Chapter 14: "2,000 Bucks, I'll Teach You How to Get a Legacy!

"Chen Ye, over here!"

The internet cafe wasn't too crowded this morning. Spotting Chen Ye walking in, Weng Jilin, who was sitting in a corner, quickly waved him over.

Chen Ye stopped scanning the room and headed toward Weng Jilin. He soon noticed the equipment dealer sitting next to his friend. He was a young man in his twenties with short hair and glasses. He had a remarkably long face—what some would call a horse face. The man noticed Chen Ye approaching.

"You must be the 'Ye' he's been talking about. I'm Chen Cheng." Standing up, he offered his hand with the overly familiar ease of an old friend. He then pointed to the empty chair between him and Weng Jilin, gesturing for Chen Ye to sit.

"I'm Chen Ye. Seems we share a surname, Chen." Chen Ye gave the man a brief, casual handshake. He then pulled out a pack of cigarettes he had pre-opened, smoothly offering one over with practiced ease. "Here, Chen, have a smoke."

Chen Cheng glanced at the golden Yuxi packaging, a flash of surprise in his eyes. "Yuxi Harmony? You've got some deep pockets, kid." At over forty yuan a pack, it was a luxury even he couldn't bring himself to buy.

"Not really. I don't usually smoke anything this expensive. I just bought a pack last night since I knew you were coming, Chen," Chen Ye explained in a flat, even tone as he pulled out his chair and sat down.

Before sitting, however, he shot Weng Jilin a pointed look. Having known him for three years, Weng Jilin instantly understood that Chen Ye was telling him to stay calm and watch him work.

The equipment dealer sniffed the cigarette under his nose before popping it between his lips and reaching for his lighter. Chen Ye swiftly produced a flame, shielding it with his hand to offer a light. Chen Cheng paused in surprise, then leaned in to light his cigarette, carefully concealing the lingering contempt in his eyes. This teenager simply didn't act like a high schooler. True to his expectations, Chen Ye got straight to the point the moment he put away his lighter.

"Chen, let's skip the pleasantries. Did my buddy show you the equipment list?"

"I've looked over most of it," Chen Cheng nodded.

Chen Ye offered a faint smile and gestured for Chen Cheng to lean in closer. Once the dealer did, Chen Ye lowered his voice. "We've calculated the value of these items. Market price is a little over ten thousand. But considering you need to make a profit too, and that flooding the market with this much gear will cause prices to dip slightly, we won't ask for too much. Nine thousand. How does that sound?"

"Too expensive." Chen Cheng shook his head without a second thought.

Hearing this, Weng Jilin couldn't help but lean in and grumble under his breath, "Where is it expensive? It's been this price all along, okay? Don't just make things up with a straight face..."

Chen Ye quickly reached out to stop his friend's Li Jiaqi-esque rant. Looking back at Chen Cheng with utter calm, he asked, "Then how much do you think is fair, Chen?"

"I'd say... five thousand," Chen Cheng replied, his eyes narrowing as he scrutinized Chen Ye's face, trying to gauge his reaction.

It was merely a probe. For ten thousand yuan worth of gear, eight thousand was a reasonable selling price after factoring in various variables. But as a dealer who wanted to maximize his own profit margins, his only option was to lowball. Hearing this price, Weng Jilin immediately moved to argue again, but Chen Ye once more raised a hand to stop him.

"Five thousand is too low," Chen Ye shook his head.

"Then five and a half?" Chen Cheng probed again.

"Eight and a half."

"No way. Six thousand max. Any more and it's not worth it," Chen Cheng said, his brows furrowed tightly.

Instead of countering, Chen Ye simply placed the pack of Yuxi cigarettes on the desk. "I won't let you make this trip for nothing, Chen. This pack costs forty or fifty bucks—consider it compensation for your travel expenses." With that, he turned back to Weng Jilin. "Log off. We're meeting the next guy."

"Huh?" Weng Jilin froze for a second before catching on. He immediately began clicking to log out. "Yeah, let's go, let's go. That other guy is still waiting for us."

Watching their little performance play out, the long-faced young man genuinely panicked. He didn't dare gamble on whether Chen Ye actually had a second dealer lined up. After all, the game had a massive player base, meaning there were plenty of other equipment dealers out there. But there was one crucial detail—good equipment was incredibly rare! If he didn't secure this batch today and someone else got their hands on it, they could corner the market and drive the prices up to God knows how much!

"Hey, don't leave just yet! We haven't finished negotiating!" Chen Cheng hurriedly grabbed Chen Ye and pressed him back down into his seat.

"But the price you offered was just too unreasonable, Chen. My buddy and I aren't exactly hurting for cash, but we can't just give this stuff away for free, can we?" Chen Ye asked with a soft chuckle as he sat back down.

"We can talk this out! Six thousand five hundred, how about that?" Chen Cheng bumped his offer up by another five hundred.

"Eight thousand. That's my bottom line." Chen Ye laid down his final price in an unquestionable tone.

In truth, he would have sold it for less than eight thousand, but why should he drop the price when he could make more? Being soft-hearted or overly polite would only get him killed in the real world. Rational detachment and ruthlessness were the true weapons of survival. Besides, he was here to do business, not to make friends.

"You can't go any lower?" A flash of conflicted agony crossed Chen Cheng's eyes.

"You know full well whether I can go lower or not, Chen. I want eight thousand," Chen Ye replied, leaning back in his chair, looking completely unfazed.

Chen Cheng gritted his teeth and glanced around the room, caught in a mental tug-of-war. But in the end, he couldn't resist the temptation of such a massive haul. Letting out a deep sigh, he gritted his teeth and nodded. "Fine, eight thousand it is!"

Chen Ye's expression remained neutral as he turned to give Weng Jilin instructions. "Go to the main city for the trade."

"I'll head there right now," Weng Jilin quickly agreed.

There was no auction house in the game yet. All trading had to be done by setting up street stalls—clicking on avatars face-to-face to exchange goods for cash in real time.

Seeing this, Chen Cheng stood up and moved behind Weng Jilin to get another look at the inventory full of gear. If he could sell all of it, he stood to make at least four or five thousand yuan in profit. Using his body to block the line of sight of the other internet cafe patrons, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a bulging envelope. It was a fresh stack of bills he had just withdrawn from the bank. He pulled the cash out in front of Chen Ye and Weng Jilin, whispering, "I'll take twenty bills out, then hand the rest over to you in eight installments. You guys trade the equipment to me in eight batches as well. Sound good?"

"No problem." Chen Ye nodded without hesitation.

"Alright, I'll log on!"

Chen Cheng took the seat Chen Ye had just vacated to Weng Jilin's left. Soon, he was logged into his own account. Before long, he found Weng Jilin's Red Eye in Hedon Mar. His ID was "BeepBeepSnowball." Chen Cheng couldn't hold it in and let out a sudden SNORT of laughter.

"What are you laughing at?!" Weng Jilin immediately snapped his head around and glared at him.

"Nothing. It's just a bit cute," Chen Cheng said, stifling his giggles.

"Alright, let's just trade," Chen Ye urged.

Chen Cheng wiped the smile off his face and initiated the trade with Weng Jilin. Every time he received a few pieces of equipment, he would pause to count out ten red banknotes and hand them to Chen Ye. This cycle repeated until the final item, the Flowing Light Meteorite Blade, was traded over. Only then did Chen Cheng hand the last ten bills to Chen Ye.

"Alright, you've got your money. If there are any issues, speak up now. Once I leave, I'm not responsible for anything that happens," the long-faced young man reminded them as he logged out of his account in complete satisfaction.

"Now that you mention it, I actually do have a proposition for you." Chen Ye first shoved the eight thousand yuan into Weng Jilin's hands. Then, he threw an arm over Chen Cheng's shoulders, lightly tapping the pocket that held the remaining two thousand yuan. A second later, Chen Ye flashed a friendly smile and asked in an incredibly captivating, low voice, "For two thousand bucks, I'll tell you how to farm Legacy gear. Deal?"