The Fourth Calamity: People in High Martial Arts, Gods in Games

Chapter 131 A Small Step for the Players, a Giant Leap for Obsidian

"Are they going to join?"

Lin Qi was quite surprised to hear this. He never expected that Flo and the others would abandon the Green Sparrow Gang and instead consider joining the Obsidian Martial Arts School.

Are the treatment in the Green Sparrow Gang really that bad?

A vice-leader position, just like that?

"They applied to join yesterday, but since you haven't been around, it's been put on hold for now," Zhang Qingwei explained. "Right now, they're helping manage the housing construction for the homeless and maintaining order in the trading area. There are just too many homeless people setting up stalls. Yesterday alone, they set up two thousand stalls, and today they've increased it to three thousand, but it's still not enough. We have limited manpower and simply can't manage it all, so we had to ask Vice Leader Flo to help manage it."

"Aren't three thousand stalls enough?" Meng Wei, standing to the side, couldn't help but gasp.

The Iron Heart Gang was already fighting tooth and nail to win the management fees for the thousands of shops on Nanxing Street, even risking the fate of the gang in a battle against the Twin Heads Gang.

With three thousand stalls, this scale is comparable to some small towns in the countryside.

Obsidian Martial Arts Academy doesn't have to do anything; they just collect stall fees from three thousand stalls every day, making so much money they're practically rolling in it.

If we calculate the stall fee to be a fraction of what it is, say 200 bits per day, then 3,000 stalls would cost 600,000 bits per day, or 18 million bits per month, which is equivalent to the entire Nanxing Street.

These are just the stall fees. The bulk of the transit market is the resale of goods by shops, which is generally five or six times the amount of the stall fees. After all, most of the nomads who come here want to sell their items to the management forces in exchange for some living supplies. Only a minority are willing to set up stalls.

This means that Obsidian Martial Arts School can earn 100 million bits a month, which is several times higher than the entire Iron Heart Gang's monthly revenue.

"Alright, let them join." Lin Qi thought for a moment and felt that Flo was indeed a management talent, especially since the players only knew human languages, unlike Flo who knew several languages. Managing the stalls in Crimson Moon Mountain would be much more convenient. "From now on, let them manage the stalls in the trading area. As for their treatment, let them be the same as they are in the Azure Sparrow Gang for now."

"I understand." Zhang Qingwei nodded, then pointed to an open-air stall not far away and said, "The owner is here early too. Would you like to have a meal over there? That stall is a restaurant we set up, and it's currently very popular with some passing caravans."

"Okay, I'll try your food too." Lin Qi glanced at the stall and was surprised that players were running such a business. The stall was packed with people, and he could even see many aspiring martial artists eating there. The food must taste good.

Although the world of high martial arts is technologically advanced, ordinary people mostly eat synthetic foods, while the wealthy eat fast food, and the more luxurious eat blood essence rice and extremely expensive organic vegetables.

Although he has a lot of Bits on hand, he only eats instant noodles at the martial arts gym to improve his taste, and eats mostly to replenish his energy.

Zhang Qingwei then led Lin Qi and the other three to a table at the stall and sat down.

"Excuse me, what does this point system mean? How many bits does it equal?" Qiao Hanlan looked at the menu and found the food to be very simple: roasted meat with blood essence rice. It was a fairly common dish in a wilderness camp and nothing special. However, the point system on the menu left him somewhat confused.

A serving of grilled meat rice costs 100 points. What's with this price?

"This is the currency used by our Obsidian Martial Arts Academy," Zhang Qingwei explained. "You can think of it as one point equals one bit."

"One hundred bits? A serving of roast meat and rice?" Qiao Hanlan was also shocked.

He had eaten roasted meat rice before; many restaurants in the suburbs had it, but it only cost around thirty pounds, which was already quite expensive.

He had never seen a 100-bit grilled meat rice dish in any restaurant in the city.

As Meng Wei's disciple, he held a relatively high position within the Iron Heart Gang, earning 20,000 bits a month, making him one of the wealthier people in the suburbs. Most ordinary people only earn three or four thousand bits a month.

If you had to eat 100-bit grilled meat and rice every day, you wouldn't be able to survive.

"One integral equals one bit?" Lin Qi was also taken aback upon hearing this.

To make things easier, he initially set ten points equal to one bit. The main reason was that he didn't have many resources to offer players for exchange, so he used points as a kind of empty promise to motivate them to do things.

But to my surprise, when they arrived at Red Moon Mountain, players were able to upgrade one point to one bit. How come none of the many nomads who came to eat had any objections?

"Then let's each have one." Meng Wei glared at Qiao Hanlan, thinking that Qiao Hanlan was making a fuss over nothing. Although it was a bit expensive, it wasn't something they couldn't afford.

"Okay! Five servings of roasted meat and rice!" Zhang Qingwei immediately greeted the Tianwei members who were cooking.

In less than ten minutes, five servings of roasted meat and rice were placed in front of Lin Qi and the others.

Lin Qi ate it without a care, after all, wild game was all the same to him, just to taste the meat. But after Meng Wei and the other two took a bite of the roasted meat, they were stunned on the spot. They looked at each other, their eyes filled with shock.

"You...you made this barbecue with monster meat?" Qiao Hanlan couldn't help but ask Zhang Qingwei.

Although he only took one bite, the energy from the meat was incredibly rich, almost exactly the same as the monster meat he ate at the Iron Heart Gang's victory celebration banquet, and even better.

Just by eating the meat of these monsters, Qiao Hanlan could feel his body cells becoming more active. If he could eat one of these meals a day, the speed at which his physical fitness and blood energy improved would be much faster.

However, most of the monster meat is obtained by martial artists through hunting, and it is almost entirely collected by the major forces in the city. Very little monster meat is available on the market, so it is difficult to buy even if you have money.

The monster meat that the Iron Heart Gang obtains is the result of the gang's high-ranking members gathering their strength to hunt with great difficulty. Each hunt results in the loss of many people, and the gang leaders do not receive much in return each time.

The latest novel is first published here!

Although he was the deputy leader's disciple, he was lucky to eat there three or four times a month, while other gang members were considered lucky to eat there once a month.

"Yes, the food at our Tianwei Restaurant is always good quality and inexpensive. 100 points is definitely worth it," Zhang Qingwei introduced.

"Master Lin, can outsiders just eat the monster meat here?" Meng Wei glanced at the stall full of people and looked at Lin Qi with shock.

Monster meat, when placed in a suburban gang, represents the foundation of that gang and can help them cultivate more skilled fighters.

Therefore, gangs that obtain monster meat never sell it to others.

It's hard to imagine that Obsidian Martial Arts Academy would openly sell monster meat in the wild, even allowing vagrants to eat it; it's simply insane.

Although Meng Wei knew that it wouldn't be difficult for the Obsidian Martial Arts School to obtain monster meat—the two crocodile-toothed rhinoceroses at the mountain gate being the best example—he still found it hard to believe that Lin Qi would be so generous.

With so much monster meat, just by cultivating their own power, they could train countless quasi-martial artists. Given enough time, any gang in the suburbs would be a joke.

"Trading is free in Red Moon Mountain. As long as someone can afford it, we will sell it." Lin Qi looked at the shocked and surprised Meng Wei and suddenly felt that selling monster meat in Red Moon Mountain was a good business. It could even enhance Red Moon Mountain's reputation and attract more vagrants to come here.

With this money, he could quickly complete the expansion of the martial arts school and further increase the number of players; otherwise, five hundred people with the authority of a level one administrator would simply not be enough.

"Master Lin, since you've said that, I can agree to the previous cooperation on behalf of the gang leader." Meng Wei took a deep breath and looked at Lin Qi with utmost seriousness. "Furthermore, I would like to allow the Iron Heart Gang to be merged into the Obsidian Martial Arts School as well. I hope Master Lin can agree to that."

(End of this chapter)