Chapter 36
With only 0.3 yuan, his choices were quite limited.
A compass, or a magnesium fire starter?
The former could provide direction, the latter could start a fire. Which would be more useful in a post-apocalyptic world?
He remembered the warrior saying that the areas available for gathering each day were designated, because warriors had to be sent in first to clear them. So, the warriors in the reclamation teams might need a compass more, but the ordinary gatherers probably needed a fire starter more.
Jiang Jitang made his decision.
Following the principle of proximity, he went directly to the other end of the street, to a small workshop processing magnesium products.
“How much for mini magnesium rods like these? I’ll take a few hundred as samples to try out first. How about 0.5 yuan each?” After looking around inside, Jiang Jitang picked up a multi-function magnesium rod the thickness of a finger and made an outrageous opening offer.
He had bought one of these before – a full set for sixteen yuan. But from the factory, eight yuan at most.
Samples? He was clearly planning to buy this many.
The boss was experienced and wouldn’t be fooled by this tactic. He picked up an identical magnesium rod:
“This is a multi-functional one. The factory price is already four eighty. Look, aluminum alloy shell, remove the metal cap here and it’s a sharp 6.5 cm knife, can strike sparks, cut things. Unscrew the metal cap on this end, there’s a solid 6 cm magnesium rod. It even has a metal whistle on top. 0.5 yuan? If you can find any for 0.5 yuan, I’ll buy all you can find.”
“Don’t get worked up, we’re just doing business. How about this model then? This one has nothing, just a magnesium rod, and it’s mini. 0.28 yuan.”
Jiang Jitang was completely unfazed. He was now holding a perforated magnesium rod, just a single 4.5 cm long mini solid magnesium rod, nothing else.
Actually, this was what he had his eye on from the start. It was all part of the bargaining strategy.
The boss fell silent. Although this price was still low, with the previous offer as a baseline, it didn’t seem completely unacceptable.
Seeing an opportunity, Jiang Jitang pretended to compromise: “Alright, I’ll concede further. Even if there are minor flaws or scratches, as long as it works, I’ll pay the same price.”
Well, if you’re talking about slightly defective items… that might be possible.
The boss thought for a moment: “Make it a round number, 0.3 yuan each.”
Jiang Jitang nodded: “Deal. Boss, you’re a straightforward person, so I’ll be straightforward too. It’s settled then. Give me 748 of them, for 220 yuan.”
That was still knocking off a small amount, but in business, you have to give a little discount. So the ‘straightforward’ boss accepted. He had someone count out 748 magnesium rods: “I’m taking a loss today.”
He wouldn’t actually lose money, just make less profit, but Jiang Jitang didn’t argue the point: “Boss, you’re generous. I’ll be back.”
The ‘generous’ boss managed a smile.
—
Jiang Jitang transported these things home, then drove to the wholesale market, where he spent a hundred eighty to buy 750 assorted flavor lollipops, all with packaging and hanging holes.
After the meal, with nothing else to do, he spent over an hour attaching whistles, magnesium rods, and lollipops to the key rings of the multi-function short knives.
748 of them.
“748 graduation gifts, done. It’s too late today, and I’m not in good form. I’ll do the task first thing tomorrow.”
The items needed for the first order were ready, but actually, the first order Jiang Jitang wanted to complete was the final ‘Last Wish’.
It’s a last wish, so what’s wrong with fulfilling it a bit earlier?
Never mind whether the injury could be cured for now; the wish to see the ocean must be fulfilled. He needed a flying vehicle, and a helicopter was quite suitable.
But the Level 1 Tasker’s Vehicle had a speed limit of 30 km/h. So, Jiang Jitang spent a hundred points to upgrade it, then used an Upgrade Card to upgrade the Level 2 cart to Level 3.
After using 100 points:
[Tasker’s vehicle lv2, max speed 80 km/h, provides basic protective shield, no navigation, no auto-pilot, excellent shock absorption, provides five transformation modes. Upgrade requires 1000 points.]
After using the Upgrade Card:
[Tasker’s vehicle lv3, max speed 360 km/h, provides effective protective shield, provides basic navigation, no auto-pilot, superb shock absorption, provides eight transformation modes. Upgrade requires 10,000 points.]
His character info now looked like this:
[Wish-Fulfillment General Store
Tasker: Jiang Jitang (Debt: 103,000,000)
Points: 330
Owned Shop: Mini Temple
Function Cards: Cargo Pass ×2, Companion Pass ×1,
Equipment: Lv2 Tasker’s Backpack, Lv3 Tasker’s Vehicle, Basic Liquid Protective Suit, Basic Stun Gun
Points Mall: Open]
If not for the foal’s boarding fee, he would have ten more points.
“I can fly a helicopter tomorrow.” He had already decided: he would simulate the light multi-purpose Z-9 helicopter from the training camp. He had even taken a simulated test flight at the end of his training today.
Jiang Jitang was truly reckless. Having just learned today, he now dared to fly directly. Bodily time-stop and powerful healing abilities gave him infinite courage to court death.
Probably because he was thinking about helicopters, he even reviewed today’s lessons in his dreams.
—
The next day, he received a new message from Minister Jiang.
The higher-ups had allocated them another piece of land – a recently abandoned public kindergarten – saying they would centralize resources there and set it up as the official office.
Because it was urgent, the existing buildings would be kept, slightly modified, and put into use.
Minister Jiang said they planned to have a medical room, convenient for Jiang Jitang’s monthly visits on the first, and asked if he had any requirements for his future office.
“Anything usable is fine.” He wasn’t a real doctor and only needed to appear one day a month. Why would he have many requirements?
“It’s a long-term arrangement. Why don’t you come over and choose a room for the medical room yourself?”
“Alright.”
He checked the time after closing his phone. There were only a little over four hours left until the ‘Last Wish’ task settlement. Time was tight, but not so tight that he couldn’t make a trip out.
Might as well ask the official personnel what other changes had occurred after the Cube World update.
Jiang Jitang ate breakfast as quickly as possible and headed to the closed-down kindergarten.
“This place is pretty nice. Why did it close down?”
The kindergarten covered over 100 mu ( 1 mu = 666.67 square meter, around 9 football field). The main building was a castle painted with cartoon designs, like a large cake topped with candy. Nearby was a mushroom house serving as a multi-purpose room and a large log cabin as a playhouse.
This kindergarten had just been abandoned; everything inside was still very new. Now it was to become their operational base.
Conducting the most brutal game in a place full of hope and childlike whimsy – the official’s use of ‘contrasting cuteness’ was full of black humor.
Besides this, there were neat rubber running tracks, small vegetable gardens prepared for the children, and a family zoo that no longer had animals.
There was a small square with a double-layer slide and other play equipment, a half-meter deep wading pool for the children to swim in, and a one-acre sandpit with many ‘toddler special forces training equipment’.
Jiang Jitang was immediately captivated.
This garden might not be very suitable for kindergarten children, but it was perfect for a university graduate like him!
He started considering raising the foal here later. The system charged five points per day for boarding.
“How did it close down? People aren’t having children, the population is shrinking. Several kindergartens merged, and this one was too remote, so it closed. Who would have thought? A few years ago, you needed connections to get in here.”
The person showing him around was also an old acquaintance, Han Shuo, who had fully recovered.
He said the branch staff had been as busy as hell these past two days. Explosive updates kept coming one after another, and so did meetings.
There were even some clueless higher-ups trying to get their family members assigned here for protection, which the already irritable and nearly explosive Minister Jiang directly reported by name.
The current Minister Jiang was a live bomb; whoever touched her would get blown up.
“Eh? I thought the Minister had a pretty good temper,” Jiang Jitang said.
“You’re different. You’re the big treasure.”
Their department finally got a healer. With a healer, everyone felt the rear was secure. They couldn’t die easily anymore; they had to crawl back if possible, they could be saved. So even if Minister Jiang exploded, she had to avoid the area where this big treasure was.
Big treasure.
Jiang Jitang liked this status. He could be willful, but others couldn’t be willful with him.
Because he was lenient with himself but strict with others – a double standard.
“Hey, aren’t there ‘inheritors’ of wealth and power in official circles too?” This ‘official’ wasn’t necessarily the other ‘official’. He didn’t believe it was completely free of corruption. It’s all human nature.
Han Shuo glanced left and right: “Better not say that.”
“The sky knows, the earth knows, the breeze knows, others do not,” Jiang Jitang said solemnly.
So Han Shuo leaned in: “After the Cube World update, the higher-ups started investigations. Besides the children of the rich and officials, there were quite a few from academic circles. Not so many from the entertainment industry, though; probably not qualified enough.”
Jiang Jitang wasn’t surprised. Not to mention far examples, wasn’t Nanshan University, which perennially competed with Nan Lian University for the provincial No.1 spot, famously a breeding ground for academic cliques? Academicians and their descendants who were about to become academicians, and the academic labor.
“Actually, some unfortunate souls died inside yesterday. You know, Academician Sun’s child prodigy son, the one who published three cancer-related papers at a young age…”
“Oh.”
Before Han Shuo could finish, Jiang Jitang laughed.
His face was radiant, his expression gentle: “Academician Sun’s son is so outstanding, he must have withstood the test from the Cube World, right? I’m so happy for him.”
Han Shuo: …Guess who I said the unfortunate soul who died inside was?
Even Han Shuo, slow as he was, could see the schadenfreude.
A child prodigy built on the lives of a few students…
Cough. Let’s think of something happy, and being happy isn’t illegal.
Han Shuo didn’t continue about this prematurely deceased ‘prodigy’. He turned the topic back to the beginning, the chain reaction caused by the third update.
“Anyway, since yesterday, we’ve been registering newly registered players non-stop.”
“Think about it, coming out of the game world is a narrow escape, needing treatment, impossible to hide. So quite a few people came forward, saying their children had entered the game earlier but didn’t publicize it to avoid trouble, and are now reporting uniformly. The implication is, they weren’t part of the newly selected five hundred thousand.”
This matter, if investigated carefully, could actually distinguish between earlier players and newly selected ones. But the current environment isn’t suitable for internal strife, so those who come out to register now are defaulted to be pre-existing players.
Inheritances and such, voluntarily clear them out.
As for the players and the forces behind them who are hiding, they can only pray not to be exposed later, otherwise there will definitely be consequences.
“They come out, but they won’t expect us to be their bodyguards, right?”
Han Shuo shivered looking at Jiang Jitang’s smiling face: “That can’t happen. We’re all ‘martyrs’ now. If they push us too far, wouldn’t we rebel?”
So far, at least, no one dared to reach into their department. It’s said that the higher-ups are discussing perhaps having the future player departments directly under the central government, reporting to the top.
Besides, most leaders with children selected aren’t that stupid. Rather than hoping for official privileges, it’s better to quickly find people to train their useless kids, sign up for classes, get training, spend money and connections, and if really necessary, find an expert to carry them through a few levels.
If they really encounter foolish ones, just report them. At this critical juncture, they would definitely be sentenced severely, to make an example.
Jiang Jitang was immediately satisfied: “Besides the Cube World update, any other news?”
Han Shuo thought about it; they were all on the same side, non-confidential information could be shared.
“Previously, wasn’t there someone who cleared the ninth-order game? Other eighth-order players weren’t convinced. These past two days, they’ve been grinding instances. So far, five people have cleared the ninth-order Cube game. Our country has two: Zong Zheng from the Research Society, and Zhuang Xiaomeng from Butterfly Valley.”
“None from the official side?” Sounded like civilian organizations.
“Still grinding. Probably news in a few days. The previous policy emphasized steady progress, after all, we are all civil servants who died once. The higher-ups were reluctant for us to sacrifice again, so our progress was slower than civilian organization players. But with the version update, the policy will likely change soon.”
Han Shuo only mentioned some good news. In fact, many expert players had fallen these past two days. The ninth-order games wouldn’t lower their difficulty just because someone cleared them.
—
After chatting for a while, Jiang Jitang felt it was about time. He chose the small log cabin as the medical room.
The log cabin stood in a small garden, not far from the sandpit and the mini farm and plantation. If he had to work, he wanted to see more animals and plants.
“Can we build an additional stable? Right there.” He pointed at the mini farm.
“You want to raise a horse?”
“I have that idea. I don’t know if it’s convenient.”
“Convenient. This place is suitable anyway.” Han Shuo agreed immediately. In the face of a reasonable request from their department’s big treasure, nothing was inconvenient.
“Good.”
Jiang Jitang checked his watch: “I have things to do, I’ll stop here. The official start is the first of next month, the day after tomorrow, right? If you have nothing going on, you can come by. Get adjusted before entering an instance. You’re not counted in the hundred people.”
After saying this, he patted the still stunned Han Shuo’s shoulder as a farewell.
By the time Han Shuo came to his senses and looked for him, he only saw the retreating rear end of the small electric bike.
“Thanks, Healer!”
The electric bike wobbled.
