Chapter 103: Inflation

A dilapidated temple.

Over a hundred players from the Beggar Sect were all gathered here.

Everyone's face was filled with excitement.

Key players such as Lao Mi, Gengmi, Gugao Laoren, Madman, and Woodcutter No. 1 sat in the front row.

Lin Bai sat in the seat of honor.

Before him lay dozens of sheets of white paper, densely covered in writing; he flipped through them casually:

"Smooth/Soft, extraordinary confidence."

"Mu Ming Milk, pure natural milk, a healthy life every day."

"Leap Communications, even across time and space, we can still remain connected."

"Many Cookies..."

A total of ten advertisements.

The content covered shampoo, communications, food, milk, beverages, laundry detergent, seasonings, alcohol, e-commerce, and more. Each proposal had its own slogan and trademark design, and even specified the usage scenarios...

Good grief!

Beverages and food were one thing, but why were the communications and e-commerce industries trying to join in the fun?

Could they really build signal towers in the game world?

Did they really want to sell goods over here too?

"Shopkeeper Lin, these are the ten sponsors we carefully selected. You still need to make the final call on which ones to use," Gugao Laoren said cautiously.

Over a hundred Beggar Sect players had each received advertising sponsorships.

Among them were outrageous advertisements for things like sanitary napkins and diapers; these were already the ten most suitable manufacturers they had selected after comprehensive consideration.

"What is Leap Communications?" Lin Bai asked, knowing the answer.

"Messenger, they just changed the name," Gugao Laoren explained, biting the bullet. "Their requirements are the lowest; we just need to paint text advertisements on the walls of Jiamu City. They will sponsor our Beggar Sect with 100,000 taels of silver annually. If we reach Qian City and can convince the City Lord of Qian City to also let us paint their advertisements, their sponsorship fee can be increased to one million taels..."

A conversion ratio of one to one hundred.

It was equivalent to spending one million to buy a text advertisement in a starter village, and it was still up in the air whether it would even be caught by the livestream cameras!

The communications industry was indeed wealthy and imposing...

Lin Bai ignored the talk of advertising in Qian City and said, "Painting on the city walls requires the City Lord's approval; 100,000 taels is a bit low."

Gugao Laoren immediately said, "The other party can offer up to 150,000 taels."

"200,000 taels, painted for half a year, final price." Lin Bai glanced at him. "Don't play little tricks on me in the future; report the other party's bottom line directly to me. You are a member of the Beggar Sect; you must favor your own side. If you eat inside and out, be careful, or I will kick you out."

"Yes, Shopkeeper Lin, I was wrong." Gugao Laoren breathed a sigh of relief and said with a fawning smile, "Leap Communications is a minor player; the focus is still on the two companies, Smooth/Soft and Mu Ming. They each invested three million taels of silver, requiring us to embroider their trademarks on our clothes and shout their promotional slogans after every time we beg. On this trip to Qian City, we must also hoist their flags, and even before fighting, we must shout their promotional slogans first, and it must be done. Otherwise, it counts as a breach of contract..."

As expected of fast-moving consumer goods!

They really know how to splash the cash!

Three million taels of silver, converted, is thirty million; and this is just what was poured into the game. Who knows how much money these Beggar Sect Disciples can split in reality?

Is the money in that world also worthless?

However.

Lin Bai couldn't care less about how much money the Beggar Sect Disciples could split in reality; he couldn't spend their money anyway. Only when they earned money would they risk their lives to work alongside him...

A win-win situation.

Why not do it!

What made Lin Bai feel emotional was the taste of sudden wealth.

You have to know, when he first arrived in this world, he was still worrying about his next meal, and he felt proud for a long time after swindling 200 taels of silver from Luo Congwen.

Now.

He could already mobilize wealth amounting to several million taels of silver.

Indeed.

Life is full of surprises!

If things keep going like this, he almost doesn't want to return to Earth.

Lin Bai tapped the tabletop lightly and asked, "What about the duration? We can't be shouting slogans for them for a lifetime!"

"Half a year," Gugao Laoren said.

"One month at most." Lin Bai refused without a second thought. "It took me only ten-plus days to build the Beggar Sect from nothing. Half a year from now, Beggar Sect Disciples might be spread all over the world. A mere three million taels to buy half a year of my time—impossible."

He looked around at the crowd and said, "In the future, if there are any more such greedy demands, reject them all."

"Yes," the crowd replied one after another.

"Shopkeeper Lin is truly domineering; he's already thinking about Beggar Sect Disciples being spread all over the world after half a year."

"Three million taels—my liver trembles just hearing it, yet Shopkeeper Lin didn't even blink before rejecting it. How steady must his mindset be!"

"What Shopkeeper Lin said is actually very likely to happen. The fourth batch of closed beta lists has been announced; do you know how many people want to come to Jiamu City and join the Beggar Sect now? On the forums, the people wanting to come to Jiamu City are bursting at the seams. It's said that the quota for entering Jiamu City has been limited."

"It seems the official side opened fifty new starter cities just to divert the players this time."

"I think Shopkeeper Lin's idea is a bit whimsical. Those conglomerates are recruiting players who were drawn for accounts on a massive scale. There will definitely be big moves; they won't just watch the Beggar Sect dominate alone. They might even go all out to block the rise of the Beggar Sect..."

"A perfectly good cultivation game, forcibly turned into a business game by Shopkeeper Lin."

"As long as you can make money, that's enough. What else do you want? Besides, the game being linked to business has nothing to do with Shopkeeper Lin. In such a popular game, those merchants were going to enter the field sooner or later. The ones who should have a headache are the retail players; they are already tired in real life and come to the game to find relaxation, only to be exploited by the conglomerates."

"There are always people who don't want to hang out with conglomerates. The Game Company has been restricting the distribution of land-clearing accounts—isn't that just because they are afraid of this kind of monopoly?"

"Actually, I think it's more fun this way. Don't forget, there are natives in this world. Someone has studied the history of the game; the Taiyi Kingdom we are currently in has a history of over six thousand years, and who knows how large the population is? Moreover, fifty new starter villages were opened this time, and they are distributed in different countries. With one hundred thousand people divided into over seventy starter villages and suppressed by NPCs, it's actually not easy to go wild."

"That's right, the settings do include immortals and Buddhas. If things get too rowdy, a high-level NPC might just pop out and slap a whole crowd to death. Even if the consortiums want to dominate the game world, they have to take it one step at a time. Everyone's aptitude is the same; who knows whose turn it is to find a fortuitous encounter?"

"Exactly, exactly. Our starting point is already quite high. Let's hope Shopkeeper Lin and the Justice Sect behind him can pull through!"

……

A group of players huddled together, inevitably chattering in private chats, exchanging their views on the game.

Lin Bai gleaned a great deal of information from their chatter, which inevitably gave him a headache; the Game Company was introducing players at too fast a rate.

If this continued, the world order would collapse sooner or later.

……

"Shopkeeper Lin, have you decided? Which one to use?" Gugao Laoren asked.

"A compromise: half for each, half a month for each. We cannot favor one over the other." Lin Bai pondered for a moment. "And don't waste the rest of these either. You can paint their advertisements on the streets and the exterior walls of houses. When the time comes, go talk to the homeowners—who would turn down extra money?"

"Understood." Lin Bai's willingness to delegate power made Gugao Laoren very excited; he had feared that Lin Bai would insist on handling every big and small matter himself, which would have left them too passive.

"You go handle the small matters; I will go speak with the City Lord's Mansion," Lin Bai said as he rose to his feet.

Gugao Laoren nodded and asked again, "Shopkeeper Lin, in five days, a large batch of new Heavenly Descended will arrive. Is the Beggar Sect still recruiting?"

"Recruit, recruit as many as come." Lin Bai glanced at him and said, "The Heavenly Descended in Jiamu City must be kept under the control of our Beggar Sect. A group of veterans will accompany me to Qian City to expand our territory, while some of the less skilled ones will remain in Jiamu City to maintain order. I will have the City Lord's Mansion cooperate with you."

……

City Lord's Mansion.

Xu Longyun looked at the stack of banknotes before her, her expression somewhat unsightly: "Lin Bai, do you know what consequences will arise from the Heavenly Descended bringing money directly into this place?"

"Money will become worthless." Lin Bai was surprised by Xu Longyun's keenness, but he shook his head and said, "But we cannot stop it. When the Heavenly Descended flood in, this day will come sooner or later."

"But you are accelerating its arrival." Xu Longyun slammed the table heavily, saying with heartache, "More and more money entering Jiamu City will inevitably lead to skyrocketing prices. The wealth people have accumulated will rapidly depreciate, which will stir up public resentment."

"Rest assured, the impact won't manifest that quickly. When that time truly comes, we can control prices, build roads, construct cities, create more job opportunities, purchase large quantities of supplies from other countries, and accelerate the circulation of money through various means. When necessary, we can launch a war to quickly shift the risks elsewhere. City Lord, if we want to build the Remnant City, we need rapid movement of personnel. Right now, even a trip to Qian City requires an escort; how could the economy possibly take off?"

Lin Bai looked at Xu Longyun and said calmly, "City Lord, if we don't clear out the Heavenly Descended, the world will eventually become a mess. We must make everyone adapt to this point..."

"I see you're getting along quite well with the Heavenly Descended; you never intended to drive them out, did you!" Xu Longyun sneered repeatedly, the joy of having obtained the pill recipe vanishing into thin air.

"If I don't do this, someone else will." Lin Bai said, "It is easier to control the Heavenly Descended when they are led by me than to let them run amok on their own. Believe me, risk also means opportunity. Perhaps we can use the Heavenly Descended to change this world and let it develop rapidly. Their money is actually real gold and silver currency; if used well, it can accomplish many things..."

(End of this chapter)