The buff is permanent, and you start the game with a fountain of water.

"Haha, finally I have a detection skill!"

Huan Cheng carefully stored the Eye of Insight into the Ring of Greed, his face full of joy.

What bothered him most when fighting bosses was that he could only see a line of health points, and he couldn't see anything about attack, defense, or skills. He was always worried that the boss would suddenly unleash a powerful combo and kill him instantly.

Now that he has the Eye of Insight, he can know himself and his enemy, greatly increasing his safety when fighting bosses.

The Qingyang Armor set is not only incredibly powerful in terms of attributes, but also has a very cool appearance.

The overall design uses a cool, bright silver base, with sharp and neatly forged nail plates. The nail surface is adorned with mysterious dark gold patterns, and the lines are clean and concise, creating a strong and masculine style.

The edge is engraved with azure cloud patterns, and the blue light follows the Jiaozhou pattern to shimmer. The cold light reflects the green light, which is both domineering and elegant.

"One word—cool!"

Huan Cheng looked left and right, and gave himself a satisfactory objective evaluation.

Just as he was admiring his stunning good looks, he suddenly received a system notification that a friend had sent him a message.

Upon opening the message, I discovered it was from "Half a Cup of Tenderness."

Since our last meeting, Banzhan Wenrou has shown tremendous enthusiasm for her work, throwing herself wholeheartedly into the preparation and operation of the store.

Aside from handing over equipment, this was the first person to proactively contact Huan Cheng.

His face darkened after just one glance at the message.

After getting his bearings, Huan Cheng sprinted toward the Gentle Little Shop.

From afar, he could see a crowd gathered at the shop entrance, completely surrounding the shop.

The shop doors were tightly shut, and several hired NPCs were earnestly persuading the players at the door to leave.

Guided by Banzhan's gentle touch, Huan Cheng entered the shop through the back door.

"What happened?" Huan Cheng asked directly, getting straight to the point.

Half a cup of light shone on her gentle and pretty face, revealing fatigue and a somewhat downcast expression: "Someone is causing us trouble."

"Who is it?"

"Quite a few: the Liu family, the Fierce Tiger Guild, the Emperor's Alliance, the War God Gang, the Tyrant Society..."

With half a cup of gentle silver teeth clenched, she rattled off seven or eight names in one breath.

"What exactly happened?" Huan Cheng asked, frowning.

Of the names Half a Cup of Tenderness mentioned earlier, apart from the Liu family, he had heard of the others; they were quite renowned player guilds in Qingyang City.

He didn't understand how Half a Cup of Tenderness had suddenly attracted so many enemies.

Banzhan Wenrou looked dejected, her eyes misty, and slowly recounted the whole story.

Although the current player guilds are all makeshift organizations, they still have plenty of the usual conflicts of interest.

They monopolize leveling spots, control high-quality quests, and monopolize material acquisition... they do all sorts of shady things.

One of the most important sources of income for guilds is protection fees.

Of course, even if you gave the player guild eight lives, they wouldn't dare to go after the natives to collect protection money. The guards of Qingyang City are not to be trifled with!

However, the guards don't really care about disputes between players. Unless there are serious incidents such as fighting, robbery, or murder, the guards generally don't interfere.

This gives certain guilds room to resort to underhanded tactics.

Once a player's shop opens for business, guilds will come to collect protection money. If the shop owner refuses, these guilds will organize their members to maliciously block and harass the shop.

If you open your shop for business, but there's a bunch of idle players loitering outside all day, who's going to come in?

The guards ignored it, and the lone, weak solo players had virtually no way to fight back against such disgusting tactics, so they could only obediently hand over protection money.

Gentle Little Shop was targeted by such a guild.

"How is the protection fee collected?" Huan Cheng suppressed his anger and asked in a low voice.

Banzhan Wenrou looked at Huan Cheng apologetically and gently shook her head: "It's not about protection money."

"I've already reached an agreement with the Heavenly Alliance. Our shop will be affiliated with the Heavenly Alliance, and we'll pay a protection fee of 1 gold per month."

Biting her lip, Banzhan Wenrou continued, "Three days ago, I had a falling out with my family, and they want me to hand over control of the shop."

At this point, Banzhan Wenrou suddenly became agitated: "Why should they? This is a shop I opened with my own savings. I invested all my assets in it. It has absolutely nothing to do with the Liu family. What right do they have to interfere?"

Based on what Yunxi had said before, Huan Cheng instantly imagined a 30-episode soap opera about the feuds of a wealthy family.

After calming herself down, Banzhan Wenrou continued, "In a fit of anger, I left the Liu family."

"So, now the Liu family is retaliating against you? They're deliberately picking a fight?"

"That's right!" Half a cup of gentle warmth said resentfully, "With the Liu family's investment in the Heavenly Alliance, all the previously agreed-upon conditions are null and void, and the protection fee has been raised to one hundred gold coins per month."

"The Fierce Tiger Guild, the War Soul Gang, and others also have complicated relationships with the Liu family, and they took the opportunity to kick them when they were down."

"What's the situation with the 'Heroic Figures' group? Are they also connected to the Liu family?"

"They didn't!" Mentioning the Tyrants' Society, a hint of shame and anger appeared on Half-Cup Gentle's face. "The tyrant's society's president, Arrogant Tyrant, is pursuing me."

"Chasing you?" Huan Cheng's eyes widened.

"That's a self-important fool who, relying on his family's power, acts arrogantly and bullies everyone, making countless enemies. He's a complete good-for-nothing."

"Is he trying to force you to give in?!"

"right!"

Huan Cheng grinned and nodded in deep agreement: "You're right, he really is an idiot."

"They're clearly trying to shut me down; we can't keep this shop open anymore." Half a cup of gentle warmth gave a bitter smile and pointed behind her: "About half of the equipment you provided has been sold; the rest is in the warehouse. Take it with you when you leave."

After a pause, Banzhan said gently, "I used the money from selling equipment to expand the shop, so this loss is on me. I'll find a way to make it up to you in the future."

"And what about you? What are you planning to do?"

"They want me to submit? Dream on!" Banzhan Wenrou's face was full of stubbornness, her silver teeth clenched: "I'd rather die than go back to the Liu family!"

Huan Cheng suddenly smiled, meeting Banzhan's gentle gaze, and grinned, "How about you just focus on working for me from now on?"

"What?"

"From now on, I'll take care of these petty, underhanded things. You can focus on running the business."

"How do we resolve this? There are only a handful of forces in Qingyang City that can rival these families. Will those top dukes turn against the Liu family for our sake?"

Huan Cheng smiled cruelly and slowly shook his head: "There's no need to find any big guilds, and there's no need to pay protection money."

"Um?"

Half a cup of tenderness, her face full of doubt.

"Open the shop door. What kind of business is it if we always keep it closed?"

Half a cup of gentle warmth was stunned for a moment. Just as she was about to ask a question, she met Huan Cheng's gaze and her heart suddenly trembled. She subconsciously lowered her head and swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue.

The store, which had been closed for many days, suddenly opened its doors wide, and a commotion flooded inside.

The guild ruffians blocking the door were stunned for a moment, then turned around and bumped into Huan Cheng, who was coming out in front of them.

Huan Cheng scanned the crowd, a slight smirk playing on his lips, a hint of contempt in his eyes: "I'll count to three, then get out of here!"