Ita Era

Chapter 85 Business
It took Ding Shi three hours to accept reality and exchange his two practical skills for a skill that could harm others without causing them any real damage.

To relieve his worries, Ding Shi used the Four Symbols Teleportation Card. This time, it was quite powerful, offering Ding Shi more than 300 Four Symbols Cities to choose from. Ding Shi still chose City 00.

In the central business district of 00 City, humans have replaced robot shop assistants, and there are quite a few people shopping. It seems that they have adapted to life in Sixiang City.

After wandering around for an hour, they chose a ramen shop for lunch. Ding Shi first checked the group messages, which were mostly conversations between Su Su and Xiao Feng. The two didn't hold back and shared their rewards. Su Su's personal rating was only B-, and Xiao Feng fared even worse, only getting a C+.

Ding Shi spoke up, saying, "Walkie-talkies are $50 a pair, watermelon knives are $10, nail guns are $10. Anyone want them?"

Everyone was jolted awake: "Where can we buy it?"

Ding Shi replied, "Four Symbols City."

Everyone asked, "You went to Four Symbols City? How are you getting back to the dungeon?"

Ding Shi Shi 13: "Don't you guys have Four Symbols Teleportation Cards?" He sent the card to the group chat. Compared to being unhappy alone, Ding Shi Shi preferred everyone to be unhappy together.

Amazement, tears, anger—various emojis appeared on the chat interface.

Yu Yuan said, "I need a pair of walkie-talkies and a drone. You can check how much the drone costs first."

Ding Shi said, "Drone, 100 dollars."

Yu Yuan: "Then forget about the drone."

Herbalist Hua Shan: "I want a set of acupuncture needles."

Ding Shi said, "Five cuts."

Hua Shan initiated the transfer directly, but Ding Shi did not accept the money: "We'll talk about it when the tribe dungeon reopens. Please note that any goods that cannot be legally bought or sold in reality will not appear in Four Symbols City."

Wang Meng said, "At Ding Shi, I want a wild cat."

Ding Shi slapped his forehead, realizing he'd forgotten about this bug: weapons couldn't be bought from vending machines, but they could be bought in Four Symbols City. Buying guns was illegal, but buying and selling crossbows wasn't; however, carrying a crossbow was illegal.

The Wildcat that Wang Meng mentioned is a British-made hunting crossbow that sells very well. It is equipped with an infrared night vision sight, has an effective range of 160 meters, and can penetrate an elephant's skull with professional crossbow bolts.

Ding Shi asked, "No problem, I'll buy it for you when we reopen the tribe dungeon."

Ding Shi felt he had lost out; he should have thought of bringing the goods from Sixiang City into the Primitive Society instance earlier.

Saber-toothed tiger? Instant kill. Wild boar? Instant kill.

As for the rhinoceros herd and wolf packs? Protecting animals is everyone's responsibility. A true man can bend and stretch.

Ding Shi immediately went to a hunting shop and spent $100 to buy a wildcat crossbow equipped with an infrared night vision sight, as well as a bolt bag with 25 bolts.

Giant Ape, Saber-toothed Tiger, Wang Meng, come out and fight me one-on-one, hahahaha!
……

Back on the island after spending $10, Chuyu was peeking into the restaurant when Ding Shi stepped forward and recommended, "$25, all-you-can-eat lobster, and we have whatever you want to eat."

Chu Yu glanced at Ding Shi: "You're up to no good. I'm glad you're still alive."

"Thank you." Ding Shi greeted, "Xiao Ji, bring some tea. How are you?"

Chu Yu said, "I was chased by a great white shark for a whole day and night."

Ding Shi asked in surprise, "Great White Shark? Flying Shark?"
Chu Yu nodded: "And you?"

Ding Shi said, "I encountered a herd of rhinoceroses, saber-toothed tigers, and a pack of wolves."

Chu Yu was extremely puzzled, feeling that their brainwaves were not in sync, so she asked, "What difficulty level dungeon are you going to enter?"

Ding Shi: "Nightmare."

Chu Yu gave a thumbs up and said, "I entered the difficult level of sea raft survival."

Ding Shi gestured for Chu Yu to sit down, then sat down himself, saying, "As long as it passes."

Chu Yu said, "I came here specifically to invite you to join me in the Nightmare instance."

Ding Shi apologized, "I want to challenge the Hell difficulty dungeon."

Chu Yu nodded in understanding and handed a card to Ding Shi.

Ding Shi took it and saw that it was a city lord card. Chu Yu said, "I got it from a facility scratch card."

A city lord card allows you to build a city on your own land. The city lord has the power to set laws and tax rates.

Besides possessing the Four Symbols Teleportation Card, how did he acquire his own land?
With a City Lord Card, you can browse the land for sale in each of the Four Symbols Cities. After purchasing land, you can create a primitive teleportation array by paying 100 dollars.

The city lord can plan city construction and submit the plan to the construction shop in Four Symbols City, which will provide a reasonable quote. Once the city lord's mansion is completed, Chu Yu will become the city lord and can hire others as city administrators. Administrators can travel between the villa and the main city for free via a teleportation array.

Benefit 1: There is a dungeon teleportation array in the City Lord's Mansion. Players can form groups to enter the dungeon, and they will be grouped together if permitted.

Benefit 2: If a city resident dies in a dungeon and can no longer participate in dungeon challenges, they will return to this city instead of being randomly assigned to a Four Symbols City.

Ding Shi returned the city lord card to Chu Yu: "This will cost a lot of money." Ding Shi had repaired roads before, so he knew how expensive infrastructure construction was.

Chu Yu took out a few sheets of paper and asked, "Approximately how much?"

One sheet is the design plan for the city lord's mansion, and the other sheets are city design plans. The area covers commercial and residential districts within a one-square-kilometer radius. In addition, fire stations, hospitals, and other facilities are all taken into account.

Chu Yu asked, "Could you give me an estimate, excluding equipment and only considering construction costs?"

"Wait for me." Ding Shi teleported to Four Symbols City to inquire with a construction shop. Twenty minutes later, Ding Shi returned and said, "The construction shop's quote is 2 million dollars, not including the cost of leveling the land, and they are using medium to low-grade building materials. In addition, to maintain the city's operation in the initial stage, you will need to hire robots, which is also a considerable expense."

Chu Yu sighed.

Ding Shi said, "However..."

Chu Yu flattered someone: "However?"

Ding Shi said, "I met with the president of the Four Symbols Bank. He's willing to provide loans for city construction, but currently he can only offer $5,000. I asked about the conditions for a $2 million loan to build the city, and he said I could use land worth $1 million as collateral. When I asked about the conditions for a $1 million loan to buy land, he kicked me out." This is baffling. Chu Yu said, "In other words, I need to raise at least $1 million to buy a piece of land, and then use that land as collateral to get a $2 million loan to build the city."

Ding Shi: "That's roughly the idea. How much do you have now?"

Chu Yu: "100." It's missing the "ten thousand."

Ding Shi said, "You can eat your fill of lobster for 25 dollars, really don't you want to try it? Isn't being a pig better than being a city lord?"

Chu Yu smiled and asked seriously, "If I get the Golden Teleportation Ticket and you go to the Four Symbols City to auction it, can you raise 100 million dollars? You know, wealth will gradually concentrate in the hands of some people."

Ding Shi asked, "Why would someone who can afford a million dollars spend a million dollars to buy a golden teleportation ticket?"

Chu Yu was stumped by the question. "Yes, someone with so much money is already a resident of the East Community, so why would they need to buy a ticket?"
Chu Yu asked, "Can you sell skill cards or something like that?"

Ding Shi replied, "No, skills, dungeon items, and Force can only be used in the villa and dungeons."

Chu Yu was troubled; how could she raise one million?
Ding Shi took out a feather and said, "For this kind of high-end material, vending machines offer a recycling service, and each feather can be sold for $50." Apart from that, Ding Shi couldn't think of any other way to make money.

Chu Yu asked, "What do you think about bringing a stove to the dungeon to sell boxed lunches?"

Ding Shi pondered: a pot, a gas cylinder, a bag of rice—that seemed like a good start. But would anyone buy it? Even in primitive societies, there was meat and fruit.

The two chatted for a while longer, but to no avail. Chu Yu was frustrated and decided to go eat lobster. Ding Shi was delighted and agreed to split the bill. Paying the bill was out of the question; this was the island's first customer.

……

The next day.

The Hell Dungeon teleportation array emitted a faint purple aura. This purple was not a noble purple, but a poisonous purple, which looked extremely sinister.

Ding Shi stepped into the Hell Teleportation Array without hesitation. Supplies carried: Wildcat Crossbow, a bag of crossbow bolts, one Golden Thunder Talisman, and a bicycle-style electric scooter. Since he couldn't use Force in Four Symbols City, Ding Shi couldn't lift the scooter with one hand. Skills carried: One Short of Three, Unaccustomed to the Environment.

Instance preparation room.

Dungeon Name: Death. Tag: Demon King. Number of Players: 100.

The story is set in a large town called Ham, with over four thousand native inhabitants. The town center is equipped with all kinds of basic facilities, from a police station to primary and secondary schools.

Ham Town appears peaceful and tranquil, but a serial killer lurks within. However, the serial killer is not the greatest threat; the greatest threat is the sudden arrival of death.

Death: Absolutely invisible, unable to kill humans directly.

Main mission 1: Survive for 7 days.

Main Task 2: Accumulate over 200 work points. You earn 1 point for every hour you work; exceeding this limit or achieving excellent performance earns bonus points. Mistakes will result in point deductions.

One hundred cards appeared on the table, and the system voice said, "Please select your profession."

Less than two seconds after he finished speaking, two cards disappeared. Ding Shi guessed they were taken by someone else in the same copy. He glanced at his luck: 5 points, a middle value. Ding Shi, like a chick pecking at rice, picked up a card, flipped it over, and saw: Patrol Officer.

Ha! I've been an undercover agent for six years, and I've never even worn a police uniform.

The system provides a map of Ham, a town shaped like an olive and surrounded by a V-shaped river. A slaughterhouse is located to the south, and a pharmaceutical factory to the north; many of the town's residents work for these two companies. The police station, school, dance hall, auto repair shop, supermarket, and residential areas are all marked on the map. The roads are relatively simple, all revolving around a main road. A wealthy area with a dozen or so detached villas occupies a considerable area.

The identity card has been completed.

Ding Shi: 24 years old, patrol officer, residence: 99 Bell Street, parents are abroad. Bank account information: $270, etc. Note: You can exchange dollars for RMB at the bank, but you cannot exchange RMB for dollars. The exchange rate is 10 RMB: 1 dollar.

Dungeon start!
What came into view was a very ordinary room, with a window, a wardrobe, and a bed, neither too big nor too small. Stepping out of the room was a corridor, and looking through the corridor window, Ding Shi basically understood the layout of the house.

The house has three floors, covering an area of ​​approximately 60 square meters. It has no front or back yard; the sidewalk is right outside. Ding Shi's bedroom is on the second floor, which also has a study. The third floor has two rooms and is where Ding Shi's parents, who work abroad, live. The first floor contains the living room, kitchen, and dining room.

Judging from the condition of the kitchen, it has been a long time since anyone cooked there.

On the bed in the bedroom were some personal belongings, an address book with the phone numbers of parents, the police chief, colleagues, and others. There was also a driver's license and a police ID. The closet contained four sets of patrol uniforms, and there were stickers on the wall indicating the week's work schedule.

Ding Shi is on the night shift this week, working from 6 PM to 2 AM. He reports to the police station at 6 PM to collect his police equipment and patrols Ye Yu Street today. He returns to the police station at 2 AM to report back and then goes home.

Ding decided to go out and familiarize himself with the surroundings. From what he had gathered so far, the overall atmosphere resembled London in 1930s movies and TV shows. There were cars, telephones, and electricity.

Ding Shi opened the door and walked out of No. 99 Bell Street. The sidewalk was right outside the door, and a bicycle lane was parked next to the door. The people coming and going were just like real people.

At that moment, on the sidewalk across the street, a little boy was dribbling a small basketball, while his mother sat on a bench chatting with a woman.

A pebble rolled five meters on its own without any wind. The little boy's basketball accurately hit the pebble, changing its trajectory and bouncing towards the road. The little boy instinctively chased after it into the road.

A black car sped towards them. The radio the driver was listening to crackled with static. The driver glanced down at the frequency, then looked up and saw the little boy in front of the car. Instinctively, the driver swerved, narrowly missing the boy. The car veered sharply to the right, veering onto the sidewalk and crashing into Ding Shi, who was standing with his back to the street, unlocking his bicycle.

When Ding Shi realized it, the front of the car was already on the sidewalk. Ding Shi subconsciously converted his original force evenly into agility and strength, and braced himself on the handlebars of the bicycle. He then stood upside down on the handlebars like a horizontal bar athlete.

The car crashed violently into the wall, completely destroying a nearly new bicycle.

Ding Shi landed on the smoking hood and saw that the driver seemed to have passed out. He climbed off the hood and reached for the handlebars to help the driver. Just then, he smelled gasoline.

Ding Shi took two steps back and noticed that the fuel tank was leaking. Ding Shi also noticed that he was wearing a casual suit for late autumn/early winter, made of nylon fabric.

Ding Shi immediately thought of static electricity. This had nothing to do with Ding Shi's intelligence; it was entirely due to his fear of being shocked. In modern society, his car had leather seats, and in winter, getting in and out of the car, pressing the buttons on the handle to unlock and lock it posed a risk of electric shock. Ding Shi was almost developing a psychological aversion to electric shocks from them.

Just then, a middle-aged man dressed similarly to him walked briskly over. Ding Shi had a fleeting illusion that the middle-aged man was generating electricity by swinging his arms as he walked. So Ding Shi continued to back away, and the middle-aged man opened the car door to check on the driver.

As it turned out, Ding Shi miscalculated; the middle-aged man did not ignite the gasoline due to static electricity.

The gasoline spilled out of the car's coverage area, and passersby began to gather. Several men lifted the driver out of the car.

Ding Shi's neighbor was an uncivilized middle-aged man. After finishing a cigarette, he didn't care what was outside and just flicked the cigarette butt out the window.

The Grim Reaper, lurking nearby, noticed that Ding Shi was more than seven meters away from the car. He then summoned a gust of wind, which blew the cigarette butt away from its intended trajectory and onto the gasoline.

A patrol officer came this way. Ding Shi spoke with the officer for a few words, asked him to help compensate for the bicycle, and then walked away from the scene.

(End of this chapter)