Cheng Shuili was not entirely sure what had happened with the system, but for her, the most important thing right now was the business at the safe zone.
Only a few shops had opened, and they were scattered; not only was the scale insufficient, but the profits were also meager.
The main source of Black Feather's income remained the admission fees she had set.
But now that the plague had appeared, it was feared that this revenue stream would also be greatly discounted.
The income had indeed decreased, but Cheng Shuili was not worried about having too much debt. Plus, with a solution to the plague and a stable path for trade found, she was actually not nervous at all.
However, the members of Black Feather were all aware that their Boss had only built the safe zone after taking on debt.
And it was a staggering six million.
While this matter seemed prestigious, they could all guess at the immense pressure their Boss was under. Even if she didn't speak of it, it didn't mean the debt didn't exist.
Now that the plague had caused the safe zone's income to plummet, the pressure on their Boss must have doubled.
So, while Cheng Shuili waited leisurely for the Rat King's reply and the official server merge at nine o'clock, spontaneous "donations" began to appear in the Black Feather group chat.
"Boss, this is the game coins I've saved up during this time," the first player to speak said, using an ID that Cheng Shuili found completely unfamiliar.
"These are what I saved after joining Black Feather, plus some game coins exchanged for rare materials. It's all here. Boss, you pay off the debt first; everything else can be discussed later."
Cheng Shuili stared at this person's ID for a long while, searching her memory in earnest, but she couldn't recall ever having had any contact with him.
Could it be that he only stepped forward now simply because he was a member of Black Feather?
His ID was Wangzai Milk Candy. To Cheng Shuili, he was just an ordinary member of Black Feather; to Xinxue, he was just a member who didn't talk much.
But to Milk Candy himself, Black Feather was his home, and their Boss, Crow, was his savior!
When Black Feather announced they were recruiting, Milk Candy had already been hungry for three days.
His fuel was low, and he would stop every day after finishing his mileage. His attribute points were garbage, and he had been left far behind by other players. Entering other factions required screenshots of attributes, but only Black Feather allowed entry as long as one had a specialized skill.
He would never forget that it was Xinxue who passed his preliminary review, and it was Boss Crow who passed his final review.
After joining Black Feather, life suddenly improved.
Boss Crow had brought him so much, yet required so little from him. Now that there was finally an opportunity for him to contribute his meager strength, Milk Candy would absolutely not let it slip away.
And within Black Feather, there were plenty of people like him.
"Boss, here is my share! I have plenty of contribution points and don't need game coins, Boss, you use them first!"
"And mine, and mine!"
"Count me in too. It’s not much, but it’s something, hehe~"
"Huh? It’s like everyone has game coins. I’m a ten-thousand-coin holder too, alright? Sending it to Boss right now!"
"Hey? We don't do competitive comparisons in Black Feather, but since you broke the rule, I, Xiao Li, won't fall behind! My entire fortune, sixteen thousand game coins, please accept it, Boss!"
"???"
"Sixteen thousand, right? Here is my eighteen thousand! Boss! Take it!"
...
As message after message popped up in the group chat, gift panels appeared one after another in front of Cheng Shuili.
When the first one appeared, she was still a bit dazed, thinking someone had entered the wrong ID or that someone was trying to curry favor with her, the top-ranked player, using game coins.
When the second panel popped up, she realized something was wrong. Before she could react, more panels appeared. Cheng Shuili took a closer look—well, aren't these the IDs of Black Feather members?
She quickly opened the group chat, and after clearly reading everyone's messages, she was left between laughter and tears.
To say she wasn't moved would be a lie, but to use these people's meager savings to fill the bottomless pit in her balance...
Just thinking about it made Cheng Shuili's heart ache.
While her heart ached, she also felt proud.
Last time, when they were jointly declared war upon, some people were still clamoring to quit. Now, the situation was even more serious—they had been singled out by the system—yet this group of people only felt anger!
Look at that; this was her Black Feather.
But she could deal with those emotions later. If she didn't say something now, these little bits and pieces from the Black Feather members would all be dumped into the bottomless pit!
She hurriedly spoke in the group chat:
【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: Stop! Everyone stop!
【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: Who told you to send game coins? Hurry up and take them all back!
【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: Do you think I'm short on those few game coins? Keep them well to improve yourselves; don't worry about things blindly.
"Boss, please just accept it!" Wangzai Milk Candy was anxious. "We all know you're under a lot of pressure right now. We are all people of Black Feather; we can't let you, Boss, take it all on alone!"
【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: A lot of pressure? Who said that?
【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: Stop with the wild thoughts. This matter doesn't need your intervention. When it truly comes time to use you, I will post a notice in the group.
【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: What you need to do now is protect yourselves and improve your strength. This plague is actually an opportunity for players with high physiques; isn't this exactly our advantage in Black Feather?
Cheng Shuili's words made the group chat quiet for a moment.
Xinxue intervened at the right time: "Boss is right! The attributes of our Black Feather members are not bad at all; this plague is actually a good opportunity for us to improve our physique!"
"But the Weaver singled out Black Feather..." someone still worried.
【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: So what if she singled us out?
【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: The more she acts like this, the more it shows how formidable we are.
【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: Remember, do what you are supposed to do. A mere six million; I have my own ways.
Cheng Shuili's confidence infected everyone, and the atmosphere in the group chat gradually eased.
Just then, the system prompt sounded:
【World Announcement: The merger of all grand regions is complete; data synchronization is now beginning...】
【Synchronization complete! Welcome to the partition-less world!】
As soon as the announcement ended, Cheng Shuili immediately opened the regional channel to check the number of people.
The number of survivors in Dragon Country now...
224968 / 224968
Two hundred and twenty thousand?!
Cheng Shuili first felt that this number was quite large, but after realizing that this was the total number of all survivors in Dragon Country, she immediately realized how small a number it actually was!
The survivors on the Dragon Country channel were the same:
"So many people; it's been a long time since I've seen so many people."
"It's really lively! The refresh speed of this channel is too fast now; the messages are blurring into afterimages, hahaha!"
"We can set off firecrackers to celebrate; today really deserves to be recorded in history."
"A lot of people? Hearing you guys talk, I thought there were still millions left in our Dragon Country. I just looked at the number. Well, twenty-two thousand? Are you saying that out of our billions of people in Dragon Country, only twenty-two thousand are left?!"
"Damn! I didn't even realize that just now; I was busy marveling at how big the number was. After all, it used to be thousands, ten thousand at most, and suddenly it's over twenty thousand. My first reaction was just that there were a lot of people!"
"So many people died... No, no! The regions merged! All the people of our Dragon Country are here now!"
"What are you marveling at? Are you crazy? Didn't the announcement explain this? Seriously, it's so hard to read a single message clearly, and it's still such a dim-witted remark! Can any big shot come out and say something useful?!!"
"Oh, oh, oh!! Damn! Thanks for the reminder, really thanks for the reminder! When there were partitions before, most people couldn't find their family and friends. Now that all the survivors of Dragon Country are here, if they are here, they are here; if they are not, they are truly gone!!"
Once this message appeared, those who saw it could no longer stay calm. One by one, they immediately began to frantically scroll through the screen, looking for relatives and friends. The entire Dragon Country channel was instantly flooded with various missing person notices and names.
"Searching for Wang Fang from B City! Mom, are you there? This is Xiaoya!"
"Zhang Wei from H Province! Brother, are you still alive? Reply if you see this!"
"Does anyone know Li Jianjun from S City? That's my dad!"
"Zhao Qian! Zhao Qian, where are you?"
Cheng Shuili watched the rapidly scrolling messages, and her heart was also touched. It was a pity that she had long since had nothing to be attached to; the one that left the deepest impression on her was still the big, round face of the supervisor.
Thinking of this person, Cheng Shuili felt nauseated again. She pursed her lips and closed the grand region channel.
In addition to those looking for relatives, there were also those dedicated to recruiting.
【Undying War Wolf Soul】: We are the Great Wall Watching faction from the original Dragon Country grand region, Partition 288! We are also the faction of the player ranked second on the Dragon Country grand region leaderboard. We welcome all aspiring people who want to build a brand new Dragon Country!
There were many other factions recruiting, but the most eye-catching one was naturally this one!
"Damn! A real big shot has come out to recruit!"
"Great Wall Watching?! Wait, this person's ID, isn't he that War Wolf who is ranked second on our Dragon Country grand region leaderboard?!!"
"Are there any requirements, Brother Wolf? How do I join Great Wall Watching?!!"
There were many people in Great Wall Watching, and they kept spamming the entry requirements in the grand region channel. However, there were simply too many people on the channel now, and there were always people who hadn't seen the message asking in the regional channel.
Although kind-hearted people were always answering, there were always people who couldn't see the messages, and there seemed to be no way to solve it.
The Black Feather group chat was also discussing this matter extensively:
"We must be recruiting too, right?"
"Now all the limelight has been taken by War Wolf; it's not our turn to shine."
"Great Wall Watching is still using the old method of recruiting from the previous partitions, constantly spamming the channel. But there are too many people now. Setting aside whether everyone can see the messages spammed by Great Wall's members, even if they see it, because there are so many people, recruiting is a very time-consuming and laborious task, right?"
"That's true, but that's the only way to recruit now. Doesn't Black Feather also require passing the Boss's test? What is efficiency? As long as there are no problems with the people recruited, a little effort is nothing."
"Exactly! Regardless of how many people we recruit, we definitely cannot recruit trash!"
"Now those few top-ranked factions are all recruiting. If we don't start yet, will there be no one left to recruit?!!"
"Relax and listen to the Boss's arrangements. Believe in the Boss."
"Exactly, just believing in the Boss is enough! Do whatever the Boss says."
And at this moment, Cheng Shuili...
【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: Where did you get this thing?
【Liang Shanbo vs. Pig】: I don't know, Boss. I just opened a crate casually. This was inside. It was a gold supply crate, and this was the only thing I opened. Boss, it should be useful, right? Did I disturb you, Boss? Or should I show it to Xinxue first next time before coming to find you?
What kind of talk was that?
How could Cheng Shuili ever think she was disturbing her?!
After complaining about this, she looked down again at the item Ginger Candy had just sent over.
【Supreme Pinned Post Card】
【Description: After use, you can enter a piece of text with a word count of less than 1000 characters. This text will be pinned at the top of the grand region channel where the user is located for thirty minutes! All players can see it! If other players use a pinned post card during this period, they will be sorted according to the level of the pinned post card!】
Cheng Shuili read the description again, and she really didn't know what to say.
Not only did Ginger Candy open a brand-new item that only appeared after the server merge from a crate she opened casually, but she also opened the highest-level item!
Cheng Shuili really had a moment of trance. She suddenly felt that picking up Ginger Candy in the regional channel back then was truly like equipping herself with a cheat code.
Was this luck really a bit too heaven-defying?!
Cheng Shuili took a deep breath, suppressed the shock in her heart, and immediately replied to Ginger Candy.
【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: No, you came at the perfect time! This thing is so useful! It's a huge help!
【Liang Shanbo vs. Pig】: Really? Hehe, that's great! Use it, Boss; I'm going to open the next crate!
Cheng Shuili watched Ginger Candy's cheerful reply, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but twitch.
Is this the world of the extremely lucky?
She couldn't understand it at all, but there was no time to lose. She didn't need to understand so many things. Cheng Shuili knew that now was the best time to use this card!
The next moment, on the entire Dragon Country channel, no matter how fast the information refreshed, a golden, impossible-to-ignore pinned announcement appeared at the very top of all players' fields of vision:
【The Black Feather faction is sincerely recruiting elites from all walks of life! Leader: Angry Crow Takes Flight (Ranked 1st on the Dragon Country grand region leaderboard)! We possess: 1. The first safe zone in the entire server with complete facilities and clear rules... Recruitment requirements...】
Once this golden announcement appeared, the entire Dragon Country channel seemed to have been pressed the pause button, and the frantically scrolling missing person messages stagnated for an instant.
Then, the grand region channel exploded like a lake into which a giant rock had been thrown!
"Damn! A pinned announcement?! What kind of item is this?!"
"Black Feather! It's that Black Feather that was singled out by the Weaver!"
"Is this the strength of the top-ranked player? Damn! I just thought there might not be any difference between these factions. Isn't joining any of them the same?! Comparing them like this..."
"What kind of item is this?! This is too cool, right? The recruitment information of all other factions is scrolling in the channel, but Black Feather? Not only is it pinned, but the whole message is golden!"
"I knew it was correct not to join a faction before! Comparing them with these few factions, what were those factions in my previous partition? Black Feather, wait for me, I'm coming!!"
Rate on N.U.
