over, the clues and details become invalid data.
Captain Li nodded: "That's right."
Bajie exchanged glances with his two temporary teammates and shared the light screen with doubt.
Herring walked up quickly and wrote down the details of the task.
"Then..." Bajie hesitated, "Can we leave now?"
Captain Li saw his worry and turned to Herring, saying, "Inform all members of the Zhongsu branch that you are not allowed to prevent players from outside from completing missions, and you are not allowed to bully the weak with your numbers or take advantage of the situation to rob them."
Herring: “I’ve been notified.”
Only then did Bajie feel relieved. He and his temporary teammates used their mobility skills to hurriedly leave and headed straight for the teleportation array in the town square.
The three disappeared into the night, and Captain Li walked towards Ku Shui. "From today on, Ku Shui will be stripped of his captain position and demoted to an ordinary member. As for which team is willing to accept you, go ask the other captains yourself."
Ku Shui's reluctance finally turned into fear: "Minister..."
He was banned from the Wing On Hotel, and word had spread throughout the branch that the owner had a very low opinion of him. Even his own teammates secretly disliked him as a burden, so what team would want him?
Losing his captaincy was not only embarrassing, but no team would accept him. Even if he went on missions elsewhere, he would be alone, which was much more risky. When it came to individual combat, guild members couldn't compare to a lone wolf.
My gaming career may be over.
But Captain Li didn't give him any room to maneuver and walked straight into the ruins with Herring.
Herring: "Bullmaster, the scene has been checked. There are no traces of ghouls or player corpses. Those three wild guests must have taken care of it."
Captain Li nodded and said, "Post the mission details on the forum."
After a few days, the positive cycle of Zhongsu Town transforming into a high-frequency mission area has begun.
-
From 5pm to 11pm, Dundun couldn't get into the restaurant. He sat on the steps outside the restaurant, watching the players walk out the door one by one, leaving empty-handed, and sighing in despair.
Dundun curled his lips in disdain.
Among these people, there might be a few who have obtained clues but are pretending to do so, waiting until the dead of night to complete the task, for fear of being snatched away by others.
There is a very popular post in the game forum. Everyone speculates that it was posted by the Zhongsu branch of the Oli Guild. It updates outdated task details from time to time, and most of the updates are in the middle of the night.
Apparently, those who had obtained the clues chose to complete the quest at night when there were fewer people around. This caused many players who had come to Zhongsu Town to try their luck to stay in the streets and alleys instead of staying in hotels.
I didn't plan to leave, so I sat there until the restaurant closed before getting up, planning to wander around and try my luck. If I could actually run into someone doing a quest, I could drink some soup and get some experience.
He patted his butt, and unexpectedly, a piece of paper came out from under his butt.
——“Gentleman’s Barber Shop grandly opens, welcome to patronize.”
After looking at it for a while, I remembered that this was a flyer that an NPC had handed out at the restaurant entrance during the day. Everyone thought it was an advertisement to capitalize on the popularity of the flyer, so they took it and used it as a cushion.
Now when people leave, the ground outside the restaurant is littered with discarded flyers.
Dun Dun was just about to throw the flyer down when he heard a noise nearby. It was the hotel staff who had finished cleaning up and came out to lock the door.
Dun Dun recognized him, and the waiters in the restaurant all called him Manager Jin.
Shopkeeper Jin also looked over and said, "Ouch!" "Master Tianmingzhe, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting all night. How about coming earlier tomorrow? Oh, yes, this barber shop is also owned by our boss. If you're tired, you can go there to get a haircut and a massage. It's so comfortable!"
Dundun thought for a moment: "What did you say? Your boss opened it?"
"Of course not. How about we let it distribute the flyers at the door of our store?" said the shopkeeper Jin.
A quarter of an hour later, Dundun arrived at the entrance of the smoke-free alley.
In the past, Wuyan Alley would have been deserted in the early morning hours. As more people with destiny stayed in the town during this time, the astute shopkeepers, concerned about the town's security, quietly extended their business hours.
Just like now, there are many people wandering in the alley, and the lights are on in the pastry shop, the bun shop and several small shops.
Not far from the alley entrance, there's a rotating light in a hair salon. Its black and white stripes, amidst the colorful neon lights, create a uniquely cool and austere atmosphere, just like its name—Gentleman.
It looks like it’s not closed yet.
Dundun lifted the black beaded curtain and walked in. A woman with a slender waist and a delicate face came forward with a smile. She was wearing a bright red cheongsam with a slit up to her thighs, revealing a line of white.
"Would you like a haircut, sir?"
Dundun withdrew his gaze from her legs: "You and Yong'an Hotel have the same owner?"
Her brows curled up in a smile. "The boss doesn't like people prying into his privacy. A haircut is 200 gold, and a massage is 400 gold. Which one would you like, sir?"
hiss--
Dundun gasped, "It's too expensive!" But he soon realized that unusually high prices were just the style of the Wing On Hotel.
It seems that this is indeed a boss. Next, let's see if this store can reveal some clues to the mission.
"Haircut and massage, come on!" Dun Dun said domineeringly.
Isn't it just the price of two pickled fish? I bet! Besides, the hairdresser is so pretty, it's worth it!
He followed Meihong through the entrance and into the shop, his eyes widening instantly. Inside, four players enjoying massages from an NPC shampooing girl all turned their heads to look at him.
Their eyes met, and there was a flash of lightning.
Dun Dun just wants to take pictures of thighs.
He thought he was the one who was perceptive, but it turns out he was the one who realized it later!
That night, details of another failed task were posted on the forum's hot thread.
The next day, before the barbershop even opened, a large crowd of gentlemen arrived at the entrance, eager to inquire. They waited from morning until noon, but the barbershop still wasn't open, while the Wing On Restaurant was open for dining. They had no choice but to choose between the two. A group left, but dozens more remained.
It was not until two o'clock in the afternoon that Meihong appeared leisurely with the shampoo girls and posted a price list on the glass door.
【Our shop specializes in men’s hair services】
【Haircut 400 gold】
【Reconstruction 400 gold】
【Massage 800 gold】
[Limited time opening offer: 20% off on all orders (only for customers with destiny)]
The players were in an uproar.
"Isn't it starting at 200 gold? How come the price doubled overnight?"
"You're just raising the price, huh? That's ruthless, even more ruthless than Yong'an!"
Meihong smiled charmingly, "Gentlemen, I'm so sorry, but there are too many customers and our shop can't handle it, so we have to resort to this last resort. But please rest assured, gentlemen, our shop focuses on service and it is definitely worth the money."
"You still have the nerve to talk about service? You don't open until 2 a.m., and you've made so many of us wait for ages. How can you say service is that?!" One player couldn't take it any longer. "Look at it yourself. There are so many of us, and you only have four shampoo girls. How long will it take us to get a first place? You have a tiny shop, and there's not even a place to sit!"
It would be fine to spend money to dig for clues, but the problem is that even if you have your wallet ready, it is not your turn to spend it, so players are bound to feel resentful.
Even the shopkeeper Jin at the Wing On Hotel was putting on a fake smile, but the manager of the shabby barber shop in front of him had an obviously fake smile on his pretty face, which was really annoying.
What was rare was that Meihong's smile didn't change at all after hearing the unfriendly accusations, and her favorability didn't even change.
She smiled and said, "Gentlemen, if you're tired of waiting, you might as well take your number and go to the Hongyun Baths to rest. I'll send someone to fetch you when it's your turn. The baths are very close. Turn right after exiting the alley and it's about 200 meters away."
After saying that, he ignored them, walked into the store, and directed the shampoo girls to get busy.
"Red Luck Bathhouse? What does she mean? Is this a clue?"
"It shouldn't be. I didn't receive any system notification."
"That name sounds familiar to me... Do you think the bathhouse has the same owner?"
"Of course! NPCs are so greedy for money, they wouldn't push their business away unless they wanted to keep the money within their family. I'd rather see them go bankrupt!"
Some players were talking about this, and one of them turned around and said, "Hey! Damn it, these bastards are running too fast!"
Half of the people behind were gone.
"Boss! Get me a number!"
"I'm not the boss." Meihong walked to the door, a piece of paper in one hand and a pen in the other. "My last name is Mei, and I'm the manager of the barber shop."
When Lan Xiang and the technician got their numbers and rushed to Hongyun Bathhouse, there were already quite a few people gathered at the front desk.
"What the hell?! Just taking a bath costs 500 gold?!"
The receptionist was a gray-haired old woman. Despite her age, every wrinkle on her face was filled with shrewdness. She was somewhat similar to Ah Hu, only caring about money and not about people, even if the people in front of her were all destined to be rich.
Some players have already found out that this old NPC is called "Xiang Sao".
Mrs. Xiang said with a straight face, "Each bath ticket includes a single serving of pickled fish. It's all from the Yong'an Restaurant. You can eat it without queuing, and the price is very fair!"
"Sour fish from Yong'an Restaurant? You're not going to give me that, are you, an old woman?"
One player finished speaking, and was pulled on the arm by his companion. Fortunately, the NPC's favorability didn't drop. Sister Xiang had been hanging around in places like bathhouses for half her life, and had heard all kinds of unpleasant things. Her mental state was very good.
Lan Xiang and the technician exchanged a glance and squeezed in: "Two, give us two bath tickets!"
Someone takes the lead, and everyone else follows, scrambling to pay.
Lan Xiang and the technician were the first to get the bathing tickets and rushed into the men's area. They thought they were the first to arrive, but unexpectedly, there was already one person bathing in the big pool.
A man with long hair, his body soaked in hot water, his hair tied up on top of his head with a hairpin, he is obviously a player.
The NPCs in the game don't dress like this.
The man was humming a song leisurely, but when he saw someone coming in, he seemed to be startled and was about to walk out of the hot spring with his naked butt.
Lan Xiang and his brother exchanged a glance, then tacitly stopped each other, displaying their IDs above their heads. "Brother, you're not a grown-up girl, why are you so anxious to hide? My name is Lan Xiang, and my buddy's name is Technician. We're both Silver, so what should we call each other?"
Paopao looked flustered and reluctantly showed his ID: "Five... five bars..."
"Hey, high bronze, that's not a low level!" Lan Xiang patted his shoulder, but used a threatening tone, "Brother Wudao Bar, did you find a clue?"
That night, a dilapidated house in the east of the town was reduced to ruins by the astonishing destructive power, and another mission detail was uploaded to the hot post.
Soon, the fish-eating business was online for half a month.
The three businesses under An Rou, namely, Wing On Hotel, Gentleman's Barber Shop and Hongyun Bathhouse, are becoming more and more prosperous, but the employees in the stores have fewer and fewer opportunities to see the boss.
An Rou stays on the farm most of the time.
She was very busy, running around to deal with each specific fish-eating business, and she had to bear the burden of training new employees alone. The corpses on the farm came quickly, and they were gone just as quickly to create disposable consumables.
At the same time, Anrou also needs to monitor every business throughout the entire process.
She establishes a conscious connection with each new employee, allowing her to fully engage with them. This requires rapidly analyzing the situation and the composition of the players involved, guiding their behavior to avoid any flaws, and developing contingency strategies when necessary, all of which is incredibly demanding.
The two ghost mothers, Wang Da and Zhang Da, have no pressure in playing the roles of players with their dialect accents, but as new employees, mistakes are inevitable from time to time.
Players who witness the mistakes must be dealt with as quickly as possible - not simply killed, but either their souls are devoured or they are transformed into new ghouls, making them disqualified from the game and unable to enter the game forum.
This is not the most difficult part. The most difficult part is encountering high-level players above the gold level during the mission.
As time went on, the frequency of high-level players appearing in Zhongsu Town increased. Just like now, An Rou saw the ID level of a player through Zhang Da's eyes and decisively ordered Zhang Da to retreat.
"Don't be greedy, you can't eat him. Ignore the men, tell Paopao to leave immediately. Remember, don't let the Chosen One notice anything."
After half a month of feeding, Zhang Da had already upgraded to a B-level ghoul, but he hadn't been able to break through to A-level. If Wang Da was in his place, the two ghouls working together might still have a chance of taking down the gold player.
But even if Wang Da was there, An Rou would order it to retreat.
After Wang Da was promoted to an A-level ghoul, he changed drastically. If An Rou hadn't heard his subconscious voice muttering "I'm so hungry, so hungry" when he connected with her consciousness, even she wouldn't have recognized Wang Da as a ghoul.
So much like a person.
An Rou simply left Wang Da at the farm to help differentiate and train new employees. It hadn't been out in a long time, and An Rou fed it much less soul than other ghosts.
She didn't want Wang Da to continue upgrading.
After all, the chances of running into a high-level player were relatively small. Even if she gave up a few consumables and new employees, An Rou's fish-eating business had made her a tidy profit in just two weeks.
Not to mention the gold coins and props, the big vat in the farm's sauerkraut shed is almost half filled with player corpses.
After confirming that Zhang Dahe Paopao had successfully escaped from the scene, An Rou cut off the connection and went from the bungalow to the sauerkraut shed.
The face of a wealthy man floated at my feet, following me all the time.
Two bone blades pierced through the ground and pointed at two pickle jars.
Two players were revived.
An Rou squatted down and touched Bao Fu's pale forehead: "Bao Bao, why don't you eat?"
Previously, Paopao said that Baofu didn't want to eat souls, but Anrou didn't see it with her own eyes, so she didn't take it seriously. But in the past half month, she saw clearly that Baofu really didn't want to eat.
Even if it differentiates into a new ghoul and enters a short period of weakness, it refuses to devour souls to replenish its energy.
The most delicious player soul is right in front of you, why not eat it? Sudden wealth is a ghoul!
An Rou offered a few gentle words of advice, as usual. The rich man's bone knife hovered outside the pickle jar, refusing to plunge in. Within those enormous eyes, the small pupils moved slowly, wooden and sluggish.
[…So…cold…]
[…So…hungry…]
The voice that An Rou heard in her consciousness remained the same as always.
An Rou's expression suddenly turned cold. She stood up and looked down at Bao Fu: "I command you, eat!"
The rich man looked over and met her gaze.
Its eye sockets are as big as a pickled fish plate, but its pupils are as small as walnuts. Such a pair of strange eyes looks exaggerated and weird.
But An Rou saw calmness in it—just like Wang Da.
However, Wang Da did not transform wildly. He parasitized the player's body. As his level increased and his knowledge increased, he had this kind of eyes. An Rou could barely understand it.
On the other hand, Baofu...it is a crazy-changing ghoul.
According to the game setting, it is a ghoul with no intelligence and can only kill and devour souls based on instinct.
Suddenly, An Rou seemed to have left her body and calmly reviewed everything that had happened since she became rich.
No, being on the sidelines, she suddenly realized that ever since Bao Fu reached a cooperation with her, or rather, the cooperation itself, it had gone beyond the setting logic of the Crazy Ghoul.
Could it be that... as the level increases, the Berserker Ghoul will also turn into a human?
A terrifying body, wrapped in a... human heart?
At this moment, An Rou was shaken.
Can this plan, which involves turning a wealthy person into a fierce dog with low IQ but super strength and loyalty to its master, really be realized?
"Baobao..." An Rou stared at it and murmured softly, when suddenly a soft sound came into her ears.
An Rou looked in the direction of the sound and saw the rich man's bone knife stabbing into two pickle jars at the same time, and a faint light of soul lit up.
"Baobao, don't do that!" An Rou blurted out to stop him.
But it was too late.
To the SS-level rich, the soul of a bronze player is just like the water in a small teacup, which can be finished in one drink.
Bao Fu's big eyes looked deeply at An Rou, and the huge, frightened face that always accompanied An Rou whenever she returned to the farm slowly sank into the ground.
Disappeared without a trace.
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