Do You Love Your Brothers or Gold? / The Meter Runs Backward; We Get Sanctioned (Third Update)

"?" Koschei choked up. She clearly remembered that Talulah hated everything related to her, so why had she changed so much all of a sudden?

"Old hag, you abducted me for so many years. It's time you coughed up some gold." At that moment, Talulah no longer found Koschei quite so detestable. She was practically a huge gold mine.

After the reforms of successive emperors, Ursus's heavy industry and military strength had soared all the way up, making the surrounding nations increasingly uneasy. This power should originally have been used for foreign expansion, but the previous emperor's sudden death had caused enormous amounts of authority and troops to fall into the hands of the great nobles.

The Third Army Group was one of them. It was a military force capable of destroying half a duchy, the private army controlled by the Grand Duke of Baikal.

Even the Emperor of Ursus could do nothing about a grand duke with such real power, but Koschei had a way, because the Grand Duke of Baikal had originally been one of Koschei's lackeys.

In the original plot, after Koschei's plan to provoke a Yan-Ursus war was exposed, the Inner Guard came to settle accounts. Yet they discovered that a group led by the Grand Duke of Baikal had committed suicide out of fear of punishment, while Koschei herself came out entirely unscathed. That said it all.

Now that she had a chance to take control of the Third Army Group, how could Talulah possibly let it slip away for nothing?

Cheap old man, cough up the gold!

Koschei was speechless. She wondered how Talulah had turned into this kind of freak, but she still had to grit her teeth and accept it. "I can give you the Third Army Group, but I need time."

"How long?" Talulah asked.

"About two or three years." Koschei thought for a moment and gave a deadline.

The smile on Talulah's face gradually vanished, replaced by an expression as deadpan as Summer Dragon Chen's.

Old hag, I think you're tired of living.

"Koschei, do you remember putting something in Reunion's milk and making all of us have diarrhea so badly we could barely walk?" Talulah asked quietly as she moved behind Koschei.

Koschei slowly produced a question mark. "How could I not remem—"

"I knew you wouldn't admit it." Talulah drew her weapon and said slowly, "Do you know the pain of having your butt frozen for half a day in ice and snow yesterday? Of course you wouldn't. You're an immortal, and a grand duke at that. It must be hard for you to understand such troubles. But it's fine. You'll understand very soon."

Koschei's expression stiffened. She desperately wanted to turn around, but Talulah placed one hand on her shoulder. In an instant, Black Serpent's entire body began trembling in fear.

Black Serpent, don't turn around. It's Talulah.

The next moment, the Flame of Joy, complete with fiery special effects, fiercely pierced upward from somewhere beneath Black Serpent's back!

"Aaaahhh!!!"

Black Serpent immediately felt unprecedented pain, as if a sharp sword had pierced her body. No, it wasn't as if—it had really pierced her body. Worse still, burning began inside her. The intense agony was more than even an immortal who had lived for over a thousand years could bear.

Even the people watching from nearby subconsciously clenched their legs, their butts turning cold.

Qianyi broke out in a cold sweat. Oh no. If she finds out I gave her expired milk and made her sick, won't I be the one getting stabbed next?

However, the suffering was not over yet.

Talulah and Koschei had each started with a weapon. Since Koschei had been tied up, her weapon had also fallen into Talulah's hands. In other words, although Talulah had sent her own weapon into Koschei's body, she still had another weapon available.

"Koschei, did you know that in faraway Bulgaria, there's a unique bathing method called Ice and Fire? It lets you experience the scorching heat of flames and the freezing cold of frost within a short period of time. They're two completely different sensations. To be honest, I don't know where Bulgaria is either. I read about it in a magazine. Normal people definitely couldn't endure it, but I think for an immortal like you, it'll be a novel experience."

Holy shit! There was another expert here!

"FrostNova, add some frost to it." Talulah handed the sword to FrostNova.

FrostNova had wanted to refuse, but seeing Talulah's smile on the verge of breaking, she truly could not bear to refuse. She closed her eyes and added a frost enchantment to the sword.

Frostmourne!

Talulah accepted Frost of Sorrow with a smile and aimed the blade at her own face. Then her expression turned icy as the frost-covered sword reflected her features.

The next moment, she yanked the Flame of Joy out of Koschei's body and then sent Frost of Sorrow in, gritting her teeth as she did.

"Did my inability to dress well bother you?!"

"Sorry for not being feminine enough!!"

"Sorry for being such a tomboy!!!"

Love Brothers or Gold

During this month, a few small things happened to Reunion.

The camp successfully moved from that godforsaken snowy plain to the Koschei Territory. Although no one knew why they had ended up living in the duke's castle, at least they no longer had to starve and freeze every day.

All of this was thanks to Reunion's leader, Talulah. Yet for some reason, instead of being welcomed, she was feared by many Reunion members. Whenever they saw Talulah, they instinctively covered their butts and fled with pale faces. Some even fainted outright at the sight of her.

This left Talulah deeply depressed, and she even shut herself away for a while because of it.

Besides that, the members who had followed Reunion to the Koschei Territory were given a huge red packet by an unfamiliar Reunion officer the moment they arrived. It was worth the equivalent of ten months' wages for a worker in Saint-Junburg, the capital of Ursus. Their meals also changed from thin porridge with no visible grains and root soup to curd pies, milk, red sausage, and borscht. For a time, Reunion's morale rose to unprecedented heights.

Ordinary members who used to piss themselves in fear upon seeing a Patrol Squad now dared to charge six of them alone. The scariest part was that quite a few of them actually won!

Back then, we were too hungry and too weak, and we couldn't see a future for the Infected. Swinging a club six times in six seconds was already my limit. If I saw the Infected Patrol Squad and didn't run, that counted as loyalty. Now, I just followed the group without saying a word, and money was already being thrown in my face—so much that I felt uneasy even stuffing it under my pillow. If I can't swing six times in one second now, or if I see the Infected Patrol Squad and don't dare to take them on alone, then I'm just a coward, unworthy of Leader Talulah's kindness.

The leader's kindness could never be repaid.

Inside the chat group.

Steel Prison Big: This top-secret Ursus operation had excellent returns. Although we gave a large portion of Koschei's inheritance to the Reunion members willing to continue following us, the remaining funds are still enough to split evenly among all of us.

I want to eat Mei-flavored instant noodles: How much did we make this time?

Steel Prison Big: You'll find out soon enough.

Qianyi kept everyone in suspense as he stuffed gift boxes into the group's red packet function and sent them to every group member.

Since Reunion's future development required a great deal of money, Qianyi had only taken a small portion. But even a small portion of a duke's assets was a terrifying sum.

Shoko curiously opened the gift box, wondering what could possibly warrant such elaborate packaging. The moment she opened it, a dazzling golden light filled her vision, like morning sunlight falling upon glistening dew, shining brilliantly and lighting the road ahead of her.

A neat row of gold bars lay inside the gift box, holding her gaze captive.

"Th-this... th-this..." She was already unable to speak.

Kids, the Dimensional Chat Group was handing out gold bars!

Steel Prison Big: Every member who participated in the operation gets ten kilograms of gold. Gold prices may differ between worlds, but where I am, 24K gold is currently around thirteen thousand yen per gram. Converted, that's roughly 130 million yen per person.

Customer Service Shoko is at your service: 130 million!!!

Talulah: Kiana, come slap me twice. Let me see if this is real.

I want to eat Mei-flavored instant noodles: Coming!

Kiana opened a Space Gate, stretched out her hand, and slapped Talulah in the next room.

Talulah, who had been dumbfounded moments ago, immediately woke up.

Talulah: What the hell! That was just a figure of speech! Who told you to actually open a Space Gate and slap me?!

After sending the message, she stormed out, preparing to settle the score offline.

Lower District Flying Head Barbarian: Didn't you say only the people who participated would get some? Why did I get it too?

Maple Sugar Commander: I got some too. Do people who didn't participate get them as well?

Steel Prison Big: Since you didn't participate, of course we couldn't take out two portions for you from Reunion's collective resources. But as members of the Dimensional Chat Group, a Community of Shared Destiny, if there are benefits, naturally they should be shared. So I split my own share in two and gave it to you as gifts. I said it before: I will never enjoy this glory alone.

Lower District Flying Head Barbarian: Long live the boss!

Maple Sugar Commander: Long live the boss!

Child of Prophecy: Long live the boss!

Customer Service Xiang is at your service: Long live the boss!

I want to eat Mei-flavored instant noodles: Qianyi is awesome! Wait, Shoko, why are you shouting along too? That doesn't fit your character at all.

Customer Service Shoko is at your service: Kiana, don't say unnecessary things.

130 million. A full 130 million!

She had only spent fifty points to buy a Travel Ticket and come here. What had she actually done? It seemed like nothing. Yet even so, she had earned more than 100 million. Just thinking about putting such a thick stack of gold under her pillow tonight made it impossible for her to sleep peacefully.

Was it really okay to get this much just by shouting "long live" twice? Do you need me to wear a maid outfit and give you a massage, or wear black stockings and step on your back? If that won't do, I can even look at you with a disgusted expression.

I want to eat Mei-flavored instant noodles: Do you love your brothers or gold?

Steel Prison Big: I love my brothers!

Lower District Flying Head Barbarian: With this much money, I don't even dare imagine how much rice we could buy by recycling it through the chat group.

Steel Prison Big: Wouldn't that be a huge loss?

Customer Service Shoko is at your service: Miss Seele's world lacks supplies badly. Even if they have gold, without proper channels, they cannot obtain daily necessities. So having the Dimensional Chat Group recycle it and exchange it for essential supplies such as rice is a very convenient option.

Customer Service Xiang is at your service: Wait, I suddenly noticed a huge problem. If we calculate it this way, isn't the chat group's pricing a bit of a scam? One point can only be exchanged for ten jin of rice, while the Originium Inhibitor Talulah desperately needs is only worth ten points. Also, a mission to save Changkong City only gives one thousand points, which converts to ten thousand jin of rice. Is the chat group too exploitative, or is there some loophole here?

Lower District Flying Head Barbarian: I don't know. I never thought about that.

Talulah: I never thought too deeply about it. I just thought earning ten jin of rice every day by signing in and running a couple laps was a great deal.

I want to eat Mei-flavored instant noodles: I always thought points were for poverty alleviation.

Steel Prison Big: Since we can exchange one point for ten jin of rice, can we reverse it and exchange ten jin of rice for one point?

Child of Prophecy: You can do that?!

Customer Service Xiang is at your service: Let me check. It seems... we can!

Toyokawa Shoko checked the recycling function in the shop and discovered that although there would be a loss when rice and similar goods were bought and then sold back—one point's worth only sold for 0.6 points now—everyone was rich!

Shoko did not even dare imagine how much food the Grand Duke of Baikal and Duke Koschei had stockpiled. If all of it were recycled into points...

Thinking about how many points would soon enter her account, Toyokawa Shoko sucked in a sharp breath.

Could it be...

There was another expert here!

The Meter Runs Backward, Punished by Sanctions

This world was full of surprises.

When you thought God had closed a door for you, maybe a helicopter had come to pick you up instead. As long as you agreed to board that helicopter, your life would undergo earth-shaking changes from then on.

If you got on that helicopter, it felt like life would gradually get better.

Once he had the idea, Qianyi immediately got to work. He used the resources still on hand to purchase rice, then exchanged it for Originium Inhibitors to sell on the Terra Continent. Afterward, he exchanged the resources he received back into rice and recycled it. This behavior felt strangely familiar.

He was reminded of the meter running backward strategy that had been popular for a time when he played Teamfight Tactics during Set 9. If there were more than three three-star units on the board, then once a Yordle reached three stars, it would automatically evolve into four stars. A four-star unit sold for roughly three times the price of a three-star unit. In other words, as long as you had enough speed and luck, you could keep selling four-star cards for profit at the price of three-star ones.

Put simply, the meter ran backward!

Unfortunately, the chat group's shop did not have any particularly valuable items available for direct purchase. If the shop had things like the Four Swords of Zhu Xian, a Great Luo Dao Fruit, or omniscience and omnipotence, Qianyi could have used this bug to farm an enormous number of points, buy those things on the spot, and begin an invincible life.

After giving up on such unrealistic fantasies and browsing for a while, he discovered that the best prize in the shop was actually still the Heracles Stone.

The directly purchasable items either came with powerful side effects or were especially scammy, such as the Great Seal, Ultraman Bomb, Power Bond, and so on. They truly embodied the saying that powerful skills often came with enormous risks.

Looking at it this way, Heracles really was the best option. The only bad part was that pulling him did not give you the whole thing, only a portion.

"Heracles, the strongest hero in all of Greece, was actually split into so many pieces and stuffed into a card pool to trick players into spending. If you want the complete version, you even have to get six copies."

He had thought this was ridiculous before, but no matter how many times he looked back on it, Qianyi still found it ridiculous to the extreme.

But it was like FGO. Every player knew how predatory it was, yet whenever a new banner opened, they still logged in and pulled like mad. When scammy spending events like Lucky Bags appeared, they still obediently pulled out the Blue-Green Modifier, bought thirty paid Saint Quartz, and let it squeeze gold from them.

Now, it was time to have his gold squeezed out.

Like a new player who had bought a self-rolled account, after several days of the meter running backward, Qianyi now had a whopping 500,000 points in hand.

All that remained was to pull!

Steel Prison Big: I suddenly noticed that everything in this card pool only has one copy.

Customer Service Shoko is at your service: Only one copy?

Steel Prison Big: That's right. Whether it's Heracles's martial arts, weapons, or innate skills, there's only one of each. Once pulled, they won't appear again.

Child of Prophecy: What happens if there's only one?

Steel Prison Big: We were originally all able to collect Heracles's full set of abilities, but now only one person can obtain Heracles's complete power.

Child of Prophecy: Boss, congratulations! You're about to become the strongest!

Lower District Flying Head Barbarian: Congratulations.

Maple Sugar Commander: Congratulations.

Talulah: Congratulations.

Customer Service Shoko is at your service: Congratulations.

I want to eat Mei-flavored instant noodles: Congratulations. So Qianyi, doesn't that make you Heracles, the strongest hero in Greece, reborn?