Windfall

City of Light Chasing, Crystal Race Abandoned District.

"Brother Hou Fei, one of the White Feather Gang's cultivation bases was wiped out by a mysterious force. Five full Apprentice-level experts and more than forty members—not a single one escaped." A tall Crystal Race woman with a ruby embedded in her forehead hurried into the room, nearly bumping into the resting Hou Fei.

Hou Fei had originally intended to say something to the Crystal Race woman before him, but upon hearing the news, he shot to his feet.

"What did you say? One of the White Feather Gang's cultivation bases was destroyed, and no one escaped?" Hou Fei was full of disbelief. "That was one of the White Feather Gang's cultivation bases! How could not even one person get out?"

Hou Fei could be said to be extremely familiar with the White Feather Gang. They had encountered each other most often in the wilderness, and friction between them had never been lacking.

Precisely because their clashes had never ceased, Hou Fei knew very well just how strong the defenses at a White Feather Gang cultivation base were. Under normal circumstances, at least one Advanced Apprentice would be stationed there, and that Advanced Apprentice could contend briefly with an unarmored Advanced Apprentice.

With such an expert stationed there, once an Advanced Apprentice-led assault was discovered, even if the signal was blocked, they would choose to evacuate immediately. With more than forty people scattering in all directions, it would be far too difficult to keep every one of them behind.

Even an Advanced Apprentice with great speed would do well to catch four or five fleeing people. To keep more than forty people behind, either the attacking side had an enormous number of people and had surrounded the cultivation base in advance.

Or more than ten Apprentice-level experts had worked with dozens of Quasi-Apprentices. Only then would it have been possible to clean out everyone in the White Feather Gang base.

Either possibility was astonishing news.

"Yes. The White Feather Gang has come to notify us that anyone who can provide even a scrap of reliable information will be rewarded with one hundred kilograms of monster meat and one million bits!" The Crystal Race woman nodded heavily, her face filled with delight. "Brother Hou Fei, if we can find out which gang did it, then becoming a Quasi-Martial Artist will be within your grasp!"

"It isn't as simple as you think. Since the other side could silently wipe out one of the White Feather Gang's bases, their strength cannot be underestimated either. If we uncover reliable information and hand it to the White Feather Gang, we would be offending that force." Hou Fei shook his head, but still instructed her, "Still, tell everyone to keep an eye out when they go out. Even if they learn something, don't rush to claim the reward."

"Yes." The Crystal Race woman promptly left the room.

"Is this another gang about to rise in the wilderness?" Hou Fei watched her leave, his expression turning grave.

The wilderness pie was only so big. Whenever one wilderness gang rose, it meant another would fall. And when that time came, the other wilderness gangs would not simply stand by—they would surely stick their hands into the matter, making the wilderness even more dangerous.

Abandoned District, outside the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.

"Little Lin, you need to be careful during this period. The wilderness probably won't remain peaceful." Qin Mu looked at Lin Qi and spoke earnestly. "This time, the White Feather Gang will likely get serious. One hundred kilograms of monster meat and one million bits—even many people from those large suburban gangs will be tempted. They'll investigate this matter with all their strength, and the force that destroyed the White Feather Gang's base will probably be uncovered soon. That mysterious gang is powerful too. There will definitely be a major battle in the wilderness then, so don't go sticking your noses into it for no reason."

"Don't worry, Brother Qin. We'll be careful." Lin Qi nodded and said with a smile, "We're just a small, insignificant gang. We definitely won't get involved in the struggle for wilderness power."

"It's good that you understand." Qin Mu was greatly gratified. His gaze swept across the utterly transformed Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, the medium transport truck and three Big Three-Wheelers parked inside, as well as the several dozen players constantly hauling goods. He could not help sighing. "I never imagined that after only a few days apart, not only would you have turned this base into something presentable, but its scale would have expanded so quickly. You're practically comparable to some ordinary wilderness gangs already."

Qin Mu remembered that only a few days ago, the entire Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had been utterly dilapidated. There had not even been a single intact wall around it, wind had blown through the hall from every direction, and there had only been around ten people.

Now, not only had all the walls around the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall been repaired, even the building itself had been restored by fifty or sixty percent. In the Abandoned District, where derelict buildings covered the ground, that was exceedingly luxurious. Even the bases of some large wilderness gangs were no better than this.

Yet what was even more astonishing was the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall's personnel and equipment. Its numbers had now reached thirty, and it had a medium transport truck and three Big Three-Wheelers. With such assets, it could already rival an ordinary wilderness gang.

"We got lucky and landed a few big jobs, so we only rented a few more vehicles." Lin Qi replied with a smile.

Besides growing Blood Essence Rice in the wilderness, wilderness gangs also handled transportation. After all, many raw materials were located out in the wild, and numerous companies and suburban gangs needed desperate drifters to complete such low-level work. Wilderness gangs thus became the best choice.

They had a certain degree of strength and did not fear death, making them perfectly suited to all manner of dirty and exhausting work. Yet for wilderness gangs, the income was a substantial sum.

Peak Apprentices like Qin Mu also took on transport escort jobs from time to time. However, the goods they transported were of a much higher grade, and the jobs were all commissioned by large suburban gangs. Ordinary wilderness gangs were not even qualified to take them.

"Keep at it!" Qin Mu patted Lin Qi on the shoulder. "Once you have a certain level of strength, I can introduce you to plenty of good work."

"Then I'll have to thank you, Brother Qin." Lin Qi was delighted when he heard that.

He had originally been worrying about how the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall would increase its income in the future. After all, compared to players whose demand for all kinds of resources was growing ever greater, the money from underground cultivation and hauling ore was not even enough to fill the gaps between their teeth.

After Lin Qi saw Qin Mu off, he continued having the players quickly move the spoils from the vehicles.

Lin Qi remained busy until the latter half of the night before he finally calculated the gains from this extermination, as well as the rewards for every player who had participated.

"The White Feather Gang really was rich. No wonder they could casually offer one million bits." Lin Qi looked at the inventory in his small notebook, his heart full of emotion.

Not even counting the various items, the cash alone from this haul exceeded two hundred thousand bits. He had no idea what the White Feather Gang had intended to do with the money stored in the safe, but now it had all fallen into his hands.

Adding that money to the cash he already had, his total funds had reached six hundred thousand. That should barely be enough to repair the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.

Besides that, the greatest gain was the three vehicles. Of them, the medium old transport truck was the most valuable. Even a secondhand one on the market was worth more than three hundred thousand. While it was useless against wilderness monsters, it could withstand attacks from Apprentice-level experts.

Luo Qi had inspected them all. None of the three vehicles had any problems, and they could be used freely.

After all, there were far too many old vehicles like these in the wilderness. Every major gang either robbed others or got robbed themselves; they were practically public property. There was simply no need to install a tracker. If you had the ability, you just took them outright.

Apart from the three vehicles, the next most valuable items were the twenty weapons and twenty sets of armor previously crafted by the Green Sparrow Gang.

The Green Sparrow Gang had spent a great deal to hire Luo Qi to forge these A5 Grade Weapons and A4 Grade Armor for their gang captains. Their total value exceeded three hundred thousand. Unfortunately, the A5 Grade Weapons were all long spears, without any other weapon types. The A4 Grade Armor, however, would save Lin Qi a large sum of money.

Armor of the same grade cost far more than weapons on the market.

A4 Grade Armor could be said to be the standard armor for Beginner Apprentices, capable of normally withstanding the attacks of Beginner Apprentices.

Though A4 Grade Armor had seemed nearly useless against the Black Steel Arrows of Luo Wu Shang and the others, if the White Feather Gang's captains had not worn A4 Grade Armor, they could never have suppressed Luo Wu Shang and Zhang Qingwei even by joining forces. Armor could often turn a fatal wound into a serious injury, or even a light one, allowing a person to fight with much greater freedom.

Including the weapons and equipment seized from the White Feather Gang members, there were more than sixty long spears, more than thirty composite bows, over three hundred arrows, and more than thirty sets of A4 Grade Armor—enough to fully arm every player.

Yet compared to those vehicles and weapons, Lin Qi's gaze was fixed on the food and power equipment listed in his small notebook.

"As expected of a White Feather Gang cultivation base. Three large generators—so long as enough energy ore can be dug up underground, they can normally supply enough electricity for three martial arts halls. There are 454.8 kilograms of mature Blood Essence Rice in storage, 3,522.5 kilograms of immature Blood Essence Rice, and 23,549 Blood Essence Rice seeds."

"After this wave, I can sell the mature Blood Essence Rice, while the immature Blood Essence Rice can be sold to players for consumption to speed up the improvement of their physical attributes. Moreover, for quite some time to come, I won't need to buy Blood Essence Rice seeds again. That really saves me a lot of trouble."

Looking at the supplies in his small notebook, Lin Qi suddenly felt that not only would he no longer need to buy food for the players, he could make a fortune from them while accelerating the improvement of their physical attributes. It was simply killing three birds with one stone.

Immature Blood Essence Rice was indeed far inferior to mature Blood Essence Rice in terms of providing vitality and blood, but it was still much better than synthetic food.

Naturally, the immature Blood Essence Rice sold to players would be much cheaper than the Blood Essence Rice purchased from them. Every ten grams of immature Blood Essence Rice would cost 10 points.

However, considering that players would secretly eat Blood Essence Rice themselves, future Blood Essence Rice purchases would grant contribution rewards in addition to points. Once players considered the value of contribution, they would definitely still sell mature Blood Essence Rice to him.

"Looks like I need to establish some ranks for contribution later, giving players with high contribution more statuses, such as Inner Disciple status and Elite Disciple status. They can enjoy higher authority in the martial arts hall, such as future contribution expenditures receiving a five-percent or ten-percent discount." Lin Qi considered it and felt this was a good method for harvesting players.

Not only could it make players more proactive in earning contribution, it would also give them a greater sense of achievement. It was simply shooting two hawks with one arrow.

Identity and status!

Which player could escape those two things?

"Hmm, a Martial Artist Level Palm Technique?"

Lin Qi looked at a thick book, tightly wrapped inside the White Feather Gang's safe. When he saw the five words Martial Artist Level Palm Technique printed on its cover, he was completely stunned.

He had never imagined that a mere White Feather Gang would possess a Martial Artist level martial skill that even the many great Lineages of City of Light Chasing rarely possessed.

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