In Suotuo City, after three months on the road, the group finally reached Notting City. It shouldn't have taken that long, but whenever they passed through a big city, Luo Yihe and Xiao Chenghe would go in to find their relatives, then sell a ton of phones.
Luo Yihe had thought Douluo Continent had some special form of communication, so nobody in Notting City paid him much attention. But after they left the city, he finally realized just how remote Notting City was. Once they were out, business went smoothly for Luo Yihe, and the phones sold like hotcakes. The system took eighty percent, he took ten percent, and the system said the last ten percent had to go toward taxes. Luo Yihe thought the system was ripping him off, but he had no proof.
These weren't ordinary phones, either. You could say that everything was free except adding money to your account. Everything else cost money.
Still, it was all very cheap. The phones could be bound to their owners with a drop of blood. Once bound, no one could secretly spy on someone else's privacy without the owner's consent. During this time, the system had also updated the phones. Now, they could not only make calls, but also use WeChat, watch short videos, browse Tonight Headlines, and play all kinds of mini-games.
Those were the main reasons the phones had become such a hit. Even though Luo Yihe only got ten percent of the profits, he was already worth more than a thousand Gold Soul Coins.
"Even Titled Douluo say this treasure is good! Normally, you can't buy one even if you want to. Today, it's not 99,998, and it's not 9,998. For only 998, you can take one home!"
Passerby: "Even if it's the same model used by a Titled Douluo, 998 is still way too expensive! My friend in Yue City told me this thing really is good, but there are extra costs after you buy it. Everything costs money except the parts that don't!"
Passerby: "Exactly! I heard that too. Boss, can you turn off the extra charges? I'd be willing to pay 9,998 for it!"
Xiao Chenghe: "Folks, we're not talking about price here, we're talking about value! Can you get anything good from people who only talk about price?"
Just then, Luo Yihe walked over. "Hey, Big Bear, handing out benefits to the folks again?"
Passerby: "Boss, it's too expensive. If you lower the price a bit, the City Lord's Mansion will take ten thousand!"
Passerby: "If it's cheaper, the Iron Clan will take a thousand!"
Luo Yihe smiled and said, "Actually, my brother Bear's divine item really isn't expensive. It's always been this price. When you see something with a high price tag, sometimes you need to take a good look at yourself. Have you been cultivating properly these past few years? Has your sect or clan raised your monthly allowance? Have you been making money as a merchant? Instead of questioning a conscientious businessman like my brother Bear, who barely scams—earns any Gold Soul Coins at all over the course of a year. We sell cutting-edge technology the world has never seen before. We're too proud to earn money that's so easy to come by..."
Passerby: "Young brother, I was wrong to judge."
Passerby: "This young brother has such a broad outlook!"
Listening to the passersby shower him with praise, Luo Yihe was so pleased he could barely keep the corners of his mouth from rising. Then he walked up to Xiao Chenghe and pointed at the crowd. "Big Bear, see? These are all our nearest and dearest. What price did you set just now?"
"998 Gold Soul Coins, Brother Luo."
Luo Yihe slapped the table where the phones were displayed and said, clearly displeased, "They're our nearest and dearest, our family! Say the price again."
Xiao Chenghe answered cautiously, "Then... how about 98 Gold Soul Coins?"
Luo Yihe slammed the table in anger, frustrated by Xiao Chenghe's failure to understand. "Shut your mouth. One price only: 9.8 Gold Soul Coins, plus one free mini-game for life! Put the link up—ah, I mean, hand out the benefits to every member of the family!"
"Hiss—"
The crowd drew in a sharp breath.
"Young brother, that's generous! The Martial Soul branch will take forty thousand!"
"The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect will take a hundred thousand!"
"Xiao Wu, are they already this practiced?"
In a teahouse not far from Luo Yihe's stall, Xiao Wu and Tang San watched Luo Yihe and Xiao Chenghe call everyone "family" while taking their money without the slightest hesitation, both of them looking utterly astonished.
Xiao Wu, however, scoffed. "Xiao Chenghe's performance still needs work. If Sister Xiao Wu took over, Xiao Yi could definitely earn even more Gold Soul Coins."
With that, she lowered her head and went back to playing Douluo Escape.
"Cheers! Let's celebrate our first haul in Suotuo City!"
"Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
This was Tang San's first time having a meal with the three of them. For some reason, he even felt a little moved. When he'd first decided to go to Shrek, Luo Yihe hadn't wanted to deal with him at all and had told him to go eat by himself. At most, he'd helped him order a dish, though Tang San still had to pay for it himself.
You couldn't really blame Luo Yihe for being heartless. He'd been poisoned by too many Douluo fanfics. Unless he gave Tang San and Yu Xiaogang a hard time, Luo Yihe couldn't eat or sleep in peace. But a novel was one thing, and real life was another. After nine years of compulsory education, he really couldn't bear to see someone with no grudge against him—a lonely orphan who longed for family—being deliberately ostracized by him. Luo Yihe's conscience couldn't take tormenting Tang San like that.
Especially when he saw everyone in the restaurant eating and drinking together, laughing and chatting, while Tang San sat alone at his meal.
At the time, Luo Yihe felt a crushing pang of guilt.
He'd felt like a real bastard.
Picking on an orphan on purpose—this poor kid with no father or mother.
So Luo Yihe decided to set aside his prejudices and stop judging Tang San based on what he'd known before. If Tang San could turn over a new leaf, he wouldn't deliberately target him. Tang San didn't really have any serious faults, anyway. He was just a little selfish, a little hypocritical, a little beastly, a little too fond of eating other people out of house and home, and a little petty.
Damn it, why did the more he thought about it, the more he felt he'd been right? Where was his conscience? What happened to the lessons his great country had taught him?
Luo Yihe finished the meal while his two brain hemispheres fought it out.
Throughout the meal, Tang San felt that something was off. Luo Yihe would look at him with a hint of guilt one moment, then go back to looking like he wanted to kill him the next. It left Tang San completely baffled. He'd stopped arguing with Luo Yihe, and whenever Luo Yihe deliberately picked a fight, he put up with it as best he could. He just wanted to spend time with them and have the kind of family and friendship he admired but had never had.
He couldn't figure it out. He, Tang San, was a genius too. Why was there such a huge gap between him and Luo Yihe?
After dinner, the group returned to the hotel. Luo Yihe and Xiao Chenghe shared a twin room, while Xiao Wu and Tang San each got a room on either side of theirs.
Once Luo Yihe returned to his room, he immediately opened the system.
Name: Luo Yihe Age: 12 Martial Soul: Mew [departed] Innate Soul Power: Level 10 Current Soul Power: Level 39 Soul Rings: Rainbow, Rainbow, Rainbow Soul Skills: Space Jump, Spatial Positioning Teleportation, Blank [Blank means no skill has been equipped yet.] Weapon: Indestructible Brick. Ignores all defenses and comes with a percentage-based stun effect. The first hit is guaranteed to raise a lump. Even if the Desolate Heaven Emperor showed up, he'd still get a lump before the protagonist was beaten to death. Clothing: Myriad Manifestations Divine Armor. Not only is it impervious to blades and spears, but it can also change into various types of clothing based on the wearer. It can turn into all sorts of outfits, including a full suit of armor! Once the armor is worn, the holographic projection automatically simulates special effects to match the surroundings. A divine armor good for nothing but showing off.
Before you continue