Visitors at the Door

For now, everyone had tacitly agreed not to touch her. Even Su Yitong had not considered declaring her property of the Su Family. That was because this skill was not especially useful yet—like some mystic going around helping people attract wealth. It was valued, but not truly taken seriously, more like a little trinket.

But things would be different after the game invaded.

If one faction's loot from every dungeon run was worth 30% more than what other factions obtained—even just 10% more—then over time, they would leave everyone else far behind.

Players were not earning much money yet, so her price was not high either. But once players grew stronger and began earning more, the price of her skill would inevitably rise.

Either she did not use it, or she had to maintain a balance—let those major factions keep one another in check and reach an understanding that none of them would touch her.

Since she needed balance, she could not be too greedy. If she dared demand a share of a team's final dungeon profits, she would not survive three days. But if she charged too little, she would be unwilling to accept it. She admitted that no matter how restrained and cautious she was, she was greedy by nature.

Still, this problem would be easy to solve. It all depended on whether news of her talent had gotten out...

Just as she was thinking about it, she received a call from the security guard. He said two people were looking for her and claimed they had played the game with her on October 10th.

The guard's tone was extremely strange. He probably had not expected someone living in such a grand villa to be meeting up offline with people from a game.

Yu Xunge understood. Players.

She was not afraid either. Since they had come formally in broad daylight, whatever their purpose, they were at least showing goodwill for now. She had them brought in.

The visitors were a man and a woman dressed casually, but judging by their bearing and posture, they were most likely people from a team. She led them inside and seated them, served them two glasses of water, then got straight to the point and asked why they had come.

The ponytailed woman said, "Hello, my name is Zhao Shuying. We're with the government."

Upon hearing that they were officials, Yu Xunge inwardly said, I've finally been waiting for you!

She had long since found the answer to the problem troubling her. How could she maintain balance? Find someone stronger to keep everyone else in check.

Yu Xunge nodded. "What a coincidence. So am I."

Zhao Shuying was so baffled by Yu Xunge's deadpan joke that she laughed, but her expression relaxed somewhat. She had been worried that Yu Xunge might be the sort who became conceited after gaining a lucky opportunity. Now, at least on the surface, she did not seem particularly hostile toward the government. "You know what I mean."

Yu Xunge took control of the conversation. "You need my God-given talent and want to work with me?"

The word "work with" made the buzz-cut man's heart sink. What they wanted was certainly not cooperation—they wanted to bring her under their wing. Cooperation implied equality, profit-sharing, and payment every time her ability was used. But he also knew that moral coercion was the stupidest approach. Besides, the theory that this game marked the beginning of an alien civilization's invasion was still only a theory. They had no concrete proof.

Wu Qingbai still could not help being stupid for a moment. "Miss Yu, have you never considered serving your country?"

Yu Xunge said, "I pay taxes."

Wu Qingbai said, "."

Zhao Shuying laughed again. She cleared her throat and calmed herself. She and Wu Qingbai had spoken with no fewer than eight hundred, if not a thousand, players recently. Yu Xunge was neither the most agreeable nor the most difficult, but she was definitely the calmest.

After learning who they were, she had shown neither excitement nor resistance. She had no sense of superiority, but neither was she trembling with apprehension. She was a resolute person.

Zhao Shuying immediately discarded every line she had prepared and asked directly, "How would Miss Yu like to cooperate?"

Yu Xunge said, "I can use Wheel of Fortune four times a day to alter someone's Luck stat. I'm willing to sell you three of those uses. I don't care how you use them, who you work with, or who you negotiate with. But I can't stay here every day. I'm sure you can look into my whereabouts. Ever since leaving the entertainment industry, aside from attending classes and training, I like traveling."

Zhao Shuying did not ask how they could resolve that issue. Instead, she asked, "What price?"

Yu Xunge named an outrageous price. "Three gold per use." And once player levels rose and their incomes increased, she would raise the price again.

Wu Qingbai said, "That counts as high income. You'll have to pay 45% tax. I mean, every time."

Yu Xunge said, "..."

Zhao Shuying said, "..."

Yu Xunge picked up her coffee cup. "It's getting late." Get out now! Get as far away as possible!

Zhao Shuying grabbed the glass in front of Wu Qingbai and shoved it into his hands. Just shut up!

Zhao Shuying began bargaining. "That price is too expensive. We may have many people, but you've played the game. You know how hard it is to earn money in there."

Yu Xunge said, "God-given talents come in all kinds. There could be talents that make money, couldn't there?" She was not saying it casually. Though she had never encountered one herself, if there could be a Food God, Thief God, and Water God, why could there not be a God of Wealth?

Zhao Shuying's expression remained unchanged. Even though Yu Xunge had guessed correctly, she did not reveal a single crack. The government had a total of 520,000 players, so naturally there were God-given talents related to making money. But that was only an A-rank talent, not a money-printing machine!

Three gold per use was far too expensive. It was not as if they had no players with 10 Luck, even though there were only two of them...

After that, Zhao Shuying and Wu Qingbai took turns trying to persuade Yu Xunge to lower the price. One played hard while the other played soft, and Wu Qingbai would occasionally act deliberately foolish to ease the atmosphere. They were clearly longtime partners and seasoned performers.

Yu Xunge had not cared much about this matter at first, but their determination to get her on board finally made her curious. "Can you tell me why you need my talent so badly? Scientific research? International affairs?"

Zhao Shuying and Wu Qingbai shook their heads. Their stance was clear: they could not say.

Yu Xunge could not glean a single piece of information from their faces.

Even though in her previous life she had occasionally joined enormous powers like the Su Family and House Liang for dungeon runs, she did not know much more than ordinary people. Many things she had only learned from the news, such as the duration of the closed beta, the number of players, and those ordinary objects that had undergone mutations... The real inside information had been beyond her reach.

So what exactly could make these people need her God-given talent so badly?

Scientific research might require a little luck, but what it relied on was brilliant minds and a long research process. It did not require long-term cooperation.

International affairs? That was even more absurd.

Then it could only be related to the game.

Crafting equipment?... Dungeons?

What if she made an even bolder guess? Did someone have a way to enter the game?

That was right. Who said there had only been three closed betas? And who said players could no longer enter the game after the closed beta ended?

In her previous life, the government's strength had always crushed the major clans and financial conglomerates. Could that really have been solely because of righteousness and superior numbers? She did not believe it! Forget everyone else—even Su Baige and Liang Yuchuan's uncle probably dreamed of becoming king.

Yu Xunge's heart beat faster and faster, and her eyes grew brighter. She sat up straight and stared at the two people across from her.

Wu Qingbai and Zhao Shuying said, "..."

Don't look at us like that. You're scaring me.