SCT-Novel Chapter 184: Management Players
Chapter 184: Management Players
December 4, 8:30 p.m., Earth time, peak online period. In OtherWorld, it was four in the afternoon.
More and more undead had appeared beyond Indahl's west gate. Other than players in fixed teams grinding mobs and gold farmers addicted to farming gold, many players were attracted here by the battlefield preparatory quests.
"Wow, it's the famous Ou Huang!" A player doing a manual labor quest (expanding the prisoner camp) in the Weisshem encampment exclaimed and quickly tugged on his friend's sleeve. "Look, look, Ou Huang has also come!"
"Ehhh? For real?" His skeleton friend was surprised. "Isn’t it said that Ou Huang never does popular quests? Why is he gracing us with his presence this time?"
"Who's that with Ou Huang?" someone asked curiously.
"Don't you even know Boss Orange Cat? He's the top whale among veteran players. All the best equipment on the server has surely been in his hands before!"
"Only a top whale can be friends with Ou Huang. Is this how the world of powerhouses is like?"
"They even brought NPCs with them! The first player merchant group on the server definitely is impressive!"
The small merchant caravan composed of two players, four hired NPCs, and two wagons pulled by horned horses passed in front of the camp. Only then did Orange Cat, leading the group, reveal a bright smile... He really wanted to chuckle when the newbies were praising him earlier, but he held it in until now.
"We've finally fought our way over and our business is looking much brighter, ain't that right, Ou Huang? We don't have to sneak around any more," said Orange Cat cheerfully.
Ou Huang remained expressionless.
Orange Cat was long used to Ou Huang's laconic nature and didn't mind the lack of response, continuing to chatter away...
As the initiator of the server's first player merchant caravan, Orange Cat's recent gaming experience hadn't been very user friendly. The race setting of being undead was frustrating. He was clearly playing management mode, yet they had to avoid villages and select trading spots in the wilderness, conducting transactions like thieves.
Of course, traveling across the map was interesting, much more so than real-life road trips or camping. Encountering wild boars or wolves in the wilderness allowed Orange Cat to showcase his prowess in a highly realistic hunting game. (It was the only way he could make his presence felt by hunting wild beasts.) The excitement was undeniable... The fact that Ou Huang continued to accompany him on these wild adventures without silently opting for suicide to return to the city proved how intriguing such wilderness adventures were for men.
However, as fun as roaming the wilderness could be, it was still disheartening if it didn't achieve their business goals. So, as soon as Orange Cat saw the system announce the territorial war, he immediately brought his caravan over—he had taken a business loan from the Weisshem town hall for this venture, and it would be troublesome if he ended up in the red.
It had to be said, though, that Orange Cat really had a keen business sense. When his caravan, headed by two skeletons, arrived at the slums outside the west Indahl gate, a location mentioned by players in the blood alliance channel (he, too, had joined Qin Guan's blood alliance along with Yang Ying and the others), the residents, who had just been frightened by over a hundred undead, hardly react to this merchant caravan.
"Ah, there are already fellow vendors here." Seeing the mobile mill set up, Orange Cat waved cheerfully at the friendly worker NPCs and immediately instructed his four NPC employees, "Quickly set up the stall; we've got business to do."
The four NPC employees, averaging 38 years old (considered late middle-aged in this world), compliantly stopped the carriage by the roadside. They dismantled the carriage's sideboards, propped them up with stones to serve as a stall, and swiftly arranged the merchandise on display.
Given the purchasing power of natives, the goods Boss Orange Cat procured from Ji Tang were all inexpensive, sourced by Yang Qiu at ultra-low prices. These included expiring stuff like KangShifu instant noodles, White Rabbit milk candy, TiZi laundry powder, and Bird brand soap, as well as cheap, crudely made knickknacks by the container load from Z and S Provinces (remaining stock from the mass closure of two-yuan stores, as many cities had transitioned to ten-yuan stores)... and so on.
In short, the source of goods was the same as that of the two-copper hypermarket in Weisshem, just with fewer types of products. A mobile vendor couldn't compare with a hypermarket, after all.
While the employees arranged the goods, Orange Cat personally rushed to the entrance of the slums, and hollered, "Come take a look! Every item at only two copper coins! Miss this, and you'll have to visit Weisshem to buy such products again!"
All that ensued was silence.
Johan's mouth was wide open in shock, while Bobby couldn't help being envious.
Bobby, too, had been praised for being quick-witted, but his family's situation didn't allow him to even dream of studying... Ever since the age of 12, Bobby started working with older children, scouring the city's streets for work.
"As for Bobby, your mother often has diarrhea, doesn't she?" Barton looked at Bobby and said kindly. "If it's just diarrhea, Ms. Shirley might be able to help. They have a specific medicine for diarrhea there. If your mother is willing to raise some chicks in her spare time, you can get the medicine for free."
Using tetracycline for poultry to treat diarrhea had already been discovered by the people of Weisshem. Since the town hall refused to sell the medicine separately (mainly to avoid problems), many townspeople joined the chicken-raising contingent to gain access to this effective common medicine.
Over-the-counter medication was a concept that did not exist in this world. Wealthy folk turned to alchemists or priests when falling ill, while the poor relied on their on endurance. Due to poor sanitary conditions and the habit of consuming spoiled food, dysentery and diarrhea were common.
This time, it was Bobby's jaw that dropped.
The two young men looked at each other and agreed on the spot to take turns watching the goods and visiting the neighboring stall to see what they could buy...
The slums housed over ten thousand people, and through word-of-mouth communication among the slum dwellers, Orange Cat's two horse-drawn carriages worth of affordable goods were completely sold out in less than two hours (OtherWorld time). The substantial collection of dirty, sweat-stained copper coins filled an entire small box.
Slum dwellers residents who arrived late and only managed to grab one or two items were regretful but didn't dare show displeasure to the undead that was clearly the merchant boss. They loitered around, unwilling to disperse.
Seeing this, Barton stepped forward in a timely fashion to address the crowd, "Don't worry, everyone. Soon, the Two-Copper Hypermarket from Weisshem will be coming here. The store will have a wider variety of goods, including inexpensive fabrics and ready-to-wear clothes for everyone to choose from..."
"What the hell? Hold on a minute!" Merchant boss Orange Cat, who was just about to try out some of the pre-battle quests after clearing his inventory, became infuriated and confronted Barton for interference. "Is there no sense of fairness here? You're stealing my business as soon as I built the customer base? Do NPCs not abide by ethics?"
Weisshem town hall official Barton: "..."
Fortunately, Ou Huang pulled Orange Cat away before he could cause more of a scene.
It was also fortunate that people who didn't wear the cuckoo flower badge couldn't understand the language of the undead. The slum dwellers were thrilled with Barton's good news and were no longer envious of those who managed to get good deals first. They amiably inquired about what others had purchased, planning in advance what they could afford with the money they had...
As dusk fell, the slum dwellers gradually returned home, and the mobile mill ceased operation.
Barton, after packing up, called up his partner and went to the Weisshem encampment, just across the mule and horse market.
Inside the military green tent, Barton and his partner reported the intelligence they had gathered in the field to Rex and Yang.
"We couldn't probe much with city folk, but as for the inhabitants of the outer slums and surrounding rural areas, there's no hostility toward Weisshem," Barton reported and then shared his thoughts. "After trying to communicate with the younger people who are more receptive, these young individuals showed a clear yearning after learning about the basic situation in our Weisshem."
Rex was pleased with the report and smiled at Yang. "We really owe a lot to Ji Tang and Sis Zhao."
Yang also nodded.
Look at that, it wasn't long when they were captives themselves, and these workers have already been converted and called it "our Weisshem"... The national team has done a splendid job indeed!!