Chapter 15: Confessed Before Even Making a Move? A Pro's Financial Management Lesson
In the temple square, the cheers gradually subsided, and the players began to take stock of their loot.
Although everyone was immersed in the joy of victory, "What Canned Food I Said" frowned, staring at his task panel with a somewhat serious expression.
"What's wrong, Canned Food Bro? Didn't you enjoy that fight just now?"
"I'm Not a Husky" came closer, fiddling with a tooth pulled from a kobold's body. "This is my first time fighting in a team battle in a holographic game, it's so much fun!"
"It was great, but there's a problem."
Canned Food pointed to a line of gray text at the bottom of the taskbar.
[Hidden Reward: Annihilate the Kobold Vanguard (Incomplete) - Reward: Kobold Camp Coordinates.]
"The system's assessment of 'total annihilation' was not achieved." Canned Food pushed up his air glasses and analyzed, "Although the counterattack just now was very powerful, we are ultimately too slow. That elite monster named Gru led about five or six remnants into the depths of the Misty Forest."
"So what if they ran away? They left all their gear behind anyway," the husky said dismissively.
No, you don't understand.
Canned food shook its head, its eyes gleaming with the brilliance of a seasoned gamer. "According to the usual online game formula, if you don't kill this kind of wild boss in one go, there are only two possibilities if it runs back: First, it will come back with stronger reinforcements, and then we'll be at a disadvantage; second, it will move the treasure, and we'll miss the biggest opportunity to make money in the early game."
"And most importantly…" Canned Food pointed to the mist in the distance, "Without coordinates, this forest is so vast, and the fog is so thick, how are we supposed to find its lair? Going in blindly will only lead to getting lost and dying."
The surrounding players immediately calmed down after hearing this.
"What do we do now? The duck that was almost in our hands has flown away?" "I haven't had enough yet! I was so busy grabbing equipment!" Gangzi slapped his thigh in frustration.
"Don't worry, there's another way."
Canned Food turned around and looked toward the center of the square. There, several new players were surrounding a kobold prisoner who was tied up like a dumpling, gesturing with wicked smiles.
"We may not have a map, but we have a 'guide'."
...
In the center of the temple square, the atmosphere became somewhat... eerie.
The unfortunate, heavily wounded kobold was still unconscious, bound hand and foot and thrown to the ground.
"Hakimi North and South Green Beans" held a blade of grass, probing the creature's nostrils. "Ashigahayekunailong" had somehow found a still-hot stone, looking eager to try it out. "I'll teach you a lesson" went even further, holding a bowl of freshly prepared, dark red "devil pepper water," muttering, "If you drink this bowl, even an iron man will have to call me daddy."
"Make way! Make way, everyone!"
Canned food came over with the husky and others.
"Is this the one who's still alive?" The canned food glanced at the prisoner on the ground. "Whether we can get the coordinates depends entirely on this."
"Don't worry, boss!" Hakimi patted his chest. "I'm a man who's watched 500 episodes of crime dramas in real life! I can make this little monster confess to everything, even the times I peeked at Er Ya taking a bath next door when I was a kid!"
"Okay, then wake it up."
"Ha! Watch this!"
Hakimi chuckled, yelled at the kobold's ear, and pinched its philtrum hard (though it's unclear whether the kobold even had a philtrum).
"Awooo—!"
The kobold shuddered and suddenly opened its eyes.
It looked around blankly at first, and when it saw that it was surrounded by a circle of shirtless, grinning humans (players), it instinctively wanted to scream.
"Shut up!"
Hakimi slammed his rusty iron axe on the ground. "If you yell again, I'll stew you!"
The kobold huddled up in fear, trembling.
"Listen, little puppy." Hakimi crouched down, striking what he thought was a fierce pose. "I know you understand. Now, I ask, you answer. If you dare utter a single word of dissent, hmph…"
He pointed to the chili water in the fat man's hand: "Please drink this bowl of 'Hell's Special Drink'!"
The new players nearby chimed in, "Quick, tell us! Where's your hideout?" "If you don't tell us, we'll pluck all your feathers!" "I've seen in movies that they always torture you first, how about we beat you up first?"
Although the kobold couldn't understand the specific meanings of "plucking hair" and "special drink," it could sense the malicious mental fluctuations. It was about to retort or feign ignorance.
However.
Just as it was about to speak, its gaze pierced through the gaps in the crowd and inadvertently caught a glimpse of its surroundings.
Towering black stone pillars... Obsidian floors covered with ancient divine runes... The air thick with an aura of supreme terror that sends shivers down one's spine...
And on the high platform, seated on the throne, shrouded in black mist, it looked down at it indifferently with a pair of purple-gold eyes...
"God...God..."
The kobold's pupils dilated to their maximum size in an instant, and the fur on its body stood on end. Its face, which was already pale from its severe injuries, turned deathly gray.
It recognizes this place.
This is a forbidden land passed down through generations by all creatures of the wasteland! This is the palace of the "ancient calamity" who once ruled the world and caused all things to wither!
It knew, of course, that these humans were the retinue of that terrifying being. The leader, Gru, had sworn that the god was too weak to leave and was trapped in the temple. As long as they did not step into the temple's territory, the god could do nothing to them.
But... where is it now? Beneath its feet lies cold, divine-patterned obsidian, and above its head hangs a suffocating black mist.
It was brought in! It was actually dragged alive into the absolute "dead zone" by this group of lunatics!
Here, that great man was no longer a weak prisoner, but a sovereign ruler with the power of life and death! It lay there, completely unsuspecting, on the table of that ancient calamity!
A despair and fear originating from the depths of his soul instantly shattered the kobold's pitiful psychological defenses. This fear was a thousand times more terrifying than pepper spray or the torture of the tiger bench.
"Thump!"
Under the stunned gaze of all the players, the kobold that had just been about to put on a tough front suddenly started banging its head against the ground as if its bones had been removed.
"Ururu! Ururu!" (Have mercy! Have mercy!)
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
It banged its head so hard that the obsidian floor thudded with a loud thud, and blood instantly streamed down its forehead.
"Huh? I haven't even made a move yet?"
Hakimi's hand, holding the iron axe, froze in mid-air, looking completely bewildered. "What's going on? Are you intimidated by my domineering aura?"
"No…that's not right." The canned food keenly sensed it. "It's not afraid of us, it's afraid of…"
Following the kobold's gaze, the canned food looked at Li Wei on the high platform.
On the high platform.
Li Wei looked down at the terrified dog-headed man below and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
"Although I am currently depleted of divine power and cannot leave the temple, the 'pressure' within the temple's area is still a devastating blow to such low-level demons."
Since the other party was being so cooperative, Li Wei didn't mind playing along with it in a little show.
"quiet."
Li Wei spoke calmly.
The sound wasn't loud, but through the temple's amplification structure, it exploded like thunder in the kobolds' minds.
The kobold froze instantly, lying face down on the ground, not daring to even breathe.
"Humble ants, now that you know of my great name, offer your loyalty."
Li Wei's voice was full of charlatanry, "Tell my retinue where that runaway wild dog is hiding?"
The kobold dared not hide anything any longer. All it wanted now was to finish speaking and get out of this terrifying place.
It shakily raised its hand, pointed in a certain direction of the misty forest, and made urgent cries while gesturing on the ground.
[Translating target language...]
Lines of pale red text appeared on the light screen projected by the evil god's breastplate in the can's hand:
"In…in the Blackrock Mine…there's…an underground river…" "Chief Gru…hid the treasure chest…under…the biggest…glowing mushroom…" "Don't kill me…I'm just…a cook…"
Canned Food stared at the breastplate, relaying the information to the players around him in real time.
Without even needing to be pressed by the players, this guy, in order to get leniency, revealed everything about Gru's preference for wearing red underwear, which cave he hid his secret stash of money in, and even how many secret passages there were in the camp.
"Holy crap? This...this is way too coordinated!"
"I prepared a hundred kinds of torture, and this is all I got?"
"Isn't this even more effective than soul searching?"
The players listened to the canned food's account and exchanged bewildered glances. Although they were disappointed at not being able to experience "torture and interrogation," they were all overjoyed when they saw the detailed coordinates that popped up on the mission panel.
[Congratulations player! You have obtained crucial intelligence!] [Map Update: The location of [Kobold Camp: Blackrock Mine] has been marked.]
"Got it!"
Canned Food clenched his fist and shouted, "We have the coordinates! We have the intelligence!"
He turned to look at the group of players who were eager to rush into the forest, a hint of ambition flashing in his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it with reason.
"Brothers! Don't panic!"
Canned Food raised his hand to suppress the cheers of the crowd and calmly analyzed, "Although we know the lair, look at yourselves right now. You're shirtless, holding stones, you just died once and lost a level, and your health hasn't even fully recovered."
"If we rush into their base now, it'll be a dungeon, easy to defend and hard to attack, and there will definitely be traps. If we go now, that's not a counterattack, that's delivering takeout!"
The players were stunned for a moment, then looked at their meager weapons and calmed down considerably.
"What should we do then? Canned Food Bro, we'll listen to you!" Hakimi slung the axe over his shoulder.
"Gangzi, keep a close eye on those prisoners. Don't let them escape. They're living maps."
The canned food looked around and issued new instructions:
"Since the meat is already rotten in the pot, a little longer won't make a difference. They're scared out of their wits and won't dare come back anytime soon."
"Tonight, let's rest first! Build the houses, construct the fortifications, and most importantly—get our equipment and skill points up!"
When it comes to equipment and skill points, the atmosphere in the square instantly changed from "calling for battle" to "calculating carefully".
After a round of first kills, a round of city defense, and the final counterattack and prisoner rewards, most veteran players have accumulated over 300 contribution points. New players, although they lost points after dying once, still have around 200 points on average, including the server-wide rewards.
In the current economic system of "The Forsaken Land", this is definitely a huge sum of money.
Thus, a happy dilemma arises: how should this money be spent?
"I did some calculations," Hakimi said, squatting on the ground and scratching at the sand table with a twig. "I want to switch to a basic swordsmanship book. That fight was so frustrating; I was just swinging wildly. If I learn the skills, I feel like I could take on three people at once."
"Skill books are good, but weapons are important too." Ashiga touched the tattered wooden shield in his hand. "I want to get a fine iron longsword. It's expensive, but it's really worth it. I just saw Canned Food Bro using that sword to cut monsters like it was nothing."
"I think we should change our food..." a player with the ID "Eleme Deliveryman" said weakly. "The black bread we just had was hard, but it was really filling. I'm worried about the price going up later."
In the square, arguments like these rose and fell. Everyone stared at the items on the redemption list, wishing they could punch the screen, but with limited funds, they could only carefully calculate their spending.
Just as everyone was arguing, the canned food came over.
"Boss! Please give me some advice!" Hakimi exclaimed as if he had seen a savior. "With these few hundred contribution points, should we buy equipment to improve our hard power first, or buy skill books to improve our soft power?"
Canned Food glanced around at the eager eyes around him, pushed up his non-existent glasses, and gave them a look that said, "You're all too young."
"If you trust me," Canned Food cleared his throat, raising his voice a few decibels, "my advice is: don't buy weapons or skill books."
"Huh? What should I buy then?" "To save it and earn interest?"
"No."
Canned Food pointed to the breastplate on his chest, which shimmered with an eerie red light in the firelight.
"Buy this—[Evil God's Heart-Protecting Mirror]."
The entire audience erupted in uproar.
"Breast Protection Mirror? Doesn't that cost 500 points? That's ridiculously expensive!" "And the stats say it only adds a tiny bit of defense, its main functions are recording and reconnaissance. What would we need that for? I don't want to be a streamer." "Yeah, 500 points can buy five swords, enough to equip this whole squad."
Faced with the crowd's doubts, Canned Food was prepared. He found a slightly higher rock, stood on it, and struck a pose as if giving a speech.
"Brothers, let me do the math for you."
"First, about the weapon." Canned Food pointed to the rusty iron axe in Hakimi's hand. "Where did this axe come from? Did you buy it? No, you stole it! It was a gift from the kobolds!"
"The game's mechanics are very hardcore and free. Weapons are both consumables and loot. As long as we go and kill monsters, raid the kobolds' lair, iron swords, spears, shields, and even magic wands that might appear later, are everywhere! Why waste precious contribution points to buy those standard, mass-produced items from the system shop?"
The group nodded thoughtfully. Indeed, in that battle just now, they had upgraded almost all of their equipment—all for free.
"Secondly, regarding skill books," Canned Food continued its analysis, "Basic swordsmanship is indeed useful, but it's static. As you just saw, in chaotic team battles, no swordsmanship is as effective as hitting someone on the back of the head with a brick. Moreover, the motion capture in this game is extremely realistic. If you've practiced Sanda in real life, you'll be a fighting master in the game. This kind of soft skill can be completely developed through our own exploration in actual combat or through offline exchanges."
"but!"
The canned food suddenly changed the subject, and the canned food pointed heavily at the breast protector.
"This item is currently unique in the entire server; it cannot be obtained by defeating monsters—it's a true 'divine artifact'!"
He held up three fingers:
"First, intelligence capabilities. If it weren't for the [reconnaissance] function of my Heart Mirror, which allowed me to see the kobolds' attributes and status beforehand, we would have been overwhelmed by that wave of [Bloodlust]. In the early stages of development, information is life!"
"Secondly, communication skills." Canned Food pointed to the kobold prisoner on the ground. "As you just saw, I could understand its pleas for mercy and get its coordinates, all thanks to the [translation] function of the breastplate. In the future, when we encounter higher-level NPCs, or even other races, without this, you'll be blind and mute!"
"Third, and most importantly, is tactical command."
Canned Food looked at Hakimi, "When you were charging ahead just now, I couldn't call you back directly because you were too far away to hear me. But if you guys also had breastplates, we could establish a [mental link network]. That's real-time voice! That's a tactical channel!"
"Imagine us going into a dungeon. I shout 'Monster on the left!' and you react instantly. Wouldn't this kind of teamwork improve our combat effectiveness? Wouldn't it reduce the death rate?"
These words were well-reasoned and convincing.
The "real-time voice" and "translation" features, in particular, hit the nail on the head for players. In this hardcore game that doesn't even have a minimap, communicating by shouting is really painful.
"But…" Hakimi scratched his head, looking troubled. "You're right, boss. But this thing costs 500 points! Even if we newbies pawned our underwear, we still wouldn't be able to get that many."
The other new players nodded in agreement. 500 points was indeed an astronomical figure for them, who had only been playing for a day.
"You're so stupid!"
The canned food vendor looked at them with exasperation, "Who told you to buy it all by yourself?"
"Although this game doesn't allow direct transfer of contribution points, it does allow 'payment on behalf of others'! More importantly, the Heart Protection Mirror's function can be shared within the team!"
Canned Food pointed at Hakimi's trio, "Isn't your 'Ha' team supposed to have three people? Is it so hard for three people to scrape together 500 points? Just buy one and attach it to the captain. When fighting monsters, the captain is in charge of scouting and reporting; when distributing loot, the captain is in charge of translating. Doesn't that solve everything?"
A single word awakened me from my dream!
"Holy crap! Group buying?!" "A shared gadget? That's a brilliant idea!" "Yeah! Let's five people pool our resources, each contributing 100 points, buy a mirror, and take turns wearing it. Whoever leads the group wears it!"
The players, who had been frowning, suddenly erupted in chaos.
"Come on! I'm playing defensively, but I need some damage dealers. Anyone want to team up with me to get a Mirror?" "Our dorm is one short! Looking for a hardcore player. If you don't have enough contribution points, you can compensate by helping out!" "Hakimi! Transfer your points to me! I'm the team leader, I'll wear the Mirror!"
For a time, a "group buying craze" swept through the temple square.
Veteran players who were previously limited to watching from the sidelines due to insufficient contribution points were now being recruited by newcomers. After all, while veteran players had more points, no one wanted to waste another "mobile radar."
In less than ten minutes, the originally scattered fifty players quickly regrouped into seven or eight well-equipped squads (meaning they managed to put together a mirror).
As red lights illuminated the square, Li Wei, watching from backstage, couldn't help but give the canned food a thumbs up.
"It's a real shame this kid isn't a salesman."
Li Wei was initially worried that these heart-protecting mirrors (which he actually made from scraps, with extremely low cost) would not sell, leading to a team wipe in the Blackrock Mine dungeon due to a lack of communication.
Now, with the ingenious idea of "group buying," the players' combat power has been directly elevated to a new level.
And, most importantly...
Looking at the player feedback received in Shen Ge and the closer social connections formed by players in order to reach the minimum order amount, Li Wei was in a great mood