Chapter 276: Black Phantom’s Machinery Box (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The benefit that Han Xiao really wanted was to have the players spread the word of how attractive the arena was as a part of a main city, leading to more people coming to the sanctuary for it, bringing in a large number of immigrants and, more importantly, customers.
The Great Mechanic Han had quite a few more ideas, such as opening official bets and creating a PVP ranking system, both of which would attract more players. However, he thought about it and decided not to do that as neither of those were easy to operate and would only be official if they were made by the game developers. If an NPC like him did it, he felt that there might be some risks and negative impacts.
Most importantly, if he could give these rewards ‘officially’, he could make these studios and actors lose all their business. Han Xiao would never do that since one of his businesses in his previous life included that.
Although he was benefiting from the players, the players benefitted from him as well, so it was a win-win. Therefore, the safest and most comfortable position for Han Xiao was to be neutral, only providing the venue and justice, letting the players explore the rest. It could also be considered ‘guiding the Inhumans to use their extra energy’.
Once the position of the main city was firm and had a high population, in Han Xiao’s plan, the next step would be the sinister real estate!
As the overseer in charge, other than the places to protect refugees, the rest of the areas in the sanctuary would all be for him to make a profit!
Suckers... ahem... large customers would, of course, be those large guilds.
“Sigh, business...”
Seeing the moving people in the square, Han Xiao stroked his chin and sighed.
...
Huang Yu was totally convinced.
He used to think the arena was a total waste of resources, but after more than ten days of observation, he gradually realized the potential benefits. Huang Yu could not understand what Han Xiao’s long-term plan was, nor did he know the concept of ‘players’, but when he was drawing the accounting reports, he noticed the fees that they charged for the Inhumans largely exceeded what they incurred for repairs. In the long term, the cost would be earned back sooner or later, and whatever else they received would be pure profit, and this was only one of the benefits.
The Inhumans were the main manpower for the construction of the sanctuary, but they were weird and difficult to manage. Huang Yu did not want the Inhumans to have too much contact with the refugees, so he drew out areas for the Inhumans to use, yet the Inhumans still looked for refugees very often. Although their motive was to help, it did result in Huang Yu’s management measures failing. After the arena was built, Inhumans actively used the arena as the center of their activities. The square and the arena naturally became ‘Inhuman Communities’, which saved him a lot of management effort, and the entire sanctuary became more organized.
This time, Huang Yu was adulating Han Xiao in the office, complimenting on how farsighted Han Xiao was, how he was wise, and any other cringeworthy compliment that he could think of. These words came out from Huang Yu’s mouth non-stop and jumped into Han Xiao’s ears, making Han Xiao feel so disgusted he had goosebumps.
After he finally chased Huang Yu away, Han Xiao started to think of the next step for the Players’ Main City plan. Most of the benefits that the arena could bring would only happen in the future, but he was not satisfied with that.
To make the sanctuary more attractive as the main city, the arena is just one factor. There is another way, to have some recurring events. Other than the festival events from the official game developers, if I want to attract the players to participate in the events, I have to show them actual real benefits...
Han Xiao knocked on the table with his fingers and pondered. Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration, and an idea came to his mind.
The morning in Karst wasteland was full of sand and fog, giving a feeling of damp and dry at the same time—it was very uncomfortable. However, the areas near the sanctuary were clean and refreshing, so the haze was blocked. The sanctuary already had a rough foundation, and it was equipped with enormous air filtration devices. The sanctuary placed importance in preventing radiation, pollution, and deterioration of the air quality.
The players were taking part in building the sanctuary. On the rebar of the protective wall, a group of players was welding. This job was tedious and dangerous, and the players stepped on the rebars wobbly.
“Be careful, don’t fall down.”
Just as this person said that, another person beside him slipped. The people looked at him as he fell while the sorry scream that person made descended further and further.
The protective wall was very tall. It was the most dangerous mission in all of the construction missions, and players died accidentally very often.
“Told you to be careful.”
On the other rebar, a player with the ID ‘Half A Cigarette When Lonely’ said resentfully, “Sh*t, those safer and easier missions with rich reward are all controlled by the large guilds. Us normal players can only do these worse missions.”
Whenever there were people, there would be conflict. There were many types of sanctuary construction missions, and the easy missions with rich reward were all divided between the large guilds. Most of the solo players could only take the leftovers. The majority of players were just playing casually and were not bothered, but there were also players who did.
Filled with contempt, Half A Cigarette When Lonely complained, “These large guilds possess the resources, so we’ve already lost on the starting line. How can we even fight them in the future?”
Someone beside laughed and said, “It’s just a game. Why so serious?”
“Playing a game means being the strongest is the best. If not, what’s the point of playing?” Half A Cigarette When Lonely rebutted. “That’s why all of you are so weak—you don’t have any dreams.”
“If you’re so jealous, why don’t you just join a guild?”
“Humph, only the weak stay in groups; the strong play solo,” Half A Cigarette When Lonely said. Of course, he was not going to tell them the miserable experience of him getting rejected after applying to join a certain guild.
They looked down from above, and suddenly, they realized that on the sanctuary square, players that looked like the size of ants to them were gathered. This was the signature sign of Han Xiao appearing. Suddenly, announcements from other players appeared in the area channel. It seemed like Black Phantom had introduced a new function. The people who were building the protective wall put down what they were doing and went down the wall hastily. Some impatient ones even jumped down directly, died, then revived in the square, saving themselves the time it took to climb down.
Half A Cigarette When Lonely ran to the square, but it was already full of people. Han Xiao stood in a corner of the square, behind him was a large truck. Like other players, Half A Cigarette When Lonely also extended his neck and looked over curiously.
Looking at the crowd, Han Xiao coughed and said loudly, “Recently, there has been a lot of backlog that I need to get rid of. All of it is packed into boxes. If anyone wants to buy a box, I can sell it for a low price.”
The players in the square exchanged looks.
Packed into boxes, what does that mean?
Since it’s backlog, is it worth buying?
“Give me ten,” Jade Green Sky said immediately.
With the thought of ‘Black Phantom only sells high-quality products’ in mind, he was willing to be the first one to try. No matter what new function this was, they would know once they use it.
“3,000 Aquamarine Dollars for one box.”
“So expensive‽” Jade Green Sky was astounded. He braced himself and bought it, spending all the money he had. Although he was the guild leader, it did not mean that he could just bring the guild funds everywhere with him—this was all his own money.
After Han Xiao took the money, he took out ten boxes from the truck. Jade Green Sky opened nine consecutively, and his face instantly turned black. The boxes were all filled with broken parts and cheap materials. The players on the side shook their heads as they saw this.
“What backlog? This is all just trash. I wouldn’t want any even for free.”
“Only morons would buy such a thing.”
Jade Green Sky turned around and gave a vicious stare, then opened the last box without any expectations. However, as soon as he opened the box, Jade Green Sky’s eyes froze, and he stared into the thing in the box.
A retractable knife was lying in the box.
In his vision, the name of the knife was shockingly purple!
This is a piece of purple equipment!
The crowd saw his expression and were curious as well. They stood on tiptoes to look into the box, and all inhaled deeply after they saw what was in it.
The exclamation of shock expanded outward like a wave.
Up till this moment, the players had yet to see any purple equipment. This was the first one to appear before the players’ eyes!
Jade Green Sky’s chin almost hit the floor. He looked at the ten boxes before him and suddenly felt a sense of familiarity... then it occurred to him.
“Wait a minute! This function... isn’t this opening loot boxes‽”