Chapter 30: Destined by Heaven

That night.

Lin Bai's viral marketing spread silently throughout Jiamu City.

The children helped a great deal with this.

"You love me, I love you, Kitchen God Rice Divination welcomes you"—this addictive lyric was too catchy; after repeating it twice, it was deeply engraved in their minds.

The children didn't care about the rest; if they felt it was fun, they would sing it over and over, invisibly expanding the influence of Kitchen God Rice Divination.

Even adults who had worked all day and had no idea what had happened on Qingyu Street couldn't help but feel curious about Kitchen God Rice Divination when they heard these strange lyrics.

Not to mention the customers who had suffered losses and been tricked at the restaurant during the day, who spared no effort in promoting it among their friends and family.

……

Lin Bai's business was developing.

The closed-beta players did not stop their forward progress either.

This was a group of clever and studious people; no matter how difficult the game was, it couldn't stump them, especially with the forum as a cheating tool for mutual exchange.

Exploiting bugs to commit suicide and farm copper coins;

Deleting accounts to fleece the Game Company;

Showing off knowledge from the Real World to curry favor with NPCs;

Two people working together to rob an NPC, running away after the robbery, and deleting their accounts once the stolen money was transferred;

……

In short.

The players each showed their own unique skills, exercising their intelligence and talent in the game, all earning their first pot of gold, and successively joining martial arts halls, the Blacksmith Shop, medical clinics, pharmacies...

Starting a fierce life of leveling up.

For most players, level was life; if you don't grind now, when will you grind?

Even if the hall masters didn't demand it, they would add extra training themselves.

Before their levels rose, the players were the employees capitalists loved most, enough to grind the Native residents of the game world to death.

Fortunately, there were not many closed-beta players, so they did not cause too terrible an impact.

Especially the players in Jiamu City; the whole group hadn't caused as much of a stir as Lin Bai alone.

Within Jiamu City, the group of people least sensitive to Kitchen God Rice Divination should be the players immersed in the joy of leveling up and gaining experience.

After all.

This was a novel game that could be practiced 100% in reality; it was a very fresh experience, and everyone was immersed in it.

……

Just as Lin Bai had expected.

The next day.

The entrance to Kitchen God Rice Divination was even livelier than yesterday.

There were curious crowds who had just joined, as well as onlookers who hadn't had enough fun yesterday and had come specifically to see if the restaurant owner had been killed by a ghost...

Lin Bai hadn't even opened his eyes while lying in bed, yet his Negative Emotion Value and Residual Value had already begun to grow rapidly.

When he arrived at the restaurant.

【Deng Li Buduo】 was already singing and dancing at the restaurant entrance, singing the brainwashing song, active and proactive.

Last night, 【Deng Li Buduo】 went offline to browse the forum and found that most players were already on the right track. On the surface, he sneered at the various crooked methods of exploiting bugs to farm money, but he dared not slack off when it came to the matter of conquering Lin Bai.

Being indecisive would surely lead to nothing.

【Deng Li Buduo】 firmly believed that even if he spent more time, as long as he could become Lin Bai's apprentice, the time lost now could be made up for in the future.

Currently on the forum, the Martial Arts most people were practicing were things like "Basic Blade Technique," "Basic Fist Technique," and "Basic Staff Technique." Even if they advanced, they were just techniques like "Five Tiger Blade" or "Mo Family Fist" that sounded like common goods.

And his Shopkeeper Lin was not only a plot NPC, but his Martial Art "Dragon Subduing Palm" also came with cool special effects.

Which was higher and which was lower was clear at a glance.

He who is fat first is not truly fat; he who is fat later crushes the bed.

【Deng Li Buduo】 was waiting for an opportunity to soar into the sky.

Last night, Zhang Bao and Zhang Dashan, who had been scared away by the ghost, also arrived as promised. Upon learning that 【Deng Li Buduo】 had slept in the shop all night and remained safe and sound, they were full of admiration for his courage while also completely setting their minds at ease, quickly integrating into their roles as waiters.

Only a fool would refuse money.

If the ghost didn't harm 【Deng Li Buduo】, it wouldn't harm them; Shopkeeper Lin was indeed possessed of great magical powers.

Under Lin Bai's powerful leadership.

Every employee of Kitchen God Rice Divination, whether formal or temporary, was full of subjective initiative, each more active than the last; he didn't need to worry about them at all.

……

When half the city was discussing Kitchen God Rice Divination, even the players who were indifferent to the world outside heard a whisper of news.

Mo Family Sword Hall.

"Madman, what the hell is this Kitchen God Rice Divination that everyone outside is talking about?" 【Bitter Melon Vine】 found 【Madman Man】, who was sweating profusely while practicing the Sword, and asked.

For the sake of the registration fee, the four of them exploited bugs to farm money, and each of them had deleted their accounts several times.

Then, 【Bitter Melon】 became 【Bitter Melon Vine】, 【Mad Man】 became 【Madman Man】, 【Won't Settle】 became 【Will Not Settle】, and 【Late Stage Lazy Cancer】 became 【Indefinite Lazy Cancer】.

Having saved enough money, in order to learn more skills, the four-person account-deletion alliance split into three groups.

【Bitter Melon Vine】 and 【Madman Man】 learned the Sword, 【Will Not Settle】 went to the Zhang Family Boxing Hall to learn boxing, and 【Indefinite Lazy Cancer】 entered the Wu Family Blade Hall to learn the blade.

They agreed that after completing their studies, they would exchange what they had learned, so that everyone could possess three Martial Arts at the same time.

Of course.

The four who had fleeced the company did not report this loophole to the Game Company.

When they deleted their accounts and created characters for the third time, the amount of money gifted by the system plummeted by half, which made them realize that the company knew about this loophole all along.

As long as the amount of starting copper coins gifted is continuously reduced, deleting a character serves no purpose other than changing one's face.

Having saved enough money for registration but failing to achieve the expected results, the four-person alliance, in order to disgust the Game Company, selflessly published the character-deletion money-farming process on the forum to benefit the majority of closed-beta players who were struggling.

The various money-farming methods that Deng Li Buduo saw on the forum were the vast array of ingenious ideas sparked after Ku Guateng and the others threw out a brick to attract jade.

When it comes to exploring game mechanics, apart from those who encounter exclusive Hidden Tasks like Longxi and Deng Li Buduo, the big players are all selfless and adorable.

After all, most people play games to enjoy themselves.

"What is Kitchen God Rice Divination?" Fengzinan stopped swinging his sword, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and asked while panting.

"It seems like someone in Jiamu City opened a restaurant with this crappy name. It's said that the location of the restaurant is a Haunted House, and if you sing 'You love me, I love you' at the entrance, you get a discount when you go inside to eat..." Ku Guateng said uncertainly.

"A Haunted House?" Fengzinan's sensitive nerves were triggered, "A dungeon?"

"Doesn't look like it, more like a publicity stunt. The lyrics 'You love me, I love you, Kitchen God Rice Divination welcomes you' are completely out of place in this city; it looks more like something players came up with, too modern." Ku Guateng shook his head, "A lot of people in the martial arts hall went to see it. How about we go take a look too? In case it's some kind of game event and we miss it—this crappy game doesn't even have announcements..."

"Let's go." Fengzinan decisively put away his wooden sword and reported to the senior brother who was instructing them in Basic Martial Arts.

The two then agreed to leave the martial arts hall and headed straight for Qingyu Street.

Since they were not Inner Sect Disciples, the martial arts hall did not restrict the freedom of these ordinary Disciples who had paid the registration fee to learn basic techniques.

Meanwhile.

Jiamu City.

At the entrance of the dilapidated Chenghuang Temple.

Having tossed and turned all night without much sleep, Daoist Qingfeng had just opened the temple door when he saw a young man standing straight in front of the door.

Daoist Qingfeng couldn't help but be stunned: "What are you doing?"

"Disciple Longxi, please accept me as your apprentice, Daoist." Longxi looked at Daoist Qingfeng, shouted, and kowtowed once.

When all the players went to learn Martial Arts, Longxi, who had dealt with ghosts, no longer looked down on those Basic Martial Arts.

No matter how well you practice Martial Arts, can you hit a ghost?

If you want to learn, you learn Daoist arts.

After wandering around Jiamu City for a day and asking everywhere, Longxi finally found this inconspicuous Chenghuang Temple and, knowing that a Daoist lived inside, came to seek apprenticeship as a last resort.

A Daoist hitting ghosts is definitely more professional than a martial arts hall.

For every poison, there must be an antidote within seven steps; since there are ghosts in the game, there should be a corresponding solution. Longxi firmly believed in this principle.

Such a familiar scene!

Looking at Longxi kneeling before him, Daoist Qingfeng was stunned. In a trance, he felt as if he had returned to that night that caused him so much torment.

The Longxi before him gradually overlapped with the figure of the one surnamed Deng who had knelt before Lin Bai. Daoist Qingfeng took a deep breath and, imitating Lin Bai, said: "Young man, get up. This sect has harsh requirements for accepting apprentices; you cannot meet the requirements yet."

"The Daoist hasn't even asked, so how do you know I can't meet the requirements?" As expected of an expert, Longxi looked at Daoist Qingfeng excitedly and asked.

Images of Lin Bai's actions flashed through Daoist Qingfeng's mind. He hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and said: "This sect accepts apprentices with the requirement of extreme evil in the heart, yet it must not be visible on the surface. You must ensure that everything you do is to your own advantage, never suffer a loss if you can take advantage, be greedy, turn against others without a second thought, and always think about reaping happiness from the suffering of others... Can you do these things?"

Damn!

A Demon Sect NPC!

Longxi was overjoyed. He scrambled up, patted his chest, and said: "Of course I can do it! I'm good at all of these! I can even do worse: betray my master for glory, recognize a thief as my father, abuse my power for personal gain, and betray my sect—there is nothing you can't think of that I can't do. Master, I am the apprentice destined for you by the heavens!"

(End of chapter)