Chapter 107: The True New Believers

Low-interest loans are absolutely a godsend, especially for those players who want to follow the path of a lifestyle player.

Old players almost all invest their money directly into Andrew, and the funds they have on hand are usually used for their own consumption; new players have no money in their hands and have no way to invest at all.

So the best way is to find Andrew for a loan; this way, old players can also earn a little bit of money—although it is small, it is a guaranteed return regardless of drought or flood, and at least the players are required to pay the money back to the NPC. As long as there is time to grind, paying it off is certainly not a problem.

The next day, the area outside Andrew's room was lined with people.

Because the players did not know how to apply, they could only do it through Andrew's handwriting, which gave Andrew a massive headache.

There was no other way, so he had to give everyone a sheet of white paper and a charcoal pencil, letting them write down clearly for themselves what they intended to do and how much area they planned to use.

Those players far away at the Nongzhuang and the winery also came over to fill them out; they were players who had walked all morning and would have to walk all afternoon to get back, which resulted in the kitchen and the canteen being packed, and the players had to line up to eat.

However, everyone had a joyful smile on their face, as if their applications would definitely be approved.

"It's a good thing Ye Laoshi is here, otherwise I'd really be worried about writing the wrong characters," one player said gratefully. "I didn't come here through the translation competition; I got in through a lucky draw, so it's really been too much trouble for you."

"Learning a little more also has its benefits. During this time, I have also been surveying Tana City; the standard of living here is really too backward, and I think your ideas all have the potential to make quite a bit of money," Ye Laoshi said encouragingly. "As long as the people here can accept it, though I think the consumer market here is still a bit too small."

"If it could be transported to the pier, there shouldn't be any problem, and if we had the money, we could take down the abandoned pier," one player said boldly. "It's a pity we can only borrow 500 Tana; if we could build a steel ship, the transport capacity wouldn't be slower than the Train here."

"Then we have to hope that steel smelting can really succeed; I heard that last night, some players already went to the edge of the Farm to build the prototype of a Steel Plant." Zhuguli, biting into bread, licked his fingers with satisfaction. "I have to say, the bread we make ourselves really tastes much better than the stuff in the Military Camp."

"The cooks here have already been taught by Mengmeng and the others, so the taste is better, it's just that those seasonings are really too expensive."

The players gathered in groups, chatting about what they had seen and heard in the game recently, as if they were ordinary people living here.

This made Ye Laoshi very happy; he hadn't chatted face-to-face with people for such a long time in a while, and he missed this feeling very much.

Modern society allows most people to communicate with each other through mobile phones, so very few people choose to communicate face-to-face, not to mention that in modern society, there is nothing new to talk about anymore.

Most things are just a short message of less than 240 characters on a mobile phone, and people even feel that the fewer the words, the bigger the problem.

After listening for a while, You'eryuan had already picked up quite a bit of news; this is the one good thing about having more players, as news also increases exponentially.

"I think that besides opening a grocery store in the game, we could also start something like a daily newspaper on the forum to collect news from players, especially key posts and the like." As a professional player, You'eryuan was very interested in this kind of thing, and he also wanted to write some useful guides, but there really wasn't much to write guides about for this game; although the content was sufficient during the closed beta, it was also really too messy.

A professional player like him, who had no fixed occupation and only thought about buying low and selling high, was even somewhat out of place in this game.

The reason for opening a grocery store was also to be able to sell things like Charms in the distant future.

Of course, he could make these things now, but the effect was really not very good.

"We'll do it together as five people, resting on Saturdays and Sundays, and summarizing on the forum during the week; there's no problem with that," Luolita said, finalizing the decision. "You should think about whether the grocery store is actually going to sell those Charms and such; I see that Tana City doesn't manage these things very strictly."

"Don't even mention it," You'eryuan said, resting his chin on his hand. "The things I make don't have much of an effect."

For example, the healing Charm; he made over 100 of these himself, wasting quite a bit of money, and after giving them to the commoners, only a small portion had any effect.

Even so, he had gained some small reputation among the commoners, and even attracted a few commoners to join the Cai'e Shenjiao.

"You'eryuan!" A commoner walked in from outside the door and greeted You'eryuan excitedly when he saw him. "My mother can stand up now, I..."

"You don't need to thank me; this is the grace of my Lord," You'eryuan said with a haughty look. "You only need to ensure that you don't tell anyone about my affairs; this is what we should do."

"No, I want to join you!" The young man looked pious. "Although you didn't say it explicitly, I know that the best way to avoid Calamity is to believe in Calamity."

*I never said that, * You'eryuan thought to himself, complaining. In reality, the entire Cai'e Shenjiao didn't have any fixed doctrine, and Andrew's own understanding of Calamity was just not to provoke Calamity and to obey Calamity.

"Yes, but we are not a traditional church; I trust that you will not report our tracks."

"Please rest assured, none of us would do that; no one wants to be plagued by Calamity." The young man was quite honest and took 40 Tana out from his person. "This is all my savings; I hope to donate it to the church."

It was clear that this young man was indeed not wealthy.

But donating Tana was really a bit inappropriate; after all, he still had a sick person at home who was in need of nutrition.

"You don't need to do this; what you need to do now is to supplement your mother with more nutrition. The effect of the Charm is not long-lasting; you can just do more for the church in the future," You'eryuan said in a not-very-proficient language. "Believe me, everything will get better."

"Thank you. But I still hope I can do something, and... Tana really can't buy anything right now, and we can't enter the Chamber of Commerce to exchange currency, so..."

Commoners had no way to enter the Chamber of Commerce; their attire would get them stopped at the door.

Most Tana People didn't have many clothes; they were worn by the father and then the son, with one piece of clothing being worn for several generations.

Even among the players, there were some who didn't change clothes much because they really couldn't afford to.

There was no Cotton cultivation here, and of course, it wasn't needed; after all, the climate in Tana City was quite good, and winter would not be too cold.

(End of chapter)