Volume 3, Chapter 59 – Getting People Hooked

What Chen Anran had worried about, Aila rolling on top of her in her sleep, did not happen.

In fact, while in sleep mode, Aila would not move around before waking up.

Aila lay on her side, both hands tightly wrapped around Chen Anran’s arm, her head lightly resting by Chen Anran’s shoulder.

Soft and squishy.

But there was no breathing. Robots did not need such an unnecessary function as breathing.

As a robot, Aila also lacked many other functions.

But all of those could be developed.

As Chen Anran’s skills improved, Aila would also become more and more lifelike.

Chen Anran felt that the sleeping Aila was just like a body pillow.

So when she woke up the next morning, Chen Anran was shocked to discover that she had woken up on top of Aila.

She was on top, Aila was pinned underneath her, and she herself was tightly hugging Aila like a pillow.

Yikes.

The moment Chen Anran lifted her head, she saw that Aila’s eyes were already open and fixed on her without blinking.

Yikes.

Chen Anran hurriedly let go and scrambled up.

Their clothes were a little messy, but that was not a big issue. Nothing strange had happened.

Chen Anran changed the subject. “Aila, you woke up this early. Aren’t you tired?”

Aila sat up and shook her head. “As long as my energy hasn’t run dry, I won’t feel tired.”

How nice.

Chen Anran thought that if her own body were a robot too, she could grind EXP and level up day and night without stopping.

As long as she could become stronger, that was the only truth. Everything else before that was empty.

After breakfast, Chen Anran took out both [777] machines.

If she wanted to open for business, having [777] as the front end was not enough. She also needed prizes and a storefront.

Chen Anran did not want to use the place where she and Aila lived as the shop.

It was small, and there were a lot of private things there.

So that morning, Chen Anran did not go to the Research Center, nor did she go to the base.

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Instead, she rented a small storefront nearby.

Watching the money pour out of her hands, Chen Anran’s heart ached again.

No. Any money that leaves my pocket has to come back with even more money attached!

Next, Aila cleaned the place while Chen Anran numbered the items.

0-999.

A total of 1,000 options.

Of course, the current Chen Anran simply could not come up with that many different items to give players.

So there were plenty of duplicates.

For the lowest-tier item, Chen Anran had originally thought about putting in a slip that said “Thank you for your patronage,” but after thinking it over, she decided against it. She could not be that shameless. So the lowest reward became an ordinary bullet. In Chen Anran’s mysterious shop, it sold for 2 Bilu. There were not many of these rewards, but getting one would still be enough to leave a player depressed for quite a while.

As for chances to “open boxes,” the lowest tier cost 15 Bilu per try.

Higher-tier boxes would be introduced later.

By now, the players were no longer as poor and miserable as they had been when they first entered.

They were starting to get rich, and starting to be able to spend money.

Which meant Chen Anran could start making money off them.

There were many things inside the boxes. Chen Anran stuffed in all the items she had made from the blueprints she had gotten early on, along with the four recipes from the Pastry Maker class. After thinking it over, she also tossed in the blueprint for the mechanical switchblade.

She had already handed that blueprint over to the Research Center, so before long it would not be worth much anymore.

She also did not keep hidden things like the DW sniper rifle and the tactical goggles she had synthesized before.

As for other really good stuff, she had none left.

Still, this equipment was already quite decent.

It was more than enough to attract players into spending money.

She could not possibly expect players to hand over money like idiots without giving them any benefits at all.

Players had a gambler’s mentality, but they were not fools.

The real room for manipulation was in the drop rates.

After all, nothing in the outside world required Night of the Stars to publish its drop rates.

After staying busy all morning, Chen Anran finally finished assigning all the numbers.

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And Aila had memorized everything in just a few minutes.

She really was worthy of being a robot. Too bugged.

Once noon passed, the shop officially opened.

Chen Anran placed both [777] machines on the counter, then set the illuminated signboard outside the door to tell passersby what this place was.

As the shopkeeper, Aila had already begun learning how to run the little shop.

…

After Zhou Jieyu and Leading the Charge joined the Security Department, Aila had not gone to sell pastries outside Nine Songs for several days.

With the cute loli shopkeeper NPC gone, the players still wandering around outside Nine Songs all felt a strange sense of emptiness.

Especially players like Nai Knight.

For casual players, it was not necessary to be strong at a game, but it was necessary to have fun.

Looking at pretty NPCs was also a happy thing.

Carlos walked over from the roadside.

He had just finished a quest loop and earned 300 Bilu. With his wallet gradually filling up, Carlos was also planning to upgrade his gear.

As he walked, he sent messages to a friend.

When he casually looked up, he suddenly noticed that on a street he often passed through, there was a new shop he had never seen before.

“Huh? This shop wasn’t here yesterday.”

Carlos stared at the signboard in confusion.

Based on the words written on it, he quickly understood what kind of place this was.

“Lucky Draws! Open Boxes!”

Damn, who would have thought Night of the Stars had this kind of thing too.

Sure enough, ever since this sort of thing was first introduced into games, it had been inseparably tied to gaming.

Thinking about his less-than-stellar luck, Carlos shook his head and prepared to leave.

Better not touch this. Better not touch this.

But with a casual glance, his gaze passed through the two [777] machines and suddenly landed on Aila.

“…”

It’s you, loli shopkeeper!

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Carlos instantly discovered that his legs were no longer his own.

He seriously could not control himself!

“Boss lady…”

“Lucky draw. Once for 15 Bilu, twice for 30 Bilu, four times for 50 Bilu.” Aila immediately began quoting prices in a perfectly serious tone.

“Uh…”

Carlos, who had been planning to flirt a little first, was rendered speechless on the spot.

He thought for a moment. “How much for three draws?”

“45 Bilu,” Aila answered.

Carlos said, “If four draws cost 50 Bilu and one draw costs 15 Bilu, then shouldn’t three draws cost 35 Bilu?”

“…”

Watching this shameless player, Chen Anran was speechless for a moment too.

How would Aila deal with this?

Then Chen Anran saw a startling scene.

Aila shot to her feet and shouted in a low voice, “Are you trying to pick a fight?”

“…”

Uh… don’t tell me this was another trick Aila had learned from the internet?

Carlos was stunned too.

Uh…

Why did it feel like the loli shopkeeper was a little different from before?

But he also knew Aila was angry.

He quickly lined up several coins on the counter. “I want four draws.”

For the sake of the money, Aila let Carlos off. She put away the coins and said, “For 50 coins, you can draw four times. You can use either of these two [777] machines as you like, but you only get four chances.”

Carlos nodded and turned his gaze to the [777] machines.

A lever-operated prize machine. Such an old-fashioned style.

He worked both hands at once and pulled one lever with each, using up two chances in a single move. He was only trying it out for fun anyway, and Carlos had no expectations for his luck at all.

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“No. 38, one bullet.”

“No. 124, one ordinary lamp.”

Sure enough, he had not even made back his money yet.

Carlos pulled the levers two more times.

“No. 250, one bullet.”

“…”

“No. 772, one Warhorse Pistol.”

“Huh?” The moment he saw the final prize, Carlos was completely dumbfounded.

He rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Since when had his luck gotten this good?

In truth, his luck really was not that great.

What he had originally drawn was still just a bullet.

But he was the first customer, after all. In order to build up a reputation, Chen Anran had quietly tampered with the [777] machines, even if it meant taking a loss.

The [Warhorse Pistol] had pretty average performance. Chen Anran did not even make that thing anymore. Thinking of it as clearing inventory made it hurt a little less.

“Four more draws!”

All puffed up, Carlos immediately slapped down another 50 Bilu worth of coins.

Hooked.

Chen Anran was delighted.

This was exactly what she liked to see in players.

Didn’t win this time? Then the next time would definitely work!

Won this time? That just meant your luck was hot, so next time you would definitely draw something even better!

In the end, Carlos spent a total of 150 Bilu. The only useful things he got were the [Warhorse Pistol] and a recipe for mung bean cake.

Chen Anran took a small loss of a little over 40 Bilu.

But the future was promising.

Especially after she saw the light in Carlos’s eyes when he looked at the best reward.

Money, I like you.