Volume 3, Chapter 73 – It Appeared! The First Official Announcement!

“Morningstar’s stronghold, Canyon Continent coordinates (E8-520, N20-1024).”

Seeing the coordinates Zhou Jieyu suddenly blurted out, Anran immediately cooperated by putting on a confused expression.

Because that kind of coordinate notation was something only players used.

Huh?

I know Canyon Continent. E stands for East, right? N, N is North.

Then what do the two numbers 520 and 1024 mean?

Are they coordinates?

But where exactly is that supposed to be?

“Emmm…”

Zhou Jieyu also fell into confusion. If that happened, then the quest did not count as completed.

After all, the NPC could not understand what she was saying.

“Wait here a second. I’ll go buy a map.” With that, Zhou Jieyu ran off.

Taking advantage of the time while she was gone, Anran immediately started a new round of operations.

There had not been any fresh quests lately. The profession mentor system?

That would do. Hurry and put Basic Mechanic on the shelf. The requirement would be 35 favorability points, which meant Zhou Jieyu was still 9 points short.

Next came Anran’s secret shop.

She could put up another batch of new weapons.

Tactical Goggles, priced at 588.

DW Sniper Rifle, only 998.

G7 Sniper Rifle, 2,000 Bilu, with a favorability requirement of 28.

Flat-Type Self-Destruct Robot, 800 Bilu each, with a favorability requirement of 27.

Incendiary rounds, 25 Bilu per shot, with a favorability requirement of 30.

Before Zhou Jieyu returned, Anran successfully finished restocking the shop.

There was no rush to sell something like exoskeleton armor for now. She would wait until she had something better before putting it up for sale.

So when Zhou Jieyu came back, she discovered that Anran had three hats on her head.

The quest turn-in hat.

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The profession mentor hat.

And the merchant hat.

In any case, first came turning in the quest.

This time the information had again come from other people, and Zhou Jieyu received 600 EXP.

It was much higher than Zhou Jieyu had expected.

But very soon, Zhou Jieyu’s attention shifted to Anran herself.

She opened the profession mentor interface.

“It appeared! Basic Mechanic!”

Zhou Jieyu’s eyes widened.

It was her first time seeing a mentor for a basic profession.

Sure enough, unlocking the Mechanic profession under her big brother’s persuasion had been absolutely the right choice!

But the favorability requirement was 35.

Zhou Jieyu checked her current balance.

The farther along it went, the more money it took to grind favorability. This little bit of money probably would not be enough. She still had to find a way to earn more.

Then came the shop.

Zhou Jieyu was immediately drawn in by the newly listed goods.

The 588 Tactical Goggles and the 800 self-destruct robot were both good stuff.

She was only 1 favorability point short of 27.

Zhou Jieyu offered up 100 Bilu.

No change in favorability.

Emmm…

Another 100.

Anran did not budge.

More money, another 100!

Ding. Favorability +1.

As expected, in the end she still yielded to my money offensive!

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Hahaha…

Zhou Jieyu pulled out the money and bought one pair of Tactical Goggles and two self-destruct robots.

In an instant, she became poor again.

After deducting the material costs she had used up recently, Anran found that she had become a member of the ten-thousand club again.

Many thanks to my little ATM princess.

Thank you for your patronage. Please come again next time!

“If you have any information, come find me. The location is…”

Anran also gave Zhou Jieyu the address of Shop 777.

…

“Ah, Anran, you’re finally here!”

As soon as Anran walked into Nine Songs’ base, she was greeted by Anna’s enthusiastic shout.

“Where is everyone else?”

Inside the base, Anran saw only Anna and Daogu.

Li Zhuying, Feilian, and Chu Yuan were all absent.

“Feilian and Chu Yuan went to a meeting. Zhuying said she’d hit a creative bottleneck and was going back into seclusion for a few days before coming out again.”

“…”

What that female pervert was creating was, without question, something erotic.

The moment Anran thought of Li Zhuying’s failed attempt to steal her over-the-knee socks, she felt a sharp ache in her balls.

No, in her chest.

Of all the women she had met so far, whether players or NPCs, not a single one besides Eudora was normal.

Take Anna, for example.

“I didn’t expect you to be this strong! Are you interested in accepting my challenge? Only by sparring with stronger people can you keep breaking through your limits!” Anna was brimming with fighting spirit as she walked over and patted Anran on the shoulder, trying to pressure Anran with the approach of her ample chest.

Anran remained unmoved by boobs. She was someone who hated trouble. If there was no benefit, or if the benefit was far smaller than the trouble involved, she would not do it.

“No.”

“Don’t be so heartless!”

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“Your character setting has completely collapsed!” Anran complained.

Daogu, who was still lazing there in a Ge You sprawl, chimed in at the right moment, “Then you may have gotten it wrong. Anna’s always been like this. Once she runs into someone who interests her, she’ll keep pestering them without end.”

My apologies. So you’re a pervert too.

Anran hurriedly stepped a few paces to the side.

She had actually come to the base today to collect her share of the money.

“Has the reward from above been issued yet?”

“The meeting Feilian went to was about exactly that.”

Anna was not discouraged at all by Anran’s reaction. Sitting on a stool, she took out a cigarette case and gave it a light tap. As a result, only one cigarette fell out.

“I was just about to run out of money.”

Such a waste.

Should she find some way to make Anna quit smoking and Feilian quit drinking, then get them to spend the money they saved on buying equipment from her?

What a great idea.

Good for them, and even better for me.

Just as Anran was about to say something, the door was suddenly pushed open.

“Huh? Anran, your injury’s healed?”

The person who walked in was Feilian.

“It’s already healed.” Anran nodded.

“Well? What about the reward? What about the supplies? Why did you come back empty-handed?” Anna had already asked exactly what Anran wanted to ask.

Feilian looked helpless at Anna’s behavior. “Don’t get excited, don’t get excited. Everything’s there. Chu Yuan went to collect it. That’s not the important part. The important part is that, if nothing unexpected happens, the points from these two operations should let our squad rise to sixth place. Hahaha…”

Feilian suddenly burst out laughing.

“What are you laughing for? Who cares about the rankings? What’s actually in hand right now is what matters most.” Anna shot Feilian a disdainful glance.

“We made a bet, remember? As long as we get back into the top three, you’ll acknowledge me as your captain.”

“You’re only in sixth place. The top three teams haven’t changed position in three months.”

“Anyway, with Anran and Zhuying here, just wait and see!”

Feilian cast an expectant gaze toward Anran.

“…”

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This was exactly why expectations were such a nuisance.

One hand pays, the other delivers. That was far more practical.

Feilian and Anna really were like a pair of bickering enemies.

Though they themselves did not seem to have realized it.

At the base, the two of them interacted with each other far more than anyone else.

Smoke and booze really did make a fine partnership.

Not long after, Chu Yuan, who had gone to collect the supplies, returned.

Anran’s share was 6,000 Bilu.

There was also a generous replenishment of ammunition, along with some medicine.

Medicine was fairly important.

Among it were drugs to relieve neurotoxins and antidotes for food poisoning.

Mm.

The moment that came up, Anran was reminded of her Fruit Osmanthus Cake line.

It actually had a lot of development potential.

A poison master was also a very formidable profession in the game.

Poisons beyond the comprehension of ordinary people could kill even the Machina.

In any case, having money was great.

“Morningstar has suffered a heavy blow. Things around Twinmoon City should probably stay quiet for a while. When the time comes, the higher-ups will definitely send people over to support Wutong City. We need to seize that opportunity!” Feilian said.

But nobody paid him any attention, and he once again sank into talking to himself.

Anran had originally planned to relay the information Zhou Jieyu had brought, but at that moment she suddenly received a game notification.

“Ding! Dear players, because the number of players entering the game has exceeded expectations, Night of the Stars will undergo its first maintenance in two hours. This maintenance is expected to last for one day in real time. For the specific maintenance details, please check the forum yourselves.”

“Ding! Dear players…” *2

Game maintenance?

Anran was startled.

If the game entered maintenance mode, then what would happen on her side?