Chu Fu planned to spend a few hours every day catching up on information from the outside world.
Otherwise, she felt as though she had become completely cut off from society.
“Shanhai City’s legendary player, Luo Qi, fought bloodily to repel foreign forces. The government has awarded him a First-Class Merit and promoted him to the rank of lieutenant colonel.”
“Shanhai City and Linjiang City have joined forces to resist foreign enemies.”
“The final battle was ended by the world’s number-one player, Lu Xing. We thank Lu Xing for his righteous intervention!”
“We look forward to more Level 30 players cooperating with the government to protect their homeland!”
“Next is the nationwide resource allocation plan. We urge the public to play responsibly, pay attention to their health, and maintain a balanced diet. Those living in rural areas should minimize trips into the wilderness.”
“Wild boar invasions have broken out in many parts of the country.”
“Giant bears have been spotted in the north.”
“The government is recruiting bounty teams to hunt wild creatures.”
The world had already begun to descend into chaos.
The worrying part was that only some Level 30 players had gained special abilities. After obtaining their powers, these people did not go hunt monsters. Instead, they turned on one another.
Fortunately, Flower Nation had always been stable. After the strategy for killing the evil-faction player Tuge the Werewolf was made public, the number of evil-aligned players across the country decreased. With the government’s support, anyone causing trouble was dealt with swiftly.
Flower Nation was still safe for the time being.
Chu Fu watched the news while exercising, and the few hours passed quickly.
After finishing her workout, she stepped onto the scale.
45 kilograms!
At 168 centimeters tall, her ribs were clearly visible at that weight.
“I’m about to reach Level 30. Gaining twenty pounds looks like it’ll be difficult. I’ll aim for ten pounds instead!”
Chu Fu set herself a goal.
Then she logged in.
With Feng Huimin leading the team, they first helped Old Steed in the Stable complete a cartload of Nightmare-mode runs. After that, they cleared another round of dungeons across three difficulty levels. The Abyss level could only be completed once a day.
Even so, Feng Huimin’s level skyrocketed to 18 within just a few hours.
She was leveling at rocket speed.
Once Chu Fu logged in, everyone once again split into two teams under Feng Huimin’s arrangements to farm attribute points.
Team One:
Front-line tank: Jiao Jiao Isn’t Spoiled.
Damage dealers: Chu Fu, Xie Lin, Shafu Liangu, and Dream King.
Healer: Holy Healing Angel.
Support: Feng Huimin.
Main tank: Lu An.
Damage dealers: Shen Chi, Suture Saint, Zhimengzhe, Wu Yingchun, and Bitter Melon King.
Healer: Little Sister Wu.
Suture Saint had already switched into a damage-dealing position.
The seven permanent party members filled the remaining thirteen slots with six Level 20 players from the Thorn Guild and seven Level 28–30 players who wanted to farm attribute points.
Basically, three dungeons in two and a half hours yielded a total of 30 points to every attribute: 5, 10, and 15.
Obviously, not everyone could obtain the all-attribute reward from this dungeon’s Abyss mode.
Rare things were valuable.
Chu Fu had not even announced whom she planned to take, yet players were already scrambling to inquire about it.
The moment Chu Fu left the dungeon, several players in magnificent gear crowded around her.
“Plant Master, can you take me through a cartload of Abyss-level speed runs tomorrow? I’ll pay 500 gold coins.”
“I’ll pay 1,000 gold coins.”
“Oh, isn’t this Manager Feng? We’ve worked together before. You’re working for the Thorn Guild now? You really are capable. How about giving me a slot in an Abyss-level dungeon? Money is no object.”
“Isn’t that Jiao Jiao? Don’t you remember your Uncle Li? We met at a banquet last time. Uncle will pay 2,000 gold coins for a run!”
Huang Jiaojiao said, “Uncle, my relationship with my father isn’t very good!”
“Uncle noticed that long ago. Your father’s no good. Uncle supports you. Someone as capable as you should inherit the family fortune. The capable deserve to rule! Your father has so many illegitimate children, but they’re all useless. Not one of them can compare to you!”
“Then let’s add each other as friends, Uncle. I’ll discuss it with the party first. Oh, by the way, you’re still a regular-class mage? I happen to have a special-class advancement certificate for a necromancer. This is the meta class of the current version. There are undead everywhere around Linjiang City, so it’s definitely powerful.
“I’ll sell it to you for 5,000 gold coins, just a little above cost. How does that sound?
“As for the Abyss-level dungeon slot, I’ll have to discuss it first. We only get one run a day, after all!”
Huang Jiaojiao sold the necromancer advancement certificate for five times its original price. Then she returned to discuss the price of the Abyss-level dungeon slot with Chu Fu and the others.
This was an excellent opportunity to make money.
After discussing it with Jiao Jiao Isn’t Spoiled and Feng Huimin, Chu Fu settled on a price of 2,000 gold coins.
As for the Military Soul Guild, they could accept the price or not. There was nothing else Chu Fu could do. However, she could take them through the first three difficulty levels for 10 gold coins per attribute point.
Zero o’clock arrived.
The Abyss-level dungeon refreshed.
Chu Fu took a group of wealthy players into the dungeon. Unfortunately, no dark-gold equipment dropped.
Even so, with seven players serving as the main damage dealers, Chu Fu alone accounted for 67% of the entire party’s damage.
All eight players paid 2,000 gold coins each, and Chu Fu’s share came to 10,720 gold coins.
The gold coins in Chu Fu’s bag had finally surpassed the 10,000 mark.
That amount should be enough to trigger the mysterious merchant’s second phase, which meant the goods would be better.
The merchant only ever appeared in cities, however. Since Chu Fu had not returned to the city yet, she was not worried about missing him.
They continued running dungeons. Although they were not as fast as when clearing “The Necromancer’s Conspiracy,” the dungeons were of a higher level, so Chu Fu and the others still leveled quickly.
By eight that evening, Chu Fu had led eight full runs, and the gold coins in her bag had accumulated to the impressive total of 30,000.
This dungeon was ridiculously profitable.
How did it feel like she was making money even faster than her brother now?
Just as Chu Fu and the others were preparing to continue carrying players through the dungeon, she received a message by carrier pigeon.
[Carrier Pigeon Message
The number of Level 20 Awakened in Fengdu Town has reached 10,000, attracting the attention of the Goblin God. The Goblin God has decided to initiate a cleansing operation!
The town-defense battle will officially begin at midnight tomorrow.
This incident occurred without warning, and only four hours remain until midnight.
Linjiang City has opened a special mount—the Dragonship. A ride costs only 10 gold coins, and it will depart in one hour. It can transport Awakened back to Fengdu Town.
All Awakened lords who receive this message are urged to come and provide support.]
Fengdu Town had reached 10,000 Level 20 players.
That was only natural. Their server had more players to begin with, better equipment, and faster dungeon clears and monster farming.
The first batch of 9,000 players who had participated in Wangxi Village’s village-defense battle had almost all steadily advanced into Fengdu Town. Twenty days had passed since the battle at Wangxi Village.
Therefore, triggering the town-defense battle ten days ahead of schedule was perfectly normal.
Once you gained an advantage, every step that followed came faster.
“We’re not running dungeons anymore. Get ready to return to Fengdu Town!”
Because Chu Fu and the others owned residences, they could return directly to the city. The Thorn Guild players, however, could not.
The Thorn Guild had a full 4,000 players.
At 10 gold coins per person, that came to 40,000 gold coins.
It was practically an extortionate way to drain the gold from players’ pockets.
Shen Chi switched into Old Driver mode.
“Back to Fengdu Town for one gold coin! One and a half hours to arrive, with enough time to complete the preliminary quests! Don’t miss out—get on board while there’s still room!”
With metal manipulation at his command, Shen Chi’s mecha was practically a Transformer. Now, it had transformed into a transport shuttle.
“Squish in, everyone—move farther inside! There are still people waiting to get on!”
