There was no way out of this. The best way to solve this problem was to go and take a look again. Ye Ci took a look at the remaining consumables on her, and decided to head back to Red Lake City to replenish her supplies before heading back to the city.
But once she returned to Red Lake City, Ye Ci would not be able to get away so easily. First of all, the business in her parents' shop was not doing very well recently. The main reason was that they did not have any special recipes. Furthermore, their Life Skills were still quite low, so the items that they created were not very rare. Even with such a good location in the shop, there was not much business.
This situation was completely different from what Ye Nantian and Zuo Xiaolan had expected. After much consideration, the two of them decided to quit the game and let Ye Ci take back the shop and rent it out to someone else. This way, they would not lose too much money.
When Ye Nantian and Zuo Xiaolan informed Ye Ci of their decision, Ye Ci was sitting in Ye Nantian's shop, eating a bowl of Western soup that did not taste too good.
"Little Ci, we're not running this shop anymore. You can rent it out."
"Pfft …" Ye Ci spat out the soup in her mouth onto the faces of her parents. She wasn't sure if it was because her parents had told her of their decision, or because the soup was too disgusting, but Ye Ci spat out the soup in her mouth onto the faces of her parents.
"Ah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Ye Ci immediately apologized to her parents, who were in a sorry state because of her actions.
Although such a situation wouldn't cause any damage in the game, it would still change his appearance. Ye Nantian and Zuo Xiaolan wiped their faces with a cloth, and Ye Nantian said humorously, "Little Ci, we've already washed our faces this morning."
Ye Ci felt even more embarrassed after hearing that. She chuckled and changed the topic, "What did you say just now?"
"We said that we're not running this shop anymore. You can rent it out." Zuo Xiaolan quickly repeated herself.
Ye Ci's lips twitched. She did not immediately answer their question, and instead asked a question of her own, "Why?"
If it were someone else, Ye Nantian and Zuo Xiaolan might have said some nonsense to save their face. But Ye Ci was their daughter, and they did not hide the truth from her, "Little Ci, we're a family. There's no need to lie." Zuo Xiaolan sighed. She looked at Ye Nan-Tian and said, "The location of this shop is great. There are a lot of people coming in every day. However, we don't know why our business is not as good as the other shops. We think, instead of wasting our money like this, why don't you rent out this shop and make some money?"
"Rent it out?" Ye Ci smiled, "Mom, although this game is 100% realistic, there are still many things that are not as complete as in real life. For example, there's no such thing as rent in the game. " After saying that, she added in her heart, "Of course, there will be one in the near future."
"Then … Then what should we do? Are we going to continue losing money like this? " Zuo Xiaolan, who had been saving money for her entire life, immediately shook her head when she heard Ye Ci's words, "No! Absolutely not! In any case, I'm not doing it anymore. Such a loss-making business makes my heart ache every day I live! "
"Mom, don't forget that we've signed a contract. If you want to terminate the contract, you'll have to pay the penalty. "As the saying goes, no one knows a daughter better than her own. Ye Ci, who had been Zuo Xiaolan's mother for two lifetimes, knew very well what she was thinking. That was why she did not mind Zuo Xiaolan's refusal, and brought out the contract.
"Penalty? What penalty? " Zuo Xiaolan had treated this game as nothing more than a game, so she did not even take a look at the contract they signed with Ye Ci before throwing it into the storage room.
"What? Mom, didn't you see the contract we signed? " Ye Ci knew that her mother had not seen it even if she thought with her heels. However, she pretended not to know and looked surprised. She even flirtatiously picked at her nails and blew the dust off them.
"Contract?" Zuo Xiaolan's mouth began to twitch. She slowly glanced at Ye Nantian beside her. She did not expect that Ye Nantian had not seen the contract either. Now, Ye Nantian frantically shook his head under her gaze, indicating that he did not know what Ye Ci was talking about.
"Is it the contract that you forced me to sign when I said I didn't want to sign it?" Ye Ci narrowed her eyes and revealed a scheming smile. She even reminded her parents that she was not the one who requested for the contract. She looked at her parents who were already speechless, and continued to deepen their impression of her, "It's the two contracts that were signed at the city hall. Oh, right. You even made a specific evaluation of the Red Lake City's mayor's figure …"
"Alright, I already remember what it is." Zuo Xiaolan was speechless at the mention of the embarrassing things she and her husband had done. How could she not remember? When she and Ye Nantian first entered the game, they were curious about everything. Originally, they thought that it was just a game, so they did not take the characters and things in the game seriously. Therefore, when the mayor of Red Lake City personally came to receive them, they actually started discussing the mayor's figure in front of him. They said that a ball-shaped figure was still a figure, and that they did not know what he ate to get so fat.
Ye Ci's face darkened as she coughed, hoping that her parents would stop talking. However, Zuo Xiaolan and Ye Nantian did not realize how important the matter was and continued to talk. In the end, the Mayor's face darkened as he said, "Are you here to sign the contract or to scold me?" Ye Nantian and Zuo Xiaolan finally realized that the Mayor could hear everything they said and reacted like a normal human. They were so shocked that they almost screamed. At that time, they really wanted to dig a hole in the ground and hide in it.
They didn't even take a good look at the contract that was signed under those circumstances. They simply treated it as evidence to remind themselves of the shameful things they had done. They immediately sealed it in the warehouse and forgot about it as quickly as possible.
However, Ye Ci just had to bring it up at this time, and they did not have any idea what it was. Zuo Xiaolan looked at Ye Ci, thinking that she had forgotten about it, and Ye Ci probably did not remember it too clearly. Although she felt that the possibility was not high, she still wanted to try her luck, "What's wrong with signing the contract? There are so many things that I don't remember. "
"It's fine if you don't remember. Mom, I can show you my contract right now." Ye Ci stared at Zuo Xiaolan with a smile on her face. Her words were spoken in a casual manner, causing Zuo Xiaolan to swallow her words.
Zuo Xiaolan looked at Ye Ci expressionlessly, "How can you remember when I don't even remember? Are you really my daughter? Why are you not on the same side as me?"
Ye Ci raised her eyebrows nonchalantly. Then, she opened her contract and started reading it. The so-called contract actually contained sentences that ordinary people would not understand. Therefore, after Ye Ci read it for a while, Zuo Xiaolan shouted, "I don't understand. I don't understand. Stop reading it!"
Ye Ci always had a way to deal with Zuo Xiaolan. Since Zuo Xiaolan said that she did not understand, she immediately nodded and closed the contract, "Alright. Since you don't understand this kind of written language, I'll explain it to you in simple words. What I just told you is actually very simple. That is, the contract is built on the condition that both parties help each other equally. In order to restrict the behavior of both parties, if either party wants to break the contract, they will have to pay the other party ten times the rent in one go. "
"Ten times …" Now, it was Zuo Xiaolan's turn to twitch her lips. "How much is the rent?"
"Oh right, the rent for this shop is paid in one lump sum. Of course, I didn't collect the rent from you in the beginning, but the system has tacitly agreed that I have collected the rent. So, if you want to break the contract, I'm afraid you will have to pay me ten years of rent in one lump sum, and ten times the rent."
"I'm asking how much the rent is!" Zuo Xiaolan looked at the curve of her daughter's lips. She wanted to beat her up.
"Not much, not much. It's only twenty million gold coins." Ye Ci raised two fingers and waved them in front of her parents' eyes.
Zuo Xiaolan's eyes widened. She looked at Ye Ci in disbelief. Then, she pointed at her shop and shouted, "Stupid girl, what did you say?! You're saying that this place that can't be eaten or drunk, that it's just a set of stinky data in the game, costs twenty million gold coins for ten years?! Do you think I'm an idiot?! Which idiot would use real money to buy this kind of virtual thing in the game … "
Ye Ci was not angry at all. She knew that her mother would fly into a rage after she said this. However, this was exactly what she wanted. Zuo Xiaolan and the others had never played games before, and they did not take the things in the game seriously. They only entered the game with the intention of strolling around. If Ye Ci wanted them to truly immerse themselves in the game, she would have to think of a way to tie them down. As long as Zuo Xiaolan was tied down, Ye Nantian would be tied down as well. The way to tie down Zuo Xiaolan was simple, and that was to make her owe a huge debt …
"Mother, if you say that, the people next to you will beat you up." Ye Ci calmly reminded her mother.
Her words successfully shut Zuo Xiaolan's mouth. Then, she angrily rushed to Ye Ci's side and said, "Stupid girl, don't try to trick me! I used to be tricked by you when I didn't play games, but I won't be tricked by you anymore! I know that everything in the game is made up of data, and it's all fake. Even the contract you mentioned is fake! I'm telling you, I'm not playing this game anymore. It's too unprofitable. I don't want to lose money anymore. I'm not playing this game anymore! "
Ye Ci nodded and even clapped her hands, "I didn't expect you to know all this even though you've only been playing games for a few days."
"Hmph, so don't think that I'm an idiot, and don't think that I'm that easy to trick!" Zuo Xiaolan glared at Ye Ci, feeling that she had the upper hand.
"If I remember correctly, mother, didn't you guys receive a legal contract from the Bank of China the day before yesterday? Of course, I also received a copy. "Ye Ci narrowed her eyes and looked at Zuo Xiaolan as if she was waiting for a good show.
"Yeah, what about it?" Zuo Xiaolan snorted. In her eyes, she was Buddha, and Ye Ci was Sun Wukong. No matter what, Sun Wukong would never be able to escape from Buddha's grasp.
"That's the contract we signed in the game. It's an official contract that has been verified by the law. In other words … it doesn't matter if your shop is made up of data or not, the contract is real. " Ye Ci continued to smile, "If you want to break the contract, the data in the game will be fed back to the bank's legal department. The legal department will first deduct the amount of money you have in the game based on the amount of money you break the contract."
"Then I won't go online anymore!" Zuo Xiaolan's tone softened when she talked about the contract in real life. As an ordinary person, Zuo Xiaolan was most afraid of dealing with these big shots.
"Sure, after deducting all the money in the game, they can deduct the money in the bank … If the money in the bank is still not enough to pay the penalty …" Ye Ci paused for a moment to whet Zuo Xiaolan's appetite, "Mother, I don't know what will happen …"
"You unfilial daughter! How dare you dig a hole to bury your mother! " Zuo Xiaolan finally exploded. She immediately began to beat up Ye Ci, but the system quickly determined that she had attacked a player. However, due to the large level gap between them, Zuo Xiaolan's actions were restricted and she did not receive any further punishment.
This time, Zuo Xiaolan was completely obedient. She sat on the chair and began using both the carrot and the stick, "Little Ci, I'm just worried that I'll lose money."
"Mother, I'm not afraid of losing money. What are you afraid of?" Ye Ci was unfazed.
"But look at us now. Our shop is open for business every day, but no one buys anything. I'm just worried!" Zuo Xiaolan tried to persuade her mother.
"What's there to be worried about? Take your time." Ye Ci drank the last mouthful of soup and looked at her mother with a smile, "I don't need you to pay me rent." “
"Take your time, take your time …" Zuo Xiaolan mumbled, "I want to take my time, but I feel that I don't have the talent to do business. I'll just be wasting money like this. Little Ci, we're not rich. We don't have that much money to waste. Why don't you think of something? "
"Mother, I know what you're thinking. Doing business in the game isn't as difficult as you think. Let me tell you, the reason why your business is not doing well is because your Life Skills are too low. Look at the players now. They're between lvl35 and lvl40, but the items you're selling are only lvl20. Even if you're using new players, they can still choose to sell items from the auction house. Most of the items sold there are discarded by the players. It's cheaper than the shops, and it's even cheaper than what you're selling. Of course your business is not doing well. " Ye Ci began to explain the reason why her business was not doing well. If not, they would never be able to survive in the game.
Zuo Xiaolan and Ye Nantian looked at each other. They finally understood what was going on. But Zuo Xiaolan was quick to react, "So if we want to do business, we'll have to train our Life Skills?"
"That's only natural. The higher the level of a Life Skill, the more popular it is. If you have recipes that other Life Skill Masters do not know, you'll be able to monopolize the market. That's why the higher the level of a Life Skill Master, the more money they'll be able to make. "
"But …" Ye Nantian quickly realized the problem, "It takes a long time for a Life Skill Master to level up. We don't even have the materials to train our skills. We can only go to the outskirts of the city to pick up items that others don't want. How long will that take?"
"Why do you have to go to the outskirts of the city? You're not normal players. You've never leveled up before. You won't be able to get anything from the outskirts of the city. Furthermore, it's very dangerous. You'll have to go to the outskirts of the city to look for high quality ingredients and cloth. You won't be able to go to the outskirts of the city at your level. Why do you have to go there? " Ye Ci couldn't understand how her parents trained their skills, "Don't you know that there's something called an auction house in this world? Don't you know that you can collect materials for a long period of time? "
Ye Ci thought that this was a matter of course, but not everyone thought the same. Especially when the two of them heard Ye Ci's question, they replied in unison, "How much would that cost?!"
Ye Ci rolled her eyes. She really wanted to be struck by lightning right now, "You don't need to spend money. Didn't I give you the start-up funds? Why don't you use it?! " She was sure that the money she gave her parents was kept in a warehouse and kept a close watch over it.
"Then we have to use it for emergencies." Zuo Xiaolan felt that she was right, "If I use it now, what if there's a natural or man-made disaster?"
"This is a game. There won't be any natural or man-made disasters." Ye Ci wanted to bang her head on the table. Sometimes, she felt helpless when it came to Zuo Xiaolan and Ye Nantian.
"Money is gone once it's used up." This was Zuo Xiaolan's view. She had always thought this way, "Instead of spending it, I'd rather keep it in the bank …"
"The bank in the game won't pay you interest." Ye Ci's voice was getting weaker and weaker. She felt that she was going crazy because of Zuo Xiaolan.
"I don't care. I like saving money this way."
"Then how long do you want to lose money?!" Ye Ci finally lost her temper, "On one hand, you don't want to lose money. On the other hand, you don't want to level up your skills immediately. Then tell me, how long do you want to lose money?"
"I, I, I didn't say that I don't want to level up my skills …" Zuo Xiaolan suddenly felt guilty when she saw her daughter flip out. However, she quickly regained her composure. She felt that she did nothing wrong. "I just don't want to spend money."
"Is that any different from you not wanting to level up your skills?" Ye Ci slammed the table and stood up, "You're only level 10. Do you think you can go to level 20, level 30, or even higher to pick up the leftover corpses? Even if you can? Do you think there will be so many people who won't pick up the corpses and leave the materials for you … "
"There will be some eventually …" Zuo Xiaolan knew that Ye Ci was right. However, she couldn't help but talk back.
"When the day comes when you'll finally have one, will the game close down?!" Ye Ci finally slammed the table, "You said you want to level up your skills with this attitude. You said you don't want to lose money. I think you're the one who's trying to trick me!"
Zuo Xiaolan and Ye Nantian finally had nothing to say. They lowered their heads and listened to Ye Ci's scolding like obedient primary school students.
"You won't be able to earn money if I ask you to, but don't you know how to spend money? Any Life Skill Master in our guild would be overjoyed if we gave them such benefits. How can you say you don't want to spend it?! " Ye Ci didn't care if they were her parents. She acted as if she was teaching a lesson to the newbies.
At this moment, players passed by the shop from time to time. They would look at what was happening in the shop with shocked gazes. Were their eyes playing tricks on them? Didn't they say Gongzi You was a man of few words? Didn't they say Gongzi You was a man with high standards? Didn't they say Gongzi You was a man of few words? Then who was the Elven Huntress teaching the newbies a lesson?
"But this is your money. We have to save it for you … I'm afraid your dowry will be …" Zuo Xiaolan was scolded badly by Ye Ci. However, she still felt that she had to fight for her own benefits when necessary.
Ye Ci's heart ached when she heard this. She looked at her parents who were sitting in front of her with their heads lowered. She felt that her eyes were blurred. She quickly blinked her eyes to prevent herself from losing her composure. These were her parents. These were her parents. No matter what they did, they would always think for her. She suddenly felt that she had no right to throw a tantrum. She took a deep breath and sat down. She held her parents' hands and apologized softly, "Dad, Mom, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things to you."
Zuo Xiaolan and Ye Nantian were confused by Ye Ci's actions. In their hearts, Ye Ci had always been a strong-willed child. It was rare for her to speak so softly. This left them at a loss for what to do. Zuo Xiaolan tugged at Ye Ci's arm in a panic, "Aiya, aiya, Little Ci, I'm just stingy. You know that I can't bear to spend money. If you really want me to spend money, I-I-I can still complete the quest!"
With that, Zuo Xiaolan's face was filled with indignation. It was as if making such a promise was no different from eating her flesh and drinking her blood.
Ye Nantian supported his wife's words. This was Ye Nantian's style. He was a man who always placed his wife at the center of his heart.
Ye Ci smiled bitterly. Her heart was filled with bitterness, but she still patted her parents' hands, "If you want to help me save up for my dowry, then hurry up and earn some money. I hope that you'll give me a huge dowry when I get married."
"But spending money …"
"Mom, you can't catch a wolf without risking your child. In this day and age, there's no such thing as a free lunch. If you want to earn money, you must learn how to spend it. It's impossible for you to become a landlord by saving money. "Ye Ci smiled and blocked her mother's words. Then she got up to say goodbye. Now that she had said what she needed to say, the most important thing now was to leave time for her parents to think about what she had said and what they should do. If she continued to stay here, she was afraid that they would still be at a dead end.
When Ye Ci walked out of her parents' shop, she saw Bai Mo standing not far away. He was leaning against the wall as he watched the players passing by. She walked up to him, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to take care of my aunt and uncle's business, but I heard you talking about business when I arrived, so I thought it'd be better for me to stay away." Bai Mo smiled, "Say, are you finally going to extend your claws to your own family?"
"Tsk, what are you talking about?" Ye Ci disagreed with Bai Mo's words, "Then I'm done teaching. You can go in and take care of the business."
"Forget it. To be honest, my uncle's skills in real life are impressive, but his skills in the game are not." Bai Mo shook his head. He was only here to take care of Ye Ci, not to be tortured. Since there was a way out, he would not continue torturing himself.
"I'm starting to get the rewards for the second phase of my Epic Quest." Ye Ci never hid these things from Bai Mo. So, Bai Mo naturally knew how far she had progressed in her Epic Quest.
"What reward?" Bai Mo looked at Ye Ci's calm expression and made a bold guess, "Don't tell me it's an overpowered reward."
"I can't confirm it yet." Ye Ci said as she told Bai Mo about her current situation. Bai Mo's jaw dropped when he heard about it, "Oh my god, that's too overpowered. If you can keep accumulating medals, you can buy eight or ten sets of them."
Ye Ci nodded, but she still felt that it was impossible. The game developers would not be so stupid as to leave such a big loophole for players to exploit.
The two of them continued to chat for a while. Suddenly, Bai Mo slapped his forehead as if he had just remembered something. "Oh right, I just remembered something. Too many things have happened these past few days. I've completely forgotten about it."
"What?"
"Do you know Golden Age Guild?"
"Golden Age?" Ye Ci frowned slightly. Of course, she knew about this guild. Golden Age Guild was a tyrant in the online gaming world. Not only did they have a large number of members, they were also supported by several large financial groups. Their guild was a money-making machine. As it turned out, as long as they entered a game, they could quickly destroy the economic order of the game. Then, they would destroy the order of the game again. In the end, they would leave after they had earned enough money, leaving the mess to the ordinary players.
Golden Age Guild was not only known as the locusts of the online gaming world, but was also feared by the gaming companies. This was because they had become the best tool for the gaming companies to destroy their competitors.
"What? They're coming to Fate? "Ye Ci narrowed her eyes. It was inevitable. Golden Age Guild had also messed with Fate in the past. Even though Fate was a big guild, Golden Age Guild, which was not very big in Fate, had almost caused Fate to close down. In the end, a few of the main developers had resigned, and it was because of this that Wang Jiangnan had the opportunity to be promoted from an assistant developer to a main developer. He had withstood the heavy pressure from the storm and turned the tide, bringing Fate back from the brink of destruction. Later on, many people believed that Wang Jiangnan was the father of Fate only because he had brought more players to Fate, and had created an unparalleled glory for Fate. However, the real reason was that Wang Jiangnan had single-handedly saved Fate.
These events were not recorded in the annals of Fate, and many of the players who participated in the game later on did not know about it. But as a player who had been bound to Fate since the beginning, Ye Ci knew the ins and outs of this event very well.
It was indeed the day that Golden Age Guild would enter Fate. It seemed that she had been living too comfortably recently. She had actually forgotten about this matter. If she did not take precautions now, it would be too late in the future.
Bai Mo was not someone who had reincarnated, so he naturally did not know what was going to happen. But he was naturally nervous because of Golden Age's bad reputation.
"Yeah, I heard that they're coming to Fate." Bai Mo furrowed his brows, "These locusts are here to ruin Fate again. I really don't know what Fate will be like in the future. "
Ye Ci pursed her lips, but did not say a word. If she did not change the course of history on a large scale, then the course of history would still be the same. She was not worried at all.
"By the way, do you know how many players Golden Age has right now?"
"A lot. I don't know the specifics, but I know that they've killed a few VR players with their numbers." Ye Ci was speaking the truth. She could no longer remember how many Golden Age players had entered Fate. She only knew that there were a lot of them, like the hairs on a cow.
"There's about 10 million of them." Bai Mo lowered his voice, "That's 1% of Fate's current players."
"That's a lot of them."
"The continents are guessing which continent they'll choose to enter the server." Bai Mo furrowed his brows, "They mustn't come to the Eastern Continent, or the Eastern Continent will suffer."
Ye Ci narrowed her eyes and let out a half-hearted laugh, "If I had millions of elites, I would've sent them to all four continents and annihilated every single one of them."
Bai Mo's face darkened at Ye Ci's words. "Don't jinx it."
Ye Ci was still smiling, but her smile was tinged with bitterness. She was speaking the truth. This was how Golden Age had entered the game in the past. They split their guild into four branches, and each continent had a branch guild. Like locusts, they began to nibble away at the economy and order of the game. Fate's instability was soon exposed. She remembered that back then, it was this storm that forced many individual players to their deaths. It also caused many investors like Dong Yin's family to go bankrupt and jump off a building.
"Bai Mo, from now on, we'll have to increase the commission of all sponsored parties." Ye Ci said.
"Huh?" Bai Mo was stunned, "Many players will be dissatisfied with this."
"So be it. We need to accumulate a sum of money to protect ourselves from the dangers of Golden Age's entry into Fate." Ye Ci's heart was heavy. She remembered that she was also a victim of this storm. This storm had almost destroyed her family. Even if she was reborn, even if she had to start everything all over again, the pain from back then was still deeply imprinted in her heart and could not be erased.
It was impossible for her to fight against Golden Era on her own, but with her advantage as a reincarnator, she could protect the people important to her in this storm. But what was she going to do?
"You're sure that they'll return to the Eastern Continent?" Bai Mo's heart skipped a beat.
"I've said it before. If I'm the leader of Golden Age, I won't be so stupid as to place my guild in a single continent. That would make us the enemy of the one billion players in Fate." Ye Ci looked at Bai Mo. Bai Mo knew what she was going to say.
Bai Mo gasped, "You mean …"
Ye Ci smiled bitterly, "I think that the major guilds have already realized this problem. They've probably started to accumulate funds to protect themselves from this risk."
"But gold coins can't protect against risks!" Bai Mo shook his head, "They'll bring in a large amount of gold coins into the game. When that happens, all our savings will go to waste."
"Of course, gold coins can't protect against risks. Everyone knows that. But items can. "Ye Ci took a deep breath.
"What items?"
"Let's make a bet. There are so many consumable items in the game, and there are so many guilds. Everyone can bet on one item, and one of them will win." Ye Ci smiled. She could not tell Bai Mo how to fend off Golden Age's attack. It was too dangerous. She did not want to tell anyone that she was a reincarnator. She would bring unimaginable danger to anyone. Bai Mo was someone important to her. She could not place Bai Mo in such danger.
Bai Mo looked at the smile on Ye Ci's face, and the worry in his heart lessened. It had been like this since young. As long as Ye Ci showed that smile, it meant that the situation was no longer dangerous. It was the same for everything.
Although there were times when Bai Mo was still worried, he chose to trust her most of the time. That was the only way to show his support and understanding. (To be continued. If you like this series, you're welcome to vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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