The wooden door swung open.
An ordinary customer carrying a bundle peeked inside and took two cautious looks around.
"Is... is this place still open?"
A notification instantly sounded in Zhang Yu's mind.
[Ding!] [An ordinary customer has entered the establishment.] [Gold coins +50.]
Zhang Yu's eyes lit up.
Money had come knocking.
"Open, of course we're open!"
He immediately raised a hand and gave out orders.
"Hashirama, welcome the customer!"
"Izuna, get the drinks and food ready!"
"Tobirama, keep the accounts!"
"Madara... just stand there. Don't scare him away."
Madara snorted but still moved half a step to the side.
The customer had been a little nervous, but when he caught the aroma of alcohol and saw the beer and snacks on the counter, he swallowed and obediently sat down.
Hashirama wore a welcoming smile.
"Welcome. If this is your first visit, you can try our beer and grilled meat."
"Okay, okay."
The ordinary customer had barely settled into his seat when Zhang Yu turned and went back behind the bar, quietly opening the system shop.
Now that he had an idea, he would check the merchandise first.
The next second, rows of products popped up.
[Basic sound system: 800 gold coins] [Surround sound speaker set: 1,500 gold coins] [Advanced subwoofer: 5,000 gold coins] [Ambient lighting set: 2,000 gold coins] [Professional DJ deck: 8,000 gold coins] [Stage lighting system: 12,000 gold coins]
Zhang Yu was quite excited at first.
As he kept looking, his face gradually stiffened.
"...Seriously?"
He stared at the system panel, his mouth twitching.
"A set of equipment costs thousands, even tens of thousands of gold coins?"
"Am I renovating a tavern or opening a Shinobi World nightclub?"
Most of the good mood those fifty gold coins had brought him vanished in an instant.
He couldn't afford a subwoofer.
A DJ deck was even further out of reach.
With the little money he had, he couldn't even afford a scrap of the equipment.
Zhang Yu pinched the bridge of his nose, worrying over what to do, when the system panel suddenly flashed and a brand-new notification popped up.
[Excessive financial pressure on host detected.] [New feature unlocked: posthumous recruitment pre-signing agreement.] [The host may sign a "posthumous recruitment agreement" with living ninjas in advance.] [After a signed target dies, they will receive priority placement on the Undead Tavern's list of potential recruits.] [Upon successfully signing an agreement, the host will immediately receive a corresponding gold coin reward based on the target's current strength, potential, Kekkei Genkai, and identity.] [The stronger the target, the greater the reward.]
Zhang Yu froze for a moment, then his breathing grew heavier.
He could do that?
Sign them while they were alive.
Recruit them after they died.
And get paid when they signed?
He immediately sat up straight, his mind racing.
Wasn't this the system's version of investing early?
And the stronger the target, the greater the reward.
So why bother focusing on ordinary ninjas?
If he was going to sign anyone, of course he would sign the heavy hitters!
Zhang Yu's eyes grew brighter and brighter as he ran through the people who would appear in the Shinobi World in the days ahead.
He soon settled on two names.
The Land of Waves.
Zabuza Momochi.
Haku.
One was a former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and had solid strength.
The other possessed the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai and had maxed-out potential.
Haku in particular.
Someone with a Kekkei Genkai, good looks, and both combat ability and talent would be an excellent prospective employee for the Undead Tavern.
"Good, good, good."
The more Zhang Yu thought about it, the better it sounded.
"So this is where I'm supposed to find the money for the equipment."
"The tavern can stay open, the employees can work as usual, and I can stay put in the shop while I send a few of them out to sign people."
"Now that's the right way to make money."
With that thought, most of the gloom in his heart lifted.
He was a little poor.
But now he had a way forward.
For the rest of the day, the Undead Tavern remained open for business as usual.
Some customers came for the beer.
Others had heard the things here were novel and came specifically to have a look.
A few passing villagers stepped through the door only to stop in their tracks when they saw Madara Uchiha sitting in the tavern. In the end, they only dared to peek in from the entrance.
"The drinks here do smell good... but that man in red armor doesn't look like a good person."
"That white-haired guy keeping the accounts seems pretty reliable, though."
"The black-haired young man in the kitchen is really good at cooking. Too bad it's a little expensive."
"Forget it, forget it. Let's just look today and come back for a drink next time."
Sitting behind the bar, Zhang Yu saw everything clearly.
The tavern had certainly been lively that day.
But if he really wanted to make big money, it still fell a little short.
At ten that night, business hours ended.
Once the hall had quieted down, the system automatically displayed the earnings settlement.
[Daily business settlement complete.] [Customers served: 20.] [Business revenue: 1,000 gold coins.] [Current gold coin total: 1,500.]
Zhang Yu looked at the panel and nodded, then frowned.
A thousand gold coins a day was no small amount.
But it was still nowhere near enough.
He leaned back in his chair and thoroughly reviewed how the income system had worked over the past two days.
When an ordinary customer entered the shop for the first time, he received a basic gold coin payment.
But when they came back a second or third time, the earnings would drop noticeably if they only sat around and looked.
To keep making money from regular customers, he had to get them to buy more expensive drinks, order better dishes, and preferably stay longer.
But the Undead Tavern sold high-quality goods, so its prices naturally weren't low either.
As a result, many passersby came in, looked around, and caught the aroma. Tempted as they were, they couldn't bear to spend the money in the end and could only leave after a look around.
On top of that, no new main quests had appeared over the past few days.
Zhang Yu had originally planned to make a killing off system quests, but now it seemed he couldn't just sit around waiting.
"I'll have to take the initiative."
"Business is one avenue."
"Quests are another."
"Pre-signing powerhouses is yet another."
"I can't pass up a single way to make money."
He had just sorted out his thoughts when the work group chat in his mind lit up.
Zhang Yu immediately sent a message to the group.
[Zhang Yu: Hashirama, Madara, get ready.] [Zhang Yu: You'll be heading out on business later.]
The moment the messages went out, Hashirama replied.
[Hashirama Senju: Got it, boss!] [Hashirama Senju: Where are we going?]
Madara's message popped up too.
[Madara Uchiha: Target.]
Zhang Yu tapped the tabletop and briefly explained the agreement in the group chat.
[Zhang Yu: The Land of Waves.] [Zhang Yu: Zabuza Momochi and Haku.] [Zhang Yu: Find them and sign the agreements first. We'll talk about the rest later.]
The group fell silent for a moment.
Then Hashirama replied at once.
[Hashirama Senju: Understood.] [Madara Uchiha: Fine.]
Both of them agreed without the slightest hesitation.
Looking at the group messages, Zhang Yu felt more reassured.
With those two handling it, there would be basically no problems in the Land of Waves as long as they got the timing right.
Just then, another group feature notification suddenly popped up.
[Ding!] [The red envelope feature has refreshed for the week.] [Special reward probability increased for the first red envelope opened this week.]
Zhang Yu perked up.
"It's here!"
This was his regular weekly chance to get something for free.
He hurriedly fixed his eyes on the group chat.
The next second, Hashirama was the first to send a red envelope.