Inside the Glory Guild, quite a few players were unhappy.
“Guild leader, we usually team up to fight monsters and level up, and every copper coin we get from drops has already been handed over to the workshop.
We also clock in 8 hours a day for our shifts, and the rest of the time belongs to us.
I love playing this game, but I’m not about to work overtime for free in-game!
I can’t pay this money.”
When one person dared to speak up, countless others followed.
With no other choice, Wang Rongxun gritted his teeth and said, “Then we’ll crowdfund it. It’s just that I’m short on funds right now. I’ll give you all a rebate in a few days, also 5%—hand over 100 gold coins, get 5% back. Hurry.”
This time, the crowd wasn’t as opposed.
Soon, 5,000 gold coins were exchanged and traded to Chu Fu for 20 sets of equipment.
After the trade was done, Xie Lin pulled out his loudspeaker again and started recruiting people.
He wasn’t really recruiting—he was just hawking equipment.
Wang Rongxun had no choice but to crowdfund another 2,000 gold coins.
This time, he didn’t go buy the equipment himself. Instead, he sent several trusted non-core players to purchase all the equipment from Shen Chi and Xie Lin in batches.
Xie Lin normally never spent money, but his income was steady. He had 400 gold coins in hand and bought 100 pieces of golden equipment.
Shen Chi, on the other hand, was a big spender—a bottomless pit. Fortunately, he’d gotten money from Wan Huanyu and scraped together 200 gold coins. As for Wan Huanyu’s batch of equipment, they still hadn’t split the profit.
So he exchanged for 50 pieces of golden equipment.
They sold everything at more than triple the markup.
In the end, both batches were fully cleared.
Xie Lin sold 1,500 gold; Shen Chi sold 750 gold.
The three of them didn’t pool their funds together, but having Chu Fu drive up the price to screw Wang Rongxun over was something they’d agreed on beforehand. After all, the quest had been discovered by her, so wasn’t it only fair she earned the most?
Meanwhile, Jiao Jiao and the others who had bought golden equipment planned to bring theirs back and sell them to the players of Fengdu Town.
After all, the players of Fengdu Town had developed well and genuinely had money in hand.
As soon as Jiao Jiao’s group returned to Fengdu Town and let word out that they had golden equipment for sale, players swarmed in like crazy—they were practically rioting to buy.
Jiao Jiao invested 800 gold coins and ended up with 1,500 in her bag.
Suture Saint invested 400 and saw it double to 800.
Shafu Liangu and Zhimengzhe each had 200 gold coins earned recently and poured it all in—now it had doubled.
Wu Yingchun and Little Sister Wu together scraped up 100 gold coins and got 200 back. That money meant at least one more trip to Linjiang City to swap for a full set of golden equipment.
As for Bitter Melon King, he counted the 40 gold coins in his bag and beamed with joy.
Following the big shots meant both raising your strength and making money. This was practically an act of re-creation.
Inside Fenghe Town.
Chu Fu and the others had finished selling the golden equipment and returned to Fengdu Town.
The group gathered at the entrance of the granary and found Shi Dacang.
“I’ve received the carrier pigeon message. You’ve completed the task very quickly. You won’t be short on the rewards you’re owed.”
[System Notice: Famine Year, Phase Two — Complete!]
Soon, everyone received their due rewards.
The original quest item, the Copper-Hide Rhinoceros, transformed into a personal mount, along with a large amount of experience and 800 silver coins.
As for Chu Fu, she triggered a new quest.
Shi Dacang said, “Although the famine has been eased for a month, the goblins are still constantly threatening us, and the townsfolk remain restless.
Who wants to be a plant person? Oh great wood-element awakener, if possible, could you open a shop here in Fengdu Town that exclusively sells spirit rice? That way, the food supply for the whole town is guaranteed.
However, opening a shop requires a 1,000-gold-coin deposit, so, you see…”
Shi Dacang looked quite embarrassed.
He was the one asking for a favor, yet he was also demanding that Chu Fu pay.
But Chu Fu was completely overwhelmed by surprise.
So this was where you got the quest to buy a shop?
Shops in town weren’t something players could just buy whenever they wanted. Not only did they require reputation, they also needed town contribution points and good favor with the residents.
So it wasn’t like whoever rushed to the city or town first could just buy one from an NPC. Even Chu Feng hadn’t managed to get an advantage that way.
This required a large number of exploration quests, and the reward would only show up later in the quest chain. In the early stages, you had no way of knowing what the end result would be.
[System Notice: Do you accept the epic quest: Famine Year (Final Phase)?
Quest Issuer: Shi Dacang.
Quest Content: You have escorted food to the surrounding towns and cities, temporarily easing the famine crisis, but the townsfolk remain anxious.
Open a shop to sell spirit rice and provide security for the townspeople.
However, opening the shop requires a 1,000-gold-coin deposit to purchase the storefront.
Yes / No.
Quest Completion Reward: Large amount of experience, Fengdu Town Shop Purchase Certificate.
Quest Failure Penalty: None.]
“Accept!”
“Master Shi, here are 1,000 gold coins. Consider this shop mine!”
[System Notice: Quest Complete!]
[System Notice: You have obtained the Fengdu Town Shop Purchase Certificate. Click on the certificate to select the shop address you wish to purchase—it will be finalized immediately.]
“Wait, what?! The quest rewards a shop?”
Jiao Jiao was the first to jump up.
She immediately asked the guild members who had been helping her buy rice—how many catties had they collected?
She wanted to turn in her quest and buy a shop too.
This time, Jiao Jiao would never again say the quest was just a money sink.
And Chu Fu happily used her shop purchase certificate.
For the location, without hesitation, she chose one right next to the central plaza.
The town’s teleportation array was broken right now, but once the siege war ended, it would be repaired and reconnected with Linjiang City.
And a shop right next to the teleportation array—that was prime real estate beside a train station.
The price would skyrocket. By then, even 100,000 gold coins wouldn’t be enough to grab it.
And right as Chu Fu was buying the shop and thinking about how to run it, and what to sell…
…
In the real world.
At midnight.
A breaking piece of news was published across all mainstream media in China.
“Regarding the issue that the game ‘Primal Gate’ contains supernatural energy interfering with reality, the official authorities have now effectively taken control of the situation. Please do not panic, all residents.
Starting today, all citizens over the age of 6 must play the game for 8 hours per day.
This rule is mandatory.
Community and grassroots organizations will strictly enforce the minimum playtime requirement.
The government will subsidize 1,000 RMB and distribute gaming helmets free of charge. In-game characters with an S-tier talent automatically qualify for official government benefits.
Players above level 30 are required to register with the relevant authorities.
Violators will be treated as criminals.”
The whole internet exploded.
So now, not gaming was a crime?
Most importantly, the fact that power from the game could be brought into the real world could no longer be hidden.
