Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“Come, let’s go and have a drink.” Baili Changcheng put his arms over Lin Jie’s shoulders and dragged him into a pub. This pub was much low key compared to those glamorous-looking restaurants, but business was brisk, and there were many customers going in and out of the shop. The name ‘Sakura’s Pub’ was delicately written in neat handwriting and decorated with silver lining on top of the pub’s entrance, making the place look refined and stylish.

Lin Jie blinked. “This pub is…”

“It’s opened by a player. Cough, cough…” Baili Changcheng led Lin Jie into the pub, waved his hands and shouted, “Sakura, two bottles of Violet, please!”

The interior of the pub had a simple and clean design, and about 20 tables were placed within the main hall. All of these tables were seated with customers, and they were taking big gulps of the good wine. After they finished, they would bang their fists upon the table and shout out loud, “Hey boss, give me more wine here! I want to take away 10 bottles too!”

From the looks of it, it appeared as if they were scared that they wouldn’t be able to taste such great wine in their lives ever again.

The main difference between this pub and pubs opened by NPCs was that there were private rooms available in Sakura’s Pub. Unless the high-class rooms in the Imperial City Restaurant, which would require at least a few to tens of gold coins, one could just spend a single silver coin to book a room for the whole day here.

A sweet-looking girl with double ponytails was standing at the bar counter. Her dimples made her look really cute, but her pretty legs were the most striking—they were extremely smooth and white, and coupled with the short white shirt she was wearing, many men drooled when they saw her walking around.

This girl was none other than Sakura, the pub’s owner. She took out two bottles of Violet from the cupboard behind the bar counter which would normally cost two gold coins per bottle in a normal NPC’s wine house, and said smilingly, “Two gold coins please!”

Lin Jie was stunned. ‘Just two gold coins in total for two bottles?’

“Here.” Baili Changcheng took out two gold coins and placed it into Sakura’s palms. This pretty girl returned him the two coins, and said, “I will exchange it for real cash. You can transfer the money to me by card.”

Baili Changcheng smiled and kept those gold coins away and then proceeded to do a funds transfer. He commented, “Alright, that’s $200 for 1 gold coin, and I have just transferred you a total of $400.”

“Enjoy.” Sakura bowed as she skipped merrily back to the bar counter. When it wasn’t busy, she liked to stride around the pub with her long white legs—it seemed like she really enjoyed the feeling of walking.

Lin Jie poured a glass of Violet, and the fragrance of the wine surrounded his tongue as he took a sip. He smiled and said, “No wonder, business here is brisk—50% discount and with such a pretty lady boss, who wouldn’t want to come here?”

Baili Changcheng touched his wine glass, and his eyes followed Sakura’s legs brazenly. He said coolly, “Well, she’s pretty, ain’t she?”

“She seemed to possess a gorgeous temperament,” commented Lin Jie in a serious tone.

“Ha, don’t act! Your eyes are popping out and glued to… her legs!” said Baili Changcheng with a look of despise.

“Cough, cough… We are all literate people, let’s not say until so… But well, her legs are pretty.”

“Yea, I know right… I can’t believe that such beautiful legs will exist in reality,” said Baili Changcheng as he gazed at Sakura’s legs. He shook his head, and then commented, “Fu Sheng, I have a piece of good news and a piece of bad news for you. Which one do you want to listen to first?”

Lin Jie furrowed his brows and said, “The good news.”

“I think I better tell you the bad news first,” Baili Changcheng ignored Lin Jie’s choice without batting an eyelid, and said seriously, “After Baili Xuanyuan broke out of prison, he has been hiding within the City of Elves.”

A gleam of light flashed past Lin Jie’s eyes. “Well, I guessed that already.”

“Then do you know what he’s been up to in the City of Elves?”

“What?” Lin Jie held his breath. He could almost feel it—the next sentence that Baili Changcheng told him would definitely be something drastic and appalling!

“Trading of slaves!”

“What?????”

Baili Changcheng lowered his voice and explained, “Baili Xuanyuan had requested for funds from our family, and invested all those funds into the game. After spending about 90% of the funds he had—a huge figure at that—he managed to bribe the residents of a middle-class village within the City of Elves. Other than a mountain spring, this village did not have many resources…”

“The Elvish Spring?”

“Yes! You also know that the Elvish Spring is the nourishment for Night Elves, just like how we sustain by eating food. It was a necessity for them, but Baili Xuanyuan told the elves that he would restructure that village such that it would become a stopover place, offering free lodging and food for any passing elves. In actual fact, as long as any elves dared to stay at the village, they would be controlled and caught, then sold off as slaves at high prices! From what I know, Baili Xuanyuan and his team have already made enough to recover their initial investment funds by selling those elvish slaves!”

Lin Jie was shocked. “But the trading of slaves? How the… It’s illegal to do so within the Guild of Light!”

“Hmph, illegal? Precisely because it’s illegal, such transactions will help to gather the most money!” Baili Changcheng tried to hide his emotions, but one could still feel anger seething out from his voice. “Within all the Night Elves, those male elves would be sold to the Tribe of Darkness and be trained into killer machines or become Fallen Elves so as to increase their military strength. Meanwhile, the pretty, young female Night Elves would be bought by the nobility within the Guild of Light and used as entertainment purposes! With all those nobility backing him up, he doesn’t care if he is breaking the law!”

Lin Jie probed further, and finally got a clearer picture of the difficulties Baili Changcheng faced now. As the pioneer within his family for playing in the game, although Baili Changcheng was not as experienced as Baili Xuanyuan, Baili Xuanyuan’s previous failed ventures in the game had resulted to him losing the support of several of the older veterans in the family. Those veterans had in turn changed to support Baili Changcheng instead, and as such he was about to get a rather handsome amount of funds for investment purposes in the game.

Yet now, with just using about one percent of the total funds the family possessed, Baili Xuanyuan had managed to recover all the losses made previously and even made more money by trading slaves. His success greatly threatened Baili Changcheng—after all, one could never expect a balance to be achieved between two parties in the struggle for power. Even a tiny mistake would allow one’s competitor to make a comeback, and hence, lead to oneself being replaced!

It was lucky that Baili Xuanyuan was still under arrest within the Guild of Light—breaking out of prison was the most treacherous crime ever, after all! As such, he could only act from the shadows within the City of Elves and did not dare to arouse much commotion about his doings. This was also why Lin Jie was unaware of news about Baili Xuanyuan till now.

“Since Baili Xuanyuan was unable to manage his business openly, who is the person in charge of the Mage Heavens now?” asked Lin Jie.

“I think it’s his loyal subordinate—some woman by the name of All for Love,” Baili Changcheng furrowed his brows as he recalled, “I have never heard of this woman previously in the game, but it appeared that Mage Heavens is under her charge now. This woman doesn’t seem capable, as Kingdom of Glory had declared its independence and left the Three Alliances when she was managing the Mage Heavens. Now they are only left with a few hundred Paladins to protect them, but I am also not too sure of the details involved.”

Lin Jie was amused. All for Love was Wei Lu! It was difficult to believe that she was so highly revered by Baili Xuanyuan, such that he would even let her run the whole Mage Heavens guild!

More accurately, one should say that it was amazing that she would actually be of use to Baili Xuanyuan!

After all, Baili Xuanyuan was no small fry—he was an experienced and shrewd businessman, and famous for forcing many other businesses to close down! How could such a sly genius like him ever put his trust in a woman? Lin Jie would definitely bet for anything that this stupid but pitiful girl was just a pawn in Baili Xuanyuan’s eyes!

As for Eighteen Massacres, he was totally different from the obedient and careful lackey of the Three Alliances in Lin Jie’s previous life. The Eighteen Massacres they knew now was full of rebellious spirit, and also looking for ways to escape the fate of being controlled!

“When the Epidemic Pond dungeon is launched, Mage Heavens will return to compete,” a gleam of light flashed past Baili Changcheng’s eyes, and he commented, “Fu Sheng, I cannot succeed just based on your promise to collaborate with me. In the future, I most probably will need to set up my own guild and build my own powers, other than depending on Brotherhood.”

Lin Jie agreed and nodded his head solemnly. He said, “But of course! In any case, since you have intentions to build your own forces, I will definitely help you! Not long ago, Brotherhood took over a town. Why not I give it to you for free, since you need it more than me?”

“Give me? An entire town?” Baili Changcheng gaped at that. Owning a town and becoming an Overlord was the beginning step for anyone who wanted to really hold authority in the game! Many guilds had coveted to gain a piece of land but to no avail—yet now this guy here would simply ‘give’ a town to him for free? As wealthy and powerful as Baili Changcheng was, he was still shocked by Lin Jie’s expression!

Lin Jie patted his shoulders, and said, “Yes, you are hearing it right, I shall pass the ownership of Saint Malo Town to you! It is considered a fourth class territory by the players’ standards, but as it was damaged quite badly, you will need to invest about a few hundred thousands gold coins to rebuild it before it can be revived to its prime.”

“That’s a piece of cake! It’s just a few hundred thousands plus gold coins—I can afford this amount,” replied Baili Changcheng in an excited voice. “Fu Sheng, you are my sworn brother from today onwards! I will never forget you if I make any gains!”

“Sure. Wait a sec, though.” Lin Jie turned and dialed Qiu Yuan. Although he had confidently promised this piece of land to Baili Changcheng, this territory was still Qiu Yuan’s one to begin with. From what he knew of Qiu Yuan, she would definitely agree to his request, but he would still need to respect her opinions on this matter.

“What? Give away this territory?” sniffed Qiu Yuan. “I was still thinking of building a luxurious villa here for my darling so she can enjoy life…”

“… I am not asking you to give it away. You can consider it as selling certain shares for this territory to an investor,” explained Lin Jie patiently.

“Oh, whatever! In any case, I am not really interested in becoming an Overlord. However, I want that buyer or investor to promise me that he will never drive out any NPCs who currently live here! Saint Malo Town is their home!”

“Sure!”

“Oh yes, tell that fellow to transfer me money! I want loads of money! He’s your friend and not mine, and I have no qualms in ripping large amounts of money off strangers, haha!”

Baili Changcheng immediately transferred $1,000,000 real cash over to Qiu Yuan’s account after hearing this. Lin Jie could hear her shocked voice from the communication device, “What, one million?! Oh my god…”

Qiu Yuan was, after all, still just a student. Her perception of ‘loads of money’ was at most just $10,000, and thus, the figure she had seen now was definitely unimaginable by her standards. However, Lin Jie believed that she would soon get used to such figures as they continued playing the game.

Saint Malo Town’s ownership was still under Qiu Yuan’s name—after all, this was a decree by Nordilus, the son of the town’s mayor. As such, Baili Changcheng held the position of town administrator. He immediately bought large amounts of manpower and building resources from the system to rebuild the town once he was appointed! Almost up to 80% of the resources he bought was redundant, but those extra materials would nevertheless help to speed up the process of construction by manual labor!

With this speed, Lin Jie guessed the reconstruction of Saint Malo Town would be completed pretty soon.

When Lin Jie left the pub, the system sent a notification to him.

—’Your equipment has been forged. Please collect it from the Blacksmith’s Shop.’

Lin Jie’s heart skipped a beat. The forging of the Silent Killer was done! Was it successful, or had it failed?

If it really was successful…

‘Pui, a man must always be prepared for the worst possible situation!’

‘Alright, then in the case that it failed…’ Lin Jie blinked his eyes and decided he wasn’t going to think much further along this line of thought. ‘Let’s just focus on the scenario of it being successfully forged…’

As he neared the Blacksmith’s Shop, Lin Jie’s heartbeat became faster and faster—he could almost feel it jumping out of his chest!

The success rate of Master Blue forging Sub-Legendary equipment was not more than 1%! Even with the added effect of Blue’s favorability for him, it would just be a mere 6% success rate!

The moment Lin Jie turned around the corner of the street, a burly man rushed forward to him!

“Oh my god, I have succeeded, I have succeeded!” Blue could not hide his excitement when he finally caught sight of Lin Jie. He waved a bone-like long gun maniacally above his head—it was the Sub-Legendary equipment, Silent Killer!

The first Sub-Legendary equipment in the game had finally appeared!

Blue jumped around ecstatically and handed the gun to Lin Jie.

At this moment, there was a loud crash!