Chapter 123: Another Decoy Tomb! |
"Hey, where are you guys going? Heading out to play?"
Ai Shiping looked a bit confused. He was squatting in the living room, flipping through some playable discs, when he saw Ming Po and Gao Fan walking out one after the other.
He instinctively stood up, wanting to follow them out. "Take me with you!"
Hearing this, Ming Po stopped in his tracks. He looked back at Ai Shiping, pondering for a few seconds.
"Speaking of which, aren't you due for a Promotion?" Ming Po suddenly asked. "You already have Day's False Gold by now, right?"
"Anytime."
Ai Shiping smiled brightly and gave a thumbs-up. "The 'materials' are all gathered, and my Title has already been upgraded..."
Two main factors held a Deceiver back from a Promotion. One was upgrading their Title, and the other was acquiring Time Chips.
To promote to Day's False Gold, one had to obtain a Time Chip of the Day's False Gold rank; to promote to Zhou's Azure Lead, one had to obtain a chip of the Zhou's Azure Lead rank.
It was like a promotional series from Platinum to Diamond in a game, which often required you to carry a few Platinum players against a team of Diamonds and still win... Therefore, just barely reaching the threshold of the next tier wasn't enough to promote. One's strength had to be significantly higher than the next rank to actually move up.
And most people, even with their Title fully upgraded, simply didn't possess that kind of strength.
They could only pay a premium to buy higher-tier chips from higher-ranking Deceivers as their ticket to promotion. But high-tier chips weren't just readily available whenever you wanted them... Middlemen would always take a cut, as average people would otherwise find it very difficult to meet these high-ranking Deceivers.
One also had to consider the possibility of the seller backing out and murdering them for their goods.
After all, anyone who could scrape together enough money to buy higher-tier chips at a premium undoubtedly carried a massive amount of "cash." Killing a lower-level Deceiver was certainly far less difficult than fighting someone of the same level, or even a higher level... yet the returns were actually quite high. Although many people traded honestly, it was by no means an absolute guarantee.
After all, there were no laws between Deceivers... it was a pure relationship of the weak being prey to the strong.
And this was exactly the benefit of joining a large organization. If one bought chips directly from seniors within the organization, both of these problems naturally resolved themselves. If the relationship was good enough, one might not even have to pay a premium and could buy them at cost—treating it like breaking large bills into pocket change.
Regardless, for these people, even if they promoted to a higher authority level, they basically wouldn't participate in high-risk Confrontation games. They merely ran low-risk survival games to earn ticket money.
Although a higher authority level meant more expensive entry tickets and higher difficulty, it also allowed them to earn more "time."
Because in survival games, one didn't actually need to completely resolve the incident like Ming Po did. The true main storyline was merely surviving until the next node.
In other words, one could avoid touching any side quests, explore nowhere, do only the bare minimum main quests, and avoid combat as much as possible... This way, they could still get a tiny amount of chips. In the worst-case scenario, it would just barely cover the entry ticket, effectively making the round a scratch.
Even if the mission failed, the entry ticket money would at most be swallowed up, and they wouldn't necessarily die. Just like Lin Ya, who had lost almost all her chips but still hadn't died. It was hard to tell whether she was lucky or unlucky.
Therefore, Day's False Gold was the first stage of qualitative change. Even with the lowest level of completion... for instance, "one chip in, two chips out," compared to the income of an Hour's Red Copper with the same completion rate, the earnings were directly twenty-four times higher.
Since Ai Shiping had already met the promotion standards, it was best for him to promote as soon as possible.
Otherwise, every time Ming Po accompanied him in a game, it was equivalent to reducing his potential income by more than twenty times within the same timeframe. Although he didn't know what the countdown in the living room—the one only he could see—actually meant...
Ming Po instinctively felt it was better to take it seriously. Ming Po said, "If you don't have anything else going on, then promote now. I can't help you with this anyway."
"Now?" Ai Shiping was slightly surprised. "So sudden?"
"It's not exactly a rush. It's just that the two of us happen to have some business outside—and it makes me uncomfortable knowing you're idling at home," Ming Po confessed honestly.
"...Fine, fine, fine."
Ai Shiping stood up somewhat helplessly. "Sigh, I was planning to enjoy myself for a bit... You know what, Po? There are movies to watch here... I took a look, and they're all classic old films. There are seventy or eighty collections of movies alone. There's even the complete Tom and Jerry—you've got taste, Little Fan!"
Gao Fan merely smiled, his tone gentle. "Don't be in a rush to start the game yet. Let me treat you to a cola; consider it a farewell drink."
He could tell that Ai Shiping seemed to really like it. Coincidentally, his fridge had plenty in stock.
Although Deceivers could drink beverages and sleep to rest... in reality, as long as a Deceiver didn't Manifest, they didn't need to sleep at all, let alone eat or drink. Of course, if they Manifested, they would be just like ordinary people.
If simply satisfying one's appetite could bring happiness, that was also a talent—a talent for surviving long-term in this hopeless, endless black-and-white world.
"Great, I won't hold back then!"
Ai Shiping agreed without the slightest hesitation, following Gao Fan into the kitchen. "Then I want a large glass!"
After showing Ai Shiping where the fridge and coffee machine were, along with the locations of the coffee beans, tea leaves, and electric kettle, Gao Fan quickly walked out. He gave Ming Po a look, and the two quietly opened the door and left.
Evidently, neither Ming Po nor Gao Fan wanted Ai Shiping, who was still at the Hour's Red Copper rank, to get dragged into this incident.
Gao Song was a high-ranking Deceiver with Zhou's Azure Lead authority level, while Ai Shiping lacked combat capability entirely. Though Gao Fan didn't have much combat capability either... at least he was relatively good at running. Moreover, this was his family matter to begin with; it was impossible for him not to go himself.
If Ai Shiping were to get injured or even killed because of Gao Fan's request... without a doubt, their newly established team might fall apart. Even though Ai Shiping was the lowest level, couldn't fight well, and lacked experience...
His personality was precisely the glue holding this team together.
Only when they walked downstairs did Ming Po finally speak. "Where are we going?"
"My uncle has four properties in Shanghai, and I'm not sure where his real Anchor Point is..."
"Wow, extravagant. Truly worthy of a family with a throne to inherit." Ming Po marveled. "He even has a decoy tomb!"