Doomsday Wonderland

At 6:47 PM, player number 57, Lin Sanjiu, headed to the Cloud Gathering Trading House with 21,055 Stamina Points.

She had to thank Scrooge McDuck’s poor combat capability and spiritual power.

Ever since she attained the ability [Consciousness Mimicry], she couldn’t last more than two minutes every time she mimicked Nüwa. Hence, she had grown accustomed to the two minutes limit, and she thought this was normal. However, it had been a few hours since she mimicked Scrooge McDuck, but the effect still hadn’t worn off yet, and she felt she even could go on for another few hours.

“How weak this duck has to be for the [Consciousness Mimicry] to last so long,” Mrs. Manas proclaimed in Lin Sanjiu’s psyche, she was shocked, “Your consciousness hasn’t lessened even a single bit.”

Forcing a scoff from her lips, Lin Sanjiu refuted as if somebody had violated her, “I don’t believe you’re such a shallow person. Combat ability prowess shouldn’t be the sole parameter to determine the true strength of a person whatsoever. Also, the true potential of this duck lies in his marketing skills and his tactful thinking.”

“Oh,” Mrs. Manas pursed her lips, “I have forgotten your [Consciousness Mimicry] haven’t worn off yet.”

Even though she had retained her self-consciousness while in [Consciousness Mimicry] mode, her habits and patterns were still influenced by Scrooge McDuck, “Don’t you know how much Stamina Points I have earned? Let me tell you something; I can rise again even if I left myself with only 9.6 Stamina Points, let alone 96 Stamina Points.”

“You earned it? They aren’t yours!” Mrs. Manas refuted. Lin Sanjiu’s Scrooge McDuck-like attitude pushed her to her limits.

Lin Sanjiu scoffed, forcing a “humph” out from her lips, but she didn’t reply to Mrs. Manas. Very soon, Cloud Gathering Trading House swam into her view.

Lin Sanjiu jotted down all useful information on a piece of paper after she had conversed with all the shop owners on the street. Then, she activated her [Consciousness Mimicry]. Since Scrooge McDuck was a famous cartoon character, it was a piece of cake for her to mimic him after gaining some knowledge about him. As soon as the “duck” had come on stage, she returned to a beverage outlet on the street.

This time, however, she looked different.

Though she still had the height that dwarfed ordinary people tall and the pair of skeletal wings, her galvanized, heroic spirit that forged through countless blood-bathed battles was gone. Her amber eyes were shone with the light of excitement. As she reached the shop owner at the counter, she rested her arm on the counter.

“Hey boss, give me one milk tea.” Lin Sanjiu proactively extended her wrist so that the female shop owner could collect 9 Stamina Points from her. Then, she spoke to her, with a gregarious demeanor that caused Mrs. Manas to look at her woodenly and slack-jawed, “Your milk tea smell goods. Is that fresh milk?”

“Yea it’s. Customers nowadays are too demanding.” The female shop owner sighed a proudful sigh as she deftly crafted Lin Sanjiu her milk tea, “There wouldn’t be any second purchase if the beverage is awful. Although top grade ingredients are indeed expensive, I have no choice. It’s the only way I can stay in business.”

Narrowing her eyes, Lin Sanjiu she glanced from one box of milk to another, and her smile grew broader.

“If my memory serves me right, there is only one factory in Starry Carnival Amusement Park that supplies fresh milk. I remember that the factory is based on the Gingerbread Man Route. To be honest, 5 Stamina Points for every liter of milk is a bit overpriced.” She said, smiling. “I have a way that could cut your cost, are you interested?”

The female shop owner lifted her eyebrows, casting a questioning gaze at Lin Sanjiu, “What idea do you have?”

“You have to pay an extra 5% processing fee every time you source from the trading house, right?” Lin Sanjiu said as she sat on a chair. She lifted one of her legs and rested it on the other, feigning a bossy like demeanor as she moved on, “If you buy from me, you will only have to pay 3%, so if you purchase all your supplies through me, you could save up a lot of money.”

Hearing this, the female shop owner’s eyes shone brightly. She even stopped making the milk tea, “You can do that?”

“Of course,” Lin Sanjiu replied steadily. With a confident and comforting tone, she continued, “I believe you must’ve heard about the VIP of Cloud Gathering Trading House before. That’s right; I’m one of their VIP guests. As a VIP, I only need to pay 3% processing fees.”

The female shop owner with curly hair probed forward and murmured into Lin Sanjiu’s ears, “You’re not going to charge me for your service, aren’t you?”

“Don’t you worry about that; I got your back. It’s free of charge,” Lin Sanjiu smiled, “To be honest, there is this rank called Platinum which is one more rank higher than a VIP guest and a Platinum holder will only be charged 1% processing fee. However, to become a Platinum grade, I must reach a certain threshold level, so by doing you this favor, it is a win-win for both of us.”

Mrs. Manas was dumbfounded. She rummaged through her memories for the “Platinum” mentioned by the waiter in Cloud Gathering Trading House but sadly, she couldn’t find any hint of it. The female shop owner, on the other hand, was thrilled. Her felicity was best shown when she urged Lin Sanjiu to sign a contract with her as if she would find contentment through the contract. It took Mrs. Manas a strenuous amount of effort to push down and question Lin Sanjiu.

“If I want to push over the threshold,” Unlike the agitated female shop owner, Lin Sanjiu wasn’t at all concerned about the contract. With a sloven attitude, she tapped the table with a pen in her hand and talked, “I won’t accept orders of one or two cartons. Not only does it waste my time, but it also will not do good for my reputation as a VIP guest.”

The female shop owner bit the lower part of her lips, summoning an embarrassed smile upon her face. She talked like this, “But my shop isn’t a large franchise whatsoever, and milk has a very short shelf life. I can, at most, take a week worth of supplies from you; not more than that.”

Lin Sanjiu inhaled a deep breath. A troubled expression dawned on her as her brows were brought together firmly.

“A week… Oh, is this your invoice? Can I have a look… Hmm, okay. A week worth supplies come out to around 600 to 700 Stamina Points. It’s pretty little.” She placed the invoice down and looked sternly at the female shop owner, “Let me be honest with you, my minimum trading volume ranges from 3,000 to 8,000 Stamina Points. Daily.”

Mrs. Manas almost choked to death.

“That’s huge,” The female owner was a bit set back. She murmured, “It’s impossible. I can’t amass so much money right now.”

Lin Sanjiu took over the milk tea she had ordered. As if she had half the ownership of the beverage outlet, she leisurely opened her wings and threw herself into the seat. Then, she spoke evenly, with a warm sunny smile, “Actually, you don’t have to shoulder the amount alone. Aren’t there many shops on this street? I’m not that all familiar with them, so can you do me a favor propagate this good deal to them? I mean, since you guys are shop-mates, perhaps they trust you more than me.”

“I can do that for you,” The female shop owner sat beside Lin Sanjiu ruminating the possibilities of Lin Sanjiu’s suggestion, “Since this is the kind of deal that wouldn’t cause us, the merchandiser, any adverse effect, I believe nobody would say no. On top of that, contracts signed in Starry Carnival Amusement Park is guaranteed and protected by the law prescribed by the amusement park, so we don’t have to worry about you running away with our Stamina Points… However, since I’m doing you a favor, can you please…”

“No problem! I’ll give you the best deal I can. After all, we should help each other, right?” Lin Sanjiu agreed without batting an eye.

The thing that happened next seemed pretty logical, yet it was somehow preposterous. Mrs. Manas could follow the flow no more. All she could manage was to look at the female shop owner in a daze as the latter made the call. Then, one after another, people with all kind of size and shape dashed in and out from the beverage outlet. They were all the shop owners of the shops on the street. All of them rushed to the outlet the moment the female shop owner had phoned them to check whether or not the female owner was lying to them. As for the leading chain like Lips whose owner was not known to the public, none of them showed themselves.

Mrs. Manas had to confess, though as reluctant as she was, the way Lin Sanjiu talked and acted after possessed by Scrooge McDuck was convincing. Besides, with Starry Carnival Amusement Park as their backer, the shop owners were not in the slightest worried that Lin Sanjiu would break her word or run away with their Stamina Points. Hence, the whole process—from taking orders to signing contract—ended without a fuss.

Sitting at the table, Lin Sanjiu collected their Stamina Point according to the contract. While she was receiving the Stamina points, she made a clear announcement, “For those with large quantities and large goods varieties order, the lead time is approximately 3 to 4 days. Please make sure you order fast as any urgent order will not be entertained!”

A murmur ran through the crowd as they said, “No problem. A couple of days of waiting is fine.”

A total of 17 shop owners had signed the contract with Lin Sanjiu. The amount she received ranged from a hundred to two thousand Stamina Points, and the things they wanted were in large quantity and varied. Holding a massive pile of contracts, purchase orders and name lists in her arms, Lin Sanjiu finally came out from the beverage outlet before the night fell.

“We’re lucky that we’re in a pocket dimension that all of this went so well.” Lin Sanjiu couldn’t help but lamented, “Imagine how tough it was for Mr. Scrooge to build up his business empire from nothing. It must have been hell for him those days.”

Mrs. Manas wasn’t impressed. She snorted, “You are merely taking advantage of the benefit you gained from the trading house to offer them a free service. Even the dumbest person in the world would be able to close the deal.” She had this question in her mind, and now, she finally had the chance to ask, “I don’t understand why you didn’t say 4% instead of 3%. Like that, at least you can still earn the 1% difference in the processing fee.”

“That’s a way, but it’s too slow,” Lin Sanjiu kept all the documents in a paper bag and turned it into a card. Then, she went into Cloud Gathering Trading House.

“Ah, right on time,” As soon as she stepped over the threshold, a sonorous sound that Lin Sanjiu could only ascribe to the waiter came behind the wooden counter, “Our trading house is closing at 7’o clock at night, but the kitchen will still continue to operate. Are you here for dinner?”

Lin Sanjiu smiled to the vibrant young lad and looked at the notice board.

“Another half an hour to go. Like you said, right on time.” She tapped on the counter, but her eyes never left the notice board. As if it had sensed her eyes movement, the notice board scrolled downward, and the ink kept reconfiguring, “I can still do trading, right?”

“Definitely,” said the waiter as he rubbed his hands, “What do you want to trade?”

“Let me take a look,” Lin Sanjiu replied unhurried. She seemed to ignore the fact that the shorthand was already nearing 7, “Okay, so the current price for a chicken egg is 0.6 Stamina Points per pound.”

Truth to be told, 0.6 was the mean value between three chicken egg supplier. The price set by high-tier supplier like “Yae Hon” was much higher, that’s 0.8 Stamina Points per pound whereas the other two suppliers only needed 0.5 Stamina Points per pound.

“Not only is Yae Hon is pricey, but their output is also pretty low,” Lin Sanjiu pointed to the notice board while smiled at the waiter, “The other two suppliers can output 200 pounds daily while Yae Hon can only manage 150 pounds.”

The waiter didn’t know what was she talking about, so he just nodded.

“Let see how much they left,” Lin Sanjiu squinted her eyes as she said. After she saw the number, she was thrilled, “Bingo! It seems like they still have some chicken egg left. Okay then, I want them all.”

Mrs. Manas emitted a strange “Eeekkk” sound in her brain.

“A total of 2,100 pounds chicken egg, is that your order?” The waiter repeated her order happily, “Do you want to keep in virtual inventory or do you want to have them physically?”

“Keep them in virtual inventory,” Lin Sanjiu waved her hand, “Why do I need so many eggs?”

“That’s right,” Mrs. Manas couldn’t hold herself anymore, “What do you want to do with so many chicken eggs? Although there are orders for chicken eggs, the quantity is not as large as 2,100 pounds—”

Before she could finish letting off her steam, a light suddenly dawned on her and she fell silent.

“So you understand now?” Lin Sanjiu laughed. She forwent the exchange with Mrs. Manas and looked over to the notice board again. She had the plan in her brain, so she ordered the waiter, without pausing, “Set me an auto-purchase. Starting from tomorrow onward and for the next three days, purchase all the chicken eggs, regardless of their price, on the market once the trading market opens.”

The waiter quickly jotted down what Lin Sanjiu had ordered behind the counter.

“And then, can you help me send a few anonymous messages? I’m allowed to do that, right?” Every word that came out from her mouth so fluent it seemed to have been scripted, “The first message: Buying, 1 Stamina Points for a pound of chicken eggs; the second message: Come and grab yourself some great deal. 20% off for sugar, butter, and cream.”

Hearing this, the waiter paused. He raised his head and asked, “But you don’t have those resources…”

“So?” Lin Sanjiu shrugged, “If somebody wants to buy from me, I can buy from the market with market price and sell my prospect at a lower price. Can’t I do that?”

“Of course, that goes without saying. You can do however you want as long as you didn’t contravene the law.” replied the waiter.

She didn’t need a lot of time to finish the task. Just as the shorthand pointed at 6 and the big hand pointed at 57, Lin Sanjiu had exchanged 1,298 Stamina Points for 2,100 pounds of chicken eggs.

At this point, Mrs. Manas finally able to comprehend her plan. She sighed as if she had surrendered in front of Lin Sanjiu’s acuity. “So this is what you’re planning all along. I guess tomorrow the price of chicken eggs would rise a lot faster.”

“Publishing a message and I can ensure the price of the chicken egg to rise at least above 1 Stamina Points. This is such a cost-effective method.” Lin Sanjiu’s eyes gleamed brightly in the night, “The best part is that there is no interest applied with this method. I’m really a genius!” Then, she paused before continuing, “I can’t allow the remaining Stamina Points to go to waste, what should I do with them?”