Leisure at the service area

Xin Jiu narrowed her eyes slightly.

"There were inspectors before?"

Wasn't this the first time this game had descended? Why had there been inspectors before?

"No, no, I remembered wrong. You're the first inspector..."

The white bear started wiping its forehead with its paw again.

Suspicion stirred in Xin Jiu.

Seeing how terrified the Xiongxiongs were, she figured she wouldn't get anything out of them by asking. Better to sample the goods first. After some thought, she said, "Then I'll take... five of each for inspection."

Buying them herself would cost 75,000 points, which she couldn't afford.

But as an inspector, she didn't need to spend any points. This identity really was pretty handy.

All the Xiongxiongs breathed a sigh of relief.

Compared to the previous inspector, this one really was beautiful and kindhearted.

The previous inspector had taken two-thirds of their stock in one go!

"I'll get those ready right away. Would you like to inspect them here, or have them delivered to your room?"

The moment Xin Jiu saw their expressions, she knew she'd messed up.

She'd asked for too little!!

"Send them to my room."

Xin Jiu looked pained. If only she'd asked for ten of each.

The white Xiongxiong immediately instructed the brown Xiongxiongs to deliver the goods to Xin Jiu's ocean-view room, then brought up another panel.

[Please rate the Bear Service Area.]

[Terrible, poor, average, very good, super awesome.]

The Xiongxiongs all watched her nervously.

It would be going too far to take their things and then leave a bad review. Besides, the service here really was very good. The only downside was that the prices were a little high.

Xin Jiu tapped "super awesome" without hesitation!

A red silk banner appeared in midair. The white bear immediately took it and gazed at it, unable to put it down.

[The Bear Service Area has been inspected by an inspector. Rating: excellent.]

[Please keep up the good work.]

The Xiongxiongs cheered!

"Wonderful! We got an excellent!"

"Long live the inspector!!"

"We're getting a raise!"

Xin Jiu didn't understand why they were so happy.

The white bear was beside itself with excitement. "You don't know this, but the rating determines the taxes our service area has to pay going forward. A poor rating means a 40% increase in the tax rate, while an excellent rating means we're exempt!"

Thanks to their good performance, their service area had the lowest tax rate of all the service areas, at just 15%.

Now they didn't even have to pay that 15%.

How could they not be excited?!

In fact, none of the service area NPCs wanted to run into inspectors or supervisors.

How to put it? A lower tax rate was certainly good, but if they angered any of those people, life afterward would become truly unbearable.

"So that's how it works. Congratulations, then."

Even in a game, the evils of capitalism still existed.

"To express our gratitude, we'll arrange a private stretch of sea for you tomorrow. You'll have a beach all to yourself, and all services in the hotel will be free for you."

Xin Jiu raised her eyebrows.

Free food and lodging. Not bad.

The next day, Xin Jiu slept until she woke naturally.

The white bear brought the servers over to deliver her breakfast.

After breakfast, they took her to the private beach. Though they called it a private beach, they had actually just cordoned off a section of the public beach.

Beach chairs, sun umbrellas, jet skis-they had everything.

There were also chilled fruit and coconut juice on the table beside her.

Wearing a red swimsuit, Xin Jiu picked a flame-colored jet ski and headed out to sea.

The jet ski raced across the water. The thrill of speed made Xin Jiu temporarily forget everything about the game. Right now, she just wanted to relax properly.

Meanwhile, the public beach was packed with players, crammed together like dumplings dropped into a pot.

"Ow, you stepped on my foot!"

"Why is the sand here so hot?!"

"I just asked. Jet skis cost five hundred points an hour. Who can afford that?"

"Look, isn't that player riding one?"

Everyone looked out to sea and saw a red figure racing across the water, trailing a long wake.

Xin Jiu played by the sea until the sun was about to set before returning to her room.

It wasn't that she loved playing in the water that much. The jet ski was just too exhilarating.

During summer break last year, she had gone to the seaside and ridden a jet ski too, but those were all recreational models with a top speed of only eighty.

The jet skis here had no speed limit.

Xin Jiu had finally gotten her fill of fun.

After returning from the beach, she showered, then went to the restaurant for dinner.

To her surprise, she ran into Li Ran and Xiaoqing there.

At this point, all the surviving players from Zone 46 were in this service area. With tens of thousands of people here, running into anyone really wasn't easy. She hadn't seen the old man or the ponytailed girl again, for instance.

Before entering the service area, Li Ran had mentioned that he and Xiaoqing had over forty-two hundred points between them.

As long as they didn't splurge on food and lodging, that would be enough, with some left over to pick up quite a few bargains in the player trading hall.

Xin Jiu had just glanced at the Nine Provinces Channel.

Perhaps because the instance was opening tomorrow morning, the players were all wailing.

To buy the high-grade items that appeared in the shop as quickly as possible, some had already started selling their existing, slightly inferior skill cards at low prices.

Any later, and everyone would have finished trading. Even at rock-bottom prices, nothing would sell.

Xin Jiu continued forward, and the sharp-eyed Li Ran spotted her.

"Xin, Xin..."

There were many players in the restaurant. Afraid of causing her unnecessary trouble, Li Ran didn't dare call her name outright.

After struggling for ages, he finally blurted out two words.

"Comrade Xin!"

Xiaoqing covered her mouth and laughed again. What an old-fashioned way to address someone.

Xin Jiu stopped.

"Need something?"

Li Ran scratched his head. "I was just telling Xiaoqing how nice it would be if we ran into you. I didn't expect we actually would."

Xin Jiu nodded.

"Can we team up with you again next round?"

They felt that if they could keep following Xin Jiu, regardless of how many points they earned, surviving shouldn't be much of a problem.

"No."

Xin Jiu refused bluntly.

Li Ran said urgently, "Didn't we work pretty well together last round? I can keep being your bait, and Xiaoqing's injuries have mostly healed. We definitely won't hold you back!"

Xin Jiu wasn't in the habit of babysitting.

Another thing was that once they became companions, an emotional bond would form. She couldn't bear watching her companions die in front of her.

That feeling... she didn't like it.

"Players are matched to instances at random. We won't necessarily end up in the same one."

At Xin Jiu's words, both Li Ran's and Xiaoqing's expressions changed.

They had both forgotten that instances were random.

Fear appeared on Xiaoqing's face, while Li Ran looked grave too.

If they were separated, what would Xiaoqing do?

So Li Ran could only swallow his embarrassment and ask Xin Jiu, "Then can we add you as a friend?"

After entering an instance, the Nine Provinces Channel would close. Players could only contact one another through the friends' private chat channel. If they could add the top-ranked player as a friend, perhaps their chances of survival would be a little higher.

Because she was bound to know a great deal about the game.

Seeing that Xin Jiu said nothing.

Li Ran hurriedly added, "Or you could just add Xiaoqing!"