Chapter 609: Staying Watchful (1/10, bonus chapter for 'Ruichi Tianxia')

Chunuan City.

Fang Yue looked at the massive city gate and was stunned for a moment.

It wasn't because of the size of the gate, but the flow of people.

The flow of people moving at the entrance was greater and more efficient than any city Fang Yue had ever seen in the game.

Yes, efficiency.

Corresponding to the massive flow of people was a highly efficient entry rate.

However, this efficiency seemed a bit different from what Fang Yue understood.

Even back at Gu Yue Cun, the Guard Team's inspection of outsiders was never this casual.

One only needed to report a name and register it; it was as if the guards were impatient, wanting people to hurry into the city as if every extra second Fang Yue's caravan stayed would cost them money.

Even for Fang Yue, who was shrouded in a black robe and lacked any identity verification, he simply reported the name 【Ye Niuniu】, and the other party just wrote it down and didn't care anymore.

Seeing that everyone else seemed accustomed to this, Fang Yue followed the team into Chunuan City, filled with doubt.

It must be said that under such efficient and lax inspections, the entire city was full of vitality and vigor; the sheer volume of people truly exceeded Fang Yue's concept of a town.

In this world where specters ran rampant and death and injury were common occurrences, there was actually a city that could accommodate so many people while remaining prosperous.

Fang Yue found it inconceivable, and what he thought of next was absolute force!

Chunuan City must have powerful individuals, or some means to suppress specters, crush specters, and ensure safety at a certain baseline.

Otherwise, Chunuan City could never be this stable.

Fang Yue guessed that there must be special existences similar to Lord Han or the formations of Mo Cun.

Furthermore, the Green Guards of Chunuan City were also incredibly lazy; with such lax defenses, were they not afraid of specters entering the city, or some villains sneaking in?

"That is something Ye Daren is unaware of."

"Call me Niu Niu!"

"……Uh, Niu, Niu Daren?"

"Forget it, just call me Ye Daren."

"Niu Daren" or something sounded a bit like "Master Dick"... it was weird.

Speaking of which, I wonder where Niu Niu is hanging out now.

After Mo Cun was finished last time, Fang Yue had specifically called to ask about him.

It turned out he had made too much money in Mo Cun and had gone off to spend it and have fun in reality.

It must be said that although Niu Niu possessed the talent of Innate Divine Strength, he actually had quite a head for business, and his methods of socialite group-buying were quite elaborate.

By the time Fang Yue left Mo Cun, Niu Niu's business career had already taken a turn for the better; he started making big money and became increasingly reluctant to leave Mo Cun.

Fortunately, he had the habit of regularly selling his game currency for cash.

Otherwise, on the day Mo Cun perished, the day he was killed by a specter, he would likely have lost everything.

Later, after Niu Niu was killed by a specter, he started living a life of debauchery, knowing how to enjoy himself even better than Fang Yue, who was making ten million a year. At first, he even wanted to "flex" in front of Fang Yue, but after learning of Fang Yue's savings, he immediately shut his mouth and pitifully called out "Ye Ge," begging to be carried.

Carry my foot; I earned my money working for a rich second-generation heir, and that heir has even been hacked to death by me now...

Fang Yue couldn't help but want to rub his forehead; ignoring the cause and effect, just looking at the result, his methods were a bit terrifying.

However, Niu Niu was also lucky; at that time, the 【Specter Degree Line】 was very low, and death in the game was just death in the game, having nothing to do with reality.

Reincarnating and changing characters was all it took.

So Niu Niu still had a chance to re-enter the game, unlike now, where if you die in the game... there is a high probability that something will happen in reality too.

Later on, Fang Yue asked about Niu Niu's situation two more times; Niu Niu had created characters, but one died quickly, and the other was living comfortably enough, just weary of playing, fishing for two days and drying nets for three. His strength couldn't keep up at all, and at most, he was barely relying on his Yang-span to extend his life as a casual player.

He himself didn't care at all, and instead was quite proud: "As a pay-to-win boss, shouldn't one live comfortably in the game?"

That was a fair point, but unfortunately, the difficulty of being a casual player in this game was quite high.

Someone like Niu Niu treated the game entirely as leisure and entertainment, with his focus shifted completely to the glitz and glamour of reality.

Fang Yue saw through his intentions, and coupled with the fact that his final spawn point was a small mountain village near Qing Cheng in Qing Guo, where they couldn't meet in the short term, he gradually lost the desire to stay in touch.

Since the other party had a tendency to semi-retire from the game, it wouldn't be good for him to keep bothering them.

After those two times, Fang Yue never asked about Niu Niu's situation again, and he didn't know if Niu Niu was currently dead or alive.

However, this did not prevent Fang Yue from using his name to disguise his identity; who could possibly track down a small refugee in a small mountain village in that region of Qing Cheng?

Even if the names were identical, no one would connect them.

Pushing these thoughts aside, Fang Yue listened to Hai Guanjia explain why such a lax phenomenon appeared at the city gate.

"Ye Daren is unaware; as I said before, Chunuan City is different from other cities; it is a major trading hub. It relies on the flow of people from all sides, using this massive volume as a foundation to conduct frequent trade, and it developed based on the huge profits generated."

"In order for the trade of 【Chunuan City】 to flourish, it certainly cannot be like other towns, blocking the flow of outsiders so strictly."

"If you don't let this prisoner in, or that person cursed by a specter in, and guard against everyone strictly, then with the limited manpower of the Qing Office, they would spend all day just checking people. Moreover, the real businessmen would be blocked outside and unable to enter."

"With this back and forth, too much profit is lost. Plus, with low entry efficiency, merchant caravans that cannot complete their trades smoothly will shake their heads and leave. Without merchant caravans, popularity will fade, forming a vicious cycle."

"Therefore, as Chunuan City continues to develop, its inspections of outsiders and openness to the flow of people have become increasingly lax. Nowadays, as long as you want to enter the city, you can basically get in. As for the means of detecting specters, every city gate actually has a formation embedded in it, so ordinary specters cannot sneak in."

After listening, Fang Yue was a bit dazed.

So 【Chunuan City】, for the sake of the flow of people, almost didn't care about the safety of the people inside.

All actions and indicators were based on absorbing a massive flow of people, so naturally, the flow was endless, but... what about safety?

If no one guaranteed safety, people would run away even if there were many of them; surely everyone couldn't be choosing money over their lives.

There were indeed some people who chose money over their lives, but they were only a minority.

In this world where specters ran rampant, it wasn't easy for anyone to live, and people still cherished their lives.

"That is where Ye Daren is mistaken. Merchants are all 'desperadoes'; daring to run trade routes outside means hanging one's head on one's belt; encountering any crisis is possible. If it weren't for Ye Daren earlier, wouldn't our merchant caravan have been completely wiped out?"

"So danger is never a problem for merchants. Knowing that Chunuan City can make big money, talent and supplies from all over Qing Guo are constantly converging on Chunuan City."

"It can be said that, apart from the towns around the Capital of Qing Guo, which firmly control absolute resources and are the most prosperous areas in Qing Guo, the second prosperous region opened up in the whole country is 【Chunuan City】."

Although Chunuan City is still quite a distance away from catching up to the Capital of Qing Guo, it is already like a wild horse off its tether, galloping and rushing forward; within a hundred years, it will surely be on par with the Capital of Qing Guo, or even surpass it!"

I updated a bit late today; I fell asleep.

Ten updates as usual; I estimate it will take until past 10 AM to finish updating. Everyone, please be patient.

(End of this chapter)