Chapter 76 (Update 1)
Late at night, after evacuating from the mission site, Paopao went around to the barber shop and brought Meihong to the farm.
Today is the first of the month, the day to settle last month's dividends. Paopao looks beaming, while Meihong seems much calmer in comparison.
"First, let's settle the accounts for the Gentleman's Barber Shop. It opened in the middle of last month and has been operating for 15 days. Its total sales are 530,000 gold, and after deducting costs, its net profit is 450,000 gold. The dividend rate is 10% - Meihong, this is your 45,000 gold."
An Rou stretched out her hand, placed it on Mei Hong's palm, and passed the money to her.
Meihong smiled and said, "Thank you, boss."
There was only a hint of sincerity in her words. When business was at its peak, Sister Hong's hair salon only made a little over 10,000 yuan a month. Now, the profit had quadrupled in just two weeks, naturally exceeding expectations.
But the other five points... Gentleman's Barber Shop was no longer Sister Hong's hair salon, and Meihong was no longer the Sister Hong who only cared about money. An Rou had promised that if she worked for her, not only would she earn a lot of money, but Meihong would also no longer have to fear any destiny.
any.
An Rou met her gaze and smiled calmly, "This is just the beginning. Meihong, go to Paopao's room and rest first. I'll have Paopao take you back later."
Paopao didn't understand the deeper meaning of Anrou's words. He was only thinking about the dividends that were about to come, his eyes shining.
Meihong's dividend share is 10%, while his is only 5%. It may not sound as high as Meihong's, but his dividend share is wider than Meihong's. Meihong can only get a share of the profits from the barber shop, but he can get a share of the accumulated profits from all three businesses!
With a click, the door closed.
An Rou withdrew her gaze and was about to tell someone about Bao Fu's disappearance, but seeing Paopao's expression, she decided to settle the dividends with him first.
The barber shop had only been reopened for 15 days, and after deducting the dividends given to Meihong, the net profit was about 400,000 gold.
The Red Luck Bathhouse opened a day later than the other, but its net profit doubled to 820,000 gold. Firstly, because they were close together, players who went to the barber shop or the bathhouse would try their luck at both establishments.
Secondly, the Red Luck Bathhouse was no longer open to NPCs, so the women's area was simply converted into twenty small private rooms for players to stay overnight, at an additional cost. Although the accommodation fee was not cheap, the players, hoping to stumble upon a clue, still filled the room every night.
Of course, the most profitable business was the Yong'an Restaurant. Its large, three-story restaurant had a high capacity. Even with a very low turnover rate, it could still accommodate over 300 diners a day. Of these, An Rou, out of respect for Captain Li, had permanently contracted 150 of them to the Ouli Guild.
That means even without any out-of-town players, the restaurant would still have at least 150 diners per day. That sounds like a lot, but consider that the Ouli Zhongsu branch has several thousand members, so each member would only eat there once a week.
As for the remaining dining spots, An Rou had instruct Shopkeeper Jin to secretly count them. Every day, at least 20 to 30 diners were members of the Yinlai Gang. These Yinlai members were often mocked and ridiculed by the Ouli Guild, suggesting that the relationship between the two guilds had long since passed its honeymoon phase.
In short, the Yong'an Hotel made a huge profit of 1.8 million gold in 20 days after its reopening, and after deducting costs, there was 1.5 million gold left.
"Manager Jin hasn't released the detailed accounts yet, so this is the rough figure he gave me. The three stores together have a total of 2.72 million gold. Your dividend is 136,000."
An Rou transferred the money to Paopao.
Paopao was surprised and said, "Isn't it more than 130,000? Why did the boss give me 150,000?"
An Rou smiled and said, "During this period, the pickled cabbage shed has produced a total of 260,000 gold coins and 168 props. According to the old rules, the props will be placed on the farm as an emergency reserve. The total dividend you will receive from the gold coins is 13,000, which adds up to 150,000."
Paopao was overjoyed.
For him, dividends were the bulk of the profits, but not everything. He'd been in and out of the Chiyu business site numerous times. If the work went smoothly and without any problems, An Rou would let him keep all the rewards he earned. That totaled nearly 100,000 gold.
Earn 250,000 gold in less than a month?
I'm sure that even a top player wouldn't be able to earn such a terrifying amount. The total is 1.25 million!
What's a 200,000 yuan a month luxury package for the Holographic Arena? Package, a year-long package!
An Rou smiled at him and said, "Is it enough to meet your financial needs?"
"That's enough!" Paopao narrowed his eyes and smiled, "Thank you, boss!"
“The sudden wealth disappeared.”
"Oh oh... what?!" Paopao shuddered, only to find that the boss's smile had disappeared without a trace. "Brother Baofu?! Where did he go?!"
An Rou frowned, her eyes fell to the ground, and she shook her head slowly: "I don't know, I... can't sense it."
The same emotion transferred from Anrou to Paopao's heart.
Feeling anxious and helpless.
For both of them, SS-rank Fu Fu was the farm's anchor, its ballast. The farm's dozen or so ghouls, along with the wave after wave of expendable temporary workers, were all secure in Fu Fu's presence.
Sudden wealth is the devil at the top of the pyramid.
And now, the sudden wealth has disappeared.
"You've read so many game guides," An Rou asked Paopao thoughtfully, "Can the top-level ghouls change their forms? Not human form, not mutant form, but something else... invisible?"
"Boss, do you suspect that Brother Quickly Gets Rich has been upgraded? Impossible..." Paopao shook his head.
"How do you say that?"
Paopao: "I'm not saying that Brother Baofu can't level up. There's an SSS level above SS. Besides, even if you're SSS, you're not the top ghoul in the game. From what I've read, ghouls only have one chance to change form: when the parasite dies and undergoes a mad metamorphosis. Whatever form you take after the metamorphosis remains the same, and even if you level up later, it won't change fundamentally."
"Just like Brother Baofu, there are two changes when upgrading. One is the initiation of ghost arts, which does not change the appearance. The other is the continuous expansion of the body, but the appearance does not change.
"So, the invisible form that the boss mentioned, although I have never heard of it, I cannot rule out the existence of that kind of ghoul, but it won't be Brother Rich."
Paopao's analysis shattered Anrou's last bit of fantasy.
She hadn't studied strategy guides, didn't understand the game. From the time her sudden wealth disappeared until now, she had always held onto a glimmer of hope: the sudden wealth was still there, it had just become invisible and intangible.
To verify this, An Rou went to the staff dormitory to look for Wang Da. Wang Da and other ghouls looked just like normal, which made An Rou more convinced that her guess was correct.
But Paopao denied it.
Could it be that… was Fu Fu really gone? Just because she forced it to devour her soul?
But it's a ghoul, so what's wrong with doing this?
She had promised from the beginning that from now on, it would never again suffer from hunger or cold, and would never disappear from the world just because of an encounter with a destined one. That was why Bao Fu had reached a cooperation with her.
Isn't devouring souls and constantly upgrading the path the right one?
An Rou felt a sharp pain on her forehead. She couldn't figure out where she had gone wrong.
Paopao suddenly shouted, "I got it!"
He called up the light screen, flipped through the system notifications, and scrolled down the folded historical messages, stopping at one message.
He didn't share the light screen, but An Rou also saw the message and felt something in her heart.
The message was in pure black, unlike the gray above and below, indicating it hadn't expired. The first line after folding it read, "Mission Name: Ghouls Hiding in the Farm."
"How could I be so stupid that I actually forgot about this!" Paopao slapped his forehead. "Every time I go back to the farm and see Wang Da and the others, this mission detail pops up!"
[Mission Name: Ghouls Hiding in the Farm]
[Mission Location: Eastern Suburbs of Zhongsu Town]
[Ghoul Level: SS... (Highest)]
【Number of Ghouls: 21/21】
【Time limit: None】
[Difficulty Rating: SS...]
When Paopao first activated this detail, the game gave the farm a B-level rating. As his level of wealth increased, the quest also upgraded to SS-level, a truly high-level quest. If this quest information were to spread, who knows how many high-level players would be attracted.
It is certain that the entire Ouli Zhongsu branch will form a huge army to encircle and suppress the enemy.
Therefore, every time he cheated people in the fish-eating business, he was always very cautious, for fear that someone would accidentally see this detail.
"Number! Boss, look at the number of ghouls! How many ghouls do we have now?"
"15." An Rou answered calmly.
When she went to find Wang Da before, she counted them and found that there were 13 ghouls in the dormitory. Including Zhang Da who came back with Paopao, there were 14 of them. Adding Baofu, there were exactly 15 of them!
But she didn't get too excited and asked Paopao, "Are you sure only Zhang Da is coming back with you tonight?"
"Absolutely, absolutely! The new employee and the temporary worker are all left to that high-level player!" Paopao excitedly concluded, "Boss, Brother Baofu hasn't left, he's still on the farm!"
An Rou's shoulders slumped, and she felt a sense of genuine relaxation from the inside out.
"But why did it hide and cut off the connection with my consciousness?" After the joy, An Rou's tone revealed a hint of dissatisfaction.
Could it be that I forced it to eat and made it angry? Is it really that serious? Even ghosts are so petty and can't just talk things over nicely?
"Boss, you've wronged Brother Baofu. It didn't cut off voluntarily. It must have been forced. I'm... 80 percent sure!"
"How do you say that?"
Paopao pointed to the mission details and said, "Boss, look, there are three dots after the ghoul level and mission level. I don't know if you noticed, but when we were doing the T21 mission, the mission level increased from SS to SSS. During that short period of time, those three dots also appeared!"
An Rou stared at the two [SS...] for a while: "You mean... the violence is escalating?"
Paopao suppressed his excitement and nodded repeatedly: "That's right, Brother Baofu must have entered a state similar to hibernation. When the hibernation ends, he will be upgraded to an SSS-level ghoul!"
An SSS-level ghoul, along with the farm, becomes an SSS-level mission. Once exposed, it will inevitably attract more top players. But on the other hand, the stronger the combat power of the rich, the more they can protect the farm!
An Rou became more confident.
Paopao paused for a moment, then became puzzled again: "But that's strange. Boss said that Brother Baofu disappeared after eating two souls, which means it was already at the critical point of upgrading. Then why didn't he eat it sooner? It could have entered hibernation a long time ago... Boss?"
He suddenly noticed that tears welled up in the boss's eyes.
An Rou squatted down, gently touched the ground, and whispered, "It refuses to devour souls because it has to enter dormancy after upgrading."
Baobao was worried about her safety.
However, she didn't realize this until now, as she had previously repeatedly wrongly accused it of being capricious and disobedient.
-
"Minister, we've got the mission details, but..." Herring walked into the room, looking hesitant.
Captain Li looked up at him and asked, "Is there anything unusual?"
"The person who obtained the clue and completed the mission this time was Huang Jin, a member of the Dragon Flame Guild."
Even Long Yan is here?
Captain Li thought for a moment and shook his head: "Don't worry about it, just send the details."
Among those who had heard the news, there were many players from the Garl Guild and other small guilds, so the addition of Longyan was nothing surprising. Besides, the Longyan Guild never hindered other guild members from searching for clues and completing quests on their territory. Since he had decided to open the Zhongluo, he had no right to drive them out.
After posting the details on the trending thread, Herring said, "Minister, please log off and rest early. It's already two o'clock today."
Taking into account the time difference, it was already three o'clock in the morning in their hometown.
Thinking of his two already fast asleep children, Captain Li felt a surge of guilt. Since the number of missions in Zhongsu Town increased, he'd been waiting until midnight every day for mission details. It had been ages since he'd said goodnight to his children.
He sighed, still standing by the window, looking at the players walking on the street.
Herring: "Is there something troubling the Minister?"
"Headquarters just contacted me," Captain Li said. "They suspect... there's a ghost mother hiding in Zhongsu Town."
"Ghost mother? How is that possible?"
"Our Zhongsu has suddenly become a high-frequency mission area, so it's normal for them to think this way."
Herring was still puzzled: "Didn't the entire internet know about the special address in Zhongsu Town? Why does headquarters think it's because of the Ghost Mother?"
Captain Li gave a bitter laugh: "It's just an excuse."
Within a month, the Zhongxu branch's mission volume skyrocketed, rapidly rising from the bottom of the rankings to the middle. Either the higher-ups were jealous and wanted to place their cronies on other fat pieces, or... a minister close to the higher-ups had used their connections to seize this territory.
Herring understood everything in just four words, and an angry expression appeared on his face. He quickly calmed down and asked, "Minister, will headquarters send an enforcement team?"
"There is no execution team, only one person." Captain Li said slowly.
"A person?" Herring was startled. "Could it be an old friend?"
An old friend, a super player, ranked third on the Destiny List.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
