Free Web NovelChapter 97: Chapter 97: Getting Better
He returned to his bedroom to wash up, then went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
He took out the bag of dragon beard noodles and a tomato he had bought on his way back yesterday and made a simple meal.
Half an hour later.
Long Ming returned to his room, walked to his bed, and picked up the game helmet to put it on.
SHH~
When Long Ming opened his eyes again, he was in Starry City.
He raised his wristband to open the store, only to find that the unopened file pouch hadn’t sold.
However, he had received several messages in a temporary chat window.
"Bro, you set the price too high. It’s hard to get anything good from these file pouches. How about 3M, you selling?"
"Your price might be the market rate, but opening these is a huge gamble—nine losses for every ten tries. 2.6M, deal?"
...
Long Ming glanced over all the messages. They were all complaining that the price was too high and making new offers.
’Looks like players have gotten smarter these days; they aren’t buying blindly anymore.’
Long Ming stared at the unopened file he had listed and began to think. This file pouch had come from the Observatory dungeon.
’If I’m not mistaken, the contents are probably data and design schematics related to the Observatory.’
’It’s not that those things are bad, but they’re useless to me and I can’t cash them in.’
’Of course, there’s always the chance of a lucky drop, getting some special data.’
Thinking this, Long Ming found the player who had offered the highest price, 4M, among the many messages and sent a reply.
"Okay!"
"Please change the price."
A reply quickly popped up in the temporary chat window.
Long Ming immediately changed the consignment price to 4M.
"Notification: Your consigned unopened file pouch has been sold. You have received 4,000,000 1D Coins."
After reading the notification, Long Ming opened the auction interface to check on the map’s bidding status.
"Hiss."
Long Ming sucked in a sharp breath. The bid for the Observatory Base map had already reached 15,000,000 1D Coins. And the auction wasn’t even over yet—there were still about six hours left. The final price would probably be even higher.
But after some thought, he figured a price this high was normal.
’After all, the buyer is bound to be a major guild, possibly even one of the three great guilds. Besides, this map isn’t a one-time use item. Elite members of a team can use it repeatedly to reveal the area, which makes it a very good deal in the long run.’
Long Ming then found a place to sit down patiently. He read the military combat manual while waiting for the auction to end.
Soon, only the last five minutes of the auction remained.
Long Ming put the manual away and started watching the map’s auction price.
By now, the price had been pushed to 16M, and it had stayed there for nearly two hours.
The seconds ticked by.
When a 10-second countdown appeared on the auction interface, the price was instantly pushed up to 17,000,000 1D Coins.
The countdown timer reset to 30 seconds.
The next second, the price was raised again to 17.5 million, and then it was pushed up once more.
A smile appeared on Long Ming’s face as he watched. ’Just as I thought, the major guilds are finally making their move.’
The price soon began to skyrocket wildly.
A moment later, after a dozen or so rounds of bidding, the auction price settled at 26,000,000 1D Coins, with no one raising it further.
BZZ~
A notification immediately popped up on his wristband.
"Notification: Your auctioned Observatory map has been successfully sold. After deducting the service fee, you have received 23,400,000 1D Coins."
Long Ming was very satisfied with the notification. A single map had sold for over twenty million.
He checked his account, and his mood brightened considerably upon seeing 93,630,500 1D Coins.
Although this amount of Game Coins was worth less than a million Mountain Coins, it had been a long time since he’d felt this wealthy.
As for the money, Long Ming wanted to find an opportunity to buy a game pod. After all, always using the pods at the Star Wish Cafe wasn’t a sustainable solution. It would be a hassle if he needed to log on urgently one day and couldn’t book one. Besides, the fees for the game pods were exorbitant, and it pained him every time he had to pay.
However, game pods weren’t easy to buy, and the prices were severely inflated right now.
With that thought, Long Ming tapped his wristband and logged out of the game.
...
「In the bedroom.」
Long Ming took off the helmet and rolled his neck.
He had a major guild dungeon run tomorrow, so he decided not to do any runs today and get some proper rest.
Otherwise, his body wouldn’t be able to take it.
Lying on his bed, Long Ming picked up his phone and opened his messaging app.
He saw that the "Fifth Rat Group" chat was constantly popping up with notifications, showing 9999+ unread messages.
Long Ming was a little surprised. ’The group is so lively today.’ He tapped to open the group chat.
Zhou Hui: "Brothers and sisters, the guild is running the major dungeon tomorrow!"
Chang Yue: "You’re just finding out? I already signed up with Sister Qi."
Zhang Qian: "You guys are too much! How could you not mention something this good earlier? I want to sign up too!"
Qin He: "Damn, I’ve never seen you all this eager. What’s gotten into everyone today?"
Shen Chu: "Brother Qin He, the usual group activities don’t earn much, but this time is different. The guild is running a major dungeon, one that requires an invitation! These kinds of dungeons are super lucrative. With the guild’s protection, we can definitely get our hands on a lot of good stuff!"
Ning Yan: "Exactly! If one of the Rats on a 50/50 split contract gets in, they’ll strike it rich!"
Chang Yue: "It won’t be easy for a Contract Rat to get picked, right? After all, our Fifth Rat Group only has 10 spots in total."
Ning Yan: "True, but even the full-time Rats can make money. I heard there’s an extra subsidy, and if you loot a lot, there are bonuses too."
Zhang Qian: "Hearing you all say that, doesn’t it mean we have no chance? I bet at least a few thousand people in our guild have signed up, right?"
Qin He: "Can’t be helped. We can only try our luck."
...
Reading this, Long Ming grew thoughtful. It seemed tomorrow’s dungeon run was indeed a lucrative opportunity.
BZZ~
Just then, a message popped up on his phone.
"Meet at the entrance of the Star Wish Cafe at 7 a.m. tomorrow. Remember to bring your badge, and don’t be late!"
"Okay."
Long Ming replied to Xiaoqi.
...
「Center of the Upper City District.」
A towering, spire-like building stood on the bustling street.
The building’s curtain wall, made of pristine panes of tempered glass, reflected the sky.
The entire building was magnificent and luxurious.
At that moment, in an extremely lavish private office on the top floor of the building.
Qiansha sat on a soft leather sofa, a wide smile on his face as he embraced two sexy, fiery beauties with outstanding looks.
Just then, the building’s curtains closed automatically, blocking the view from outside.
Immediately after, a series of electronic screens extended down from the ceiling.
Captain Alang, who was standing beside the sofa, quickly said respectfully.
"Lord Qiansha, it is time."
Hearing this, the smile on Qiansha’s face vanished instantly. He spoke directly to the beauties in his arms.
"You may leave."
"Yes."
Upon hearing him, the two beauties quickly got up and left with their heads lowered.
At this moment, the images of Qian Wei, Qian Luobing, and his other siblings appeared on the descended electronic screens.
Then, with a sullen look on his face, Qian Wei spoke.
"Everyone’s here. Let’s start the meeting to discuss the matter of the Observatory."
