Chapter 303: XX Plan

Chapter 303: XX Plan

“I don’t seem to have any particularly attractive points, do I?” Zheng Yichen looked down at his own hands. While he had no real complaints about his natural appearance, saying it was very attractive was completely out of the question.

“Black hair and black eyes aren’t attractive?” Lia gently raised her eyebrows, countering his statement.

“That’s just talking about features. If you want to change your hair color, I have a few bottles of hair dye in my Workshop. I guarantee they have no side effects and won’t damage your hair.”

“Let’s not talk about this. I don’t know anyone in Kaja, and I don’t want to stay at the branch headquarters all the time either.” Lia thought for a moment, deciding not to hide her thoughts. “My identity… makes it hard for many people in The Church to have a proper conversation with me after they meet me.”

“So at my place, you can have a proper conversation?” Zheng Yichen couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“Isn’t that the case right now?” Lia gave a light laugh. “Although you seem to not want me here at all, since you seem to have some connection with Witches, it looks like I really should come here more often.”

“…” Looking at the girl with milky-white long hair in front of him, Zheng Yichen really wanted to say that tempting fate shouldn’t be done this way. His home currently housed three… no, four Witches. Two of them were Alchemical Avatars, but they weren’t too shabby in a fight either. Not to mention the other two were actual Witches. Even if they weren’t an unbreakable trinity, if four Witches really took action, the Sanctuary Church would probably end up losing a Saintess. He wondered just how many Saintesses the Sanctuary Church had in total.

“Let’s eat, let’s eat. I have experiments to do later.” Since he didn’t have much to talk about with the girl in front of him, and couldn’t easily strike up a conversation based on his research like he could with Loris and the others, Zheng Yichen found it hard to find sustainable topics when facing Lia. Talk about research? Would she even understand? Moreover, Magic Potion research wasn’t his main focus; Zheng Yichen had other things to do. Talk about life ideals? Pfft, right now he felt he had nothing good to discuss with people from the Sanctuary Church. Talk about the influence of Witches? He’d probably get a brain scan from this girl before he even finished.

“Mhm.” Lia nodded gently, glancing slightly at Lily, who seemed very curious about her. She took out an accessory with a white stone embedded in it. “This is our first meeting, right? Here’s a little gift for you.”

“…” Zheng Yichen glanced at the seemingly ordinary white stone and gave a slight, strained smile. He didn’t ask what the thing was for. While he didn’t have much else to talk about with Lia, asking extra questions now would feel somewhat callous. Regardless of what this thing was, and since this was his turf, Zheng Yichen felt quite confident. Whatever its effect was, he could just examine it later himself.

“Hehe, you’re quite likable, you know.” After dinner, Lia didn’t linger for long. Later, Dan Marina popped out from somewhere, grinning as she spoke, completely ignoring Zheng Yichen’s eye-roll.

“Quick, think of a way to stop her from coming here for no reason? What would happen if the Sanctuary Church accidentally lost a Saintess?”

“That? It would be quite troublesome. It’s not like hundreds of years ago when losing one or two Saintesses wouldn’t cause much impact. Don’t worry, even if she is a Saintess, with several Witches working together to cover things up, she won’t notice anything wrong here. And even if she did, do you think the four of us couldn’t subdue her?”

“And then what?”

“Then you can use the charm of that dragon face of yours to win her over,” Dan Marina said with clear malicious intent.

“Cut the nonsense. Anyway, you all should still be careful.” Zheng Yichen shook his head. How charming that dragon face really was, Zheng Yichen honestly had no idea. Maybe among the Dragon Clan he was a genuinely handsome dragon, but among Humans… it was the same old story: he should be happy if he didn’t scare people. Since Saintess Lia’s visits couldn’t be stopped, they might as well maintain the status quo. With her frequent comings and goings here, ignoring certain rumors, just this connection alone could add another layer of protection to his identity. “I suddenly have a plan…”

“Oh? What plan?” Dan Marina blinked curiously, reaching out to gently pat the head of Lily, who looked clueless and couldn’t find a chance to join the conversation. The topic between Zheng Yichen and Dan Marina had already gone beyond her scope of input. “Little sister, go play with his Loli. Big sister needs to talk about some grown-up things with him.”

“…” If she knew this woman before her wasn’t a Witch, Lily would have thrown an eye-roll long ago. Seeing that Zheng Yichen showed no sign of stopping it, she trotted back to a room she used here.

“Back to the topic. Tell me, what plan?”

“The Saintess Corruption Plan.”

“Huh?” Dan Marina looked at Zheng Yichen in surprise. She hadn’t expected this kid, who seemed so unwilling just moments ago, to come up with such a bold idea now. “Come on, tell me more details!”

Far from scolding him angrily, she instead leaned closer to Zheng Yichen with great interest. “How do you plan to do it?”

“… I was just mentioning it! Why are you more excited than me!?” Zheng Yichen looked at the thrilled Dan Marina and scooted away slightly with a bit of disgust.

“Who among everyone present here dislikes the Sanctuary Church more than I do?”

Among everyone present?! Zheng Yichen looked in surprise toward the staircase. Sure enough, three pairs of eyes of different colors were now there. Well, so you’ve all been eavesdropping on our conversation?

“What are you all thinking!? Am I that kind of person?” Zheng Yichen shouted in dissatisfaction!

“Although you have a dragon’s body now, your essence still seems Human. We all transformed from Humans too, so we understand the many facets of humanity quite well,” Annie said calmly, looking at Zheng Yichen. She seemed somewhat serious, though it was hard to tell what she was thinking.

Loris and Irene didn’t speak, but Zheng Yichen didn’t want to be stared at like that by them either, as if he really was some kind of morally shady person. How dark are your hearts? He hadn’t even been thinking in that direction when he said those six words earlier; Dan Marina’s excited reaction had dragged him into it. Though he had his own reasons, her vivid reaction at the time was a big factor.

“It’s not the literal meaning! Ah, damn it, let me put it this way. Since she likes coming here, let’s just get her to develop some new habits… contrast! Get it? Imagine a Saintess who looks all dignified and proper on the outside, but in places others can’t see, she’s a hardcore otaku who loves browsing forums, shopping online, even getting obsessed with forum culture and other related stuff…”

Zheng Yichen immediately explained his real idea. Everyone present had excellent comprehension skills, so after his brief explanation, they immediately indicated they understood.

“Ahem, well, though it’s not quite what I imagined, your plan is pretty devious too,” Annie coughed lightly. Her serious expression had vanished at some point, as if it never existed. “But your idea, while good, should be hard to implement, right? A Saintess’s will isn’t so easily shaken.”

“Oh? But I heard from Dan Marina that Saintesses really like racing?” Zheng Yichen said expressionlessly, watching Annie. This girl was fast at changing expressions too. “Anyone can have their own hobbies. From this perspective, the Sanctuary Church’s Saintesses aren’t completely removed from worldly things.”

This alone highlighted the difference between the Sanctuary Church and some churches from novels. Saintesses were also Human. Aside from certain Church rules, they had their own lives at other times. They weren’t symbolic figures polished by holiness, forbidden from this and that, acting like robots.

“Well, you do your best then,” Dan Marina patted Zheng Yichen’s shoulder. “Though my sense of anticipation dropped quite a bit, but hearing your idea, it doesn’t sound bad either.”

Zheng Yichen glanced at this woman who loved stirring up trouble. If things went according to her wishes, he didn’t even want to think about what would happen next. More importantly, he was a dragon now. Getting a Saintess to literally ‘fall’… aside from whether it was possible, what good would it do besides bringing him trouble? As a driven young man who crossed over from Earth, he should think more about how to develop himself into a ‘poisonous tumor’ that others couldn’t easily touch, something that would hurt terribly or even be fatal if provoked, not mess with shady paths.

If he messed up, there’d be no second chance!

“Hmph… I hope you don’t ‘fall’ either in the future,” Zheng Yichen snorted lightly. As for Loris and Irene, Zheng Yichen wasn’t too sure; their personalities were just like that. But Dan Marina and Annie… Zheng Yichen suspected that Earth’s gaming culture could really influence them a lot, as long as he could make it happen here.

Hmm, after he could fully realize the development of the ‘Online Game’ industry, Zheng Yichen felt that by then he might truly become that untouchable ‘poisonous tumor’ for others. The thought felt thrilling. He couldn’t rely on brute force to dominate this world, but relying on the heritage of his homeland to dominate through creation… Well, even if it didn’t represent him being awesome, it would represent his homeland being awesome, right?

“I’ll wait, I’ll wait,” Dan Marina nodded repeatedly… Zheng Yichen couldn’t help but cover his face, not wanting to look at this woman anymore. “I’m going to do my experiments. And you, don’t lay a hand on Lily while I’m gone.”

Zheng Yichen called out extra to Annie, who was also about to leave.

“So stingy.”

She really planned to do that?

While Zheng Yichen was putting on an attitude of ‘none of my business’ toward major events outside in his own den, the outside world was still buzzing over the Trading Module. The new trading rules, due to the unknown identity of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book’s Creator and the mutual influence of major factions, forced even those who realized the Creator was sitting pretty to swim a few laps in this pond. Those who didn’t adapt would be left behind; no one could afford to slow down. Within a few days, observant people had noticed the previously overlooked ‘takeout’ function in the Trading Zone. At the time, they were all busy fighting for their own interests regarding the Online Stores, so naturally their attention wasn’t on what seemed like a fringe service. Even if some noticed, they were too few and lacked the strength to compete with Qin then.

Now that most people had noticed the takeout business, it was somewhat late. Qin had already seized most of the initiative. The Magic Weapon Summoning Book wasn’t like Earth, where takeout services had delivery area restrictions. Here, anyone who could ‘go online’ could order freely, which made many regret it deeply.

The competition for Online Stores exploded within a short time and was destined to end just as quickly. With such fierce competition, if one didn’t have big ambitions, they could just develop slowly. Once the most intense competitive phase settled down, the landscape would be basically set. But reaching the very top was truly difficult. Shifting attention to other, promising businesses at this point could yield great success with little cost. Unfortunately, the initiative was already lost. Even if competitors joined forces later to snatch some share of the cake from Qin, the process would clearly involve many interest exchanges and undisclosed deals.

After all, the scope of food was vast. A few copper coins could count as a meal, and meals costing hundreds of gold coins weren’t unheard of, involving a huge range of transaction amounts! And given the current state of the Trading Module, being relatively new, commodity trading required a trust-building period. Concerns about food were much smaller. For now, the takeout business was easier to get started in the Trading Zone!

Furthermore, the Purple Vine Guild, controlled by Qin, had a wide reach, which further reduced the possibility of others taking too large a slice of her big cake.

Qin, who had already prepared her plans, directly launched this scheme once other guilds realized the seriousness of the situation… After learning this lesson, those merchants realized they had underestimated the Creator’s capabilities. Even though they thought they had valued the Trading Module highly before, their limited perspectives ultimately made them overlook things that could lead to easy success. In the future, whenever new services appeared in the Trading Zone, they definitely wouldn’t repeat this scenario, fighting bloody battles not just with peers but also tearing into other factions. Unfortunately, the Trading Zone currently only had Online Stores and takeout stores as major services. Although there were other miscellaneous functions, they weren’t main categories. It was precisely these miscellaneous functions taking up a lot of space that made most merchants overlook the takeout business, as the takeout icon easily blended in with those miscellaneous function icons…

Otherwise, if a Trading Zone only had these two services, looking empty, anyone could spot issues. So sometimes, you had to play by the rules…