Chapter 21.2: The Stakes Are Raised

Chapter 21.2: The Stakes Are Raised

Elsewhere, Yang Qiu had no idea that within just two days, so much about him had already been investigated...

And even if he was aware, he wouldn't be fearful. After all, he was the only person in the "development team," and the identity he used was a purchased one. Moreover, he hadn't done anything fundamentally illegal or unethical.

Even if selling the helmet might seem like illegal fundraising, the players who bought the helmets wouldn't file complaints or report him, let alone the fact that he could run away at any time. And if he was "invited down for tea," it would just be a matter of getting a free meal from the police.

At this moment, Yang Qiu was sitting in Exile Town's Town Hall, happily watching the players about to engage in fierce competition over the four auction items that would be unveiled today.

As of 3 p.m. on October 8, Earth time, Give Me Medicine who had ground tirelessly for three days, and even specially took a day off from work, had finally become the fourth to achieve "friendly" reputation with the NPC.

Once his reputation bar reached the requirement, he had been camping at the Ranger Instructor's construction site, eagerly awaiting the appearance of the fifth person.

At Give Me Medicine's side were the top three reputation grinders, and two that had bought the bidding rights from two of them.

These two bosses were carrying new faux leather backpacks bought from the tailor NPC, which were currently considered symbols of "pay-to-win warriors" in the game. For players who couldn't leave Exile Town, the sole purpose of these backpacks was to carry money.

Give Me Medicine, too, was carrying the same backpack...

He didn't have to wait long before he saw two players rushing toward the Ranger Instructor to complete a quest, one after the other.

And then... the player who completed the quest first angrily exclaimed, "What the hell!" while the one who completed it later had a joyous smile on his face.

Give Me Medicine and the other three top reputation grinders showed looks of sympathy. Obviously, the player who completed the quest first had miscalculated his effective working time. Even though he had completed the quest ahead of the others, the reputation points given during settlement weren't enough.

"Effective working time is really tricky, especially for reputation grinders," said Blossoming Strokes, who was also waiting to see the results alongside Give Me Medicine.

"Yeah," Give Me Medicine nodded. "If the effective working time is less than an hour, the amount of copper coins given remains the same, but the reputation reward is deducted. I had a loss yesterday when I miscalculated by a few minutes. As a result, Tuttle only gave me 60% of the reputation rewards."

Except for quests that involve collecting materials, which had no time limit as long as enough materials were collected, other labor quests had a restriction called "effective working time."

To avoid slacking off or making it too obvious, players needed to complete quests for at least one hour of in-game time to receive the full "wages" from advanced and zombie NPCs.

If there were miscalculations and the effective working time was less than an hour, with a disparity of more than 10 minutes, NPCs would refuse to settle the task. If the difference was within 10 minutes, the "wages" would still be given, but NPCs would ignore the player for a certain period of time. For example, if a player completed tasks continuously for three and a half hours and then submitted them, NPCs would "pay" the player for four hours of work but wouldn't interact with the said gamer in the next hour of gameplay.

Also, if it was an advanced NPC, only a minimum of 60 out of 100 reputation points would be given...

As soon as the five top reputation grinders gathered, the Ranger Instructor, Tuttle Joe, took out three crystals strung with sinew, each engraved with the magic rune of "Illusory Disguise." Then, he announced that in half an hour's time (game time), the five players could start bidding for the Orb of Deception.

Give Me Medicine and Blossoming Strokes, both players with Potential values above 50 and the beginner skill "Identify" activated, immediately used the skill on the Orb of Deception in Tuttle Joe's hand.

[Orb of Deception]

Equipment Effect: Grants the wearer the active skill "Illusory Disguise.'"

"Illusionary Disguise" has a 50% chance of being exposed by intelligent creatures with Potential value higher than the user's by 30% or more.

Jia Luo closed her mouth and fell silent. As a lone Ranger grinder, she couldn't produce 500 copper coins indeed.

The two players that had already sold their bidding rights felt a sense of loss when they listened in on the discussion, but they didn't dwell on it any further upon hearing that 500 copper coins were the required eligibility to negotiate a harmonious solution.

The final player to achieve the bidding rights mulled for a bit, then said, "Well that's doable... So, who's willing to take 600 copper coins and quit?"

The two big shots didn't say anything and stood at the side, alternating between eyeing him and Give Me Medicine.

Give Me Medicine sighed. "Don't look at me. I'm not going to quit. I want to play as a Treasure Expert."

The fifth-place grinder frowned. "Well... wait a moment, let me discuss it with my friends."

Then he brought his friends to the side, huddling up and whispering for a while. When they returned, his attitude had become much more cooperative. "I'm willing to pull out too. When will you all give me the money?"

The two big shots were elated, and the first one responded at once, "That's simple. We'll pay you on the spot once the auction without raising bids is completed. This game has a limited number of players after all, and it's not like we can create new accounts and restart. There's no possibility of cheating you and running away."

While saying that, the two big shots voluntarily displayed the money they had prepared...

Due to the game's extreme hardcore nature, where in-game currency was actual physical copper coins, both big shots had backpacks filled with several kilograms of copper coins.

Using such "physical" currency was very inconvenient, and players had protested against the lack of inventory on the official website's forum. However, the response from the game's developers was a promise to introduce banks soon and provide players with larger-denomination "copper notes" for easier portability. Many players were furious at the developers for their pursuit of realism, which seemed borderline insane.

Observing the situation, Give Me Medicine silently opened up his backpack as well.

If a harmonious solution could be attained, Give Me Medicine was certainly willing...

Yang Qiu, who had been observing it all through the imprint matrix, couldn't help but sigh. "You guys really know how to play, even managing to negotiate a harmonious solution.

"However... I can't allow you guys to disrupt the currency recovery. Sorry!"

The heartless Yang Qiu immediately modified his instructions transmitted to Tuttle through the imprint matrix.

And so... ten minutes before the start of the auction, the Ranger Instructor walked up to this group of players that had managed to painstakingly achieve harmony and announced the auction mode—

"Blind bidding?!"

The jaw of the first big shot, who had put in the most effort to negotiate this harmonious solution, nearly fell to the floor.

An expressionless Tuttle said icily, "That's right. All five of you will bid simultaneously, and the three highest bidders will obtain the orbs."

Varying emotions came over the group of players.

The fifth reputation grinder, who previously thought they couldn't compete against the two big shots and Give Me Medicine, a closed beta veteran who had the support of Vanilla Pudding, clearly started to waver.

The three orbs would be auctioned off in a blind bid, and everyone only had one chance to place a bid...

In other words... if others bid 300, 301 would be enough to win.

There was simply no way of achieving harmony!