Fatal Shot

“A coup?”

Feng Luo was surprised for the second time in this short period of time.

Mu Wu put down his sugar spoon and looked straight at Feng Luo. “Haven’t you noticed that, previously in War, there were minor conflicts between government and rebel forces in many places? As far as I know, there was a fight in the Town of Exiles next to Silvermoon City against the rebels not long ago, right? What does this mean?”

Feng Luo thought for a moment. “The fighting between the rebels and the government forces has been going on all the time. But this means that there will be a big war or even a coup, does it?”

The fact that the Federation Government did not have absolute dominance in the game meant that localized conflicts took place every day. Nothing substantial could be inferred from this.

“From just looking into a single case, it is impossible to reach this conclusion,” said Mu Wu. “If the game’s progress is taken into account, the chances of a large-scale battle are at least 90 percent. As for a coup, although the possibility is not very high, it should not be ruled out either!” Mu Wu’s eyes were slightly narrowed, and there were two brilliant lights in his eyes, which were not covered by glasses. “I got the news a few days ago. It’s estimated that somebody will reach Level 50 tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”

“So soon?”

Feng Luo looked stunned. The news Mu Wu shared was in line with what Red Wine Coffee had told him previously.

“Combine these two pieces of information,” said Mu Wu. “Judging by the game’s progression, when the player reaches Level 50, the level limit will definitely not be changed right away. However, it will certainly result in some new content—possibly even the first version update. Coincidentally, both the government and the rebel forces are already engaged in battle with each other, and they have mobilized their troops on a grand scale. It’s certainly not a coincidence but a storyline that should appear after the achievement of obtaining Level 50—war!”

Mu Wu’s tone was flat, but his eyes were full of confidence. Little Witch was smiling while looking at Mu Wu beside her, who was in high spirits.

Feng Luo had to admit that Mu Wu possessed a very strong ability to judge the situation. In military terms, Mu Wu possessed an excellent vision for strategy. For example, Mu Wu had thought of holding an auction in a bar and combining its operation with War. Feng Luo would never have thought of that himself.

Well, that was probably why Mu Wu was a manager, and he was only an assistant manager. In fact, he had originally been reluctant to accept his boss’s invitation to be an assistant manager because he was not so keen to do it.

“It was you who suggested the idea of building a city to the boss, wasn’t it?” said Feng Luo to Mu Wu.

From the very beginning, he had never thought that the construction of the city was for Mu Wu’s own interests. Although Nightless City was in a prime location and this endeavor wouldn’t be bad for business, the total value of the city was worth at most 200 to 300 million star coins, with the running liquid capital at only ten million.

Moreover, Mu Wu was only a manager. He had no right to use the money directly. Therefore, the one who built the city was the rich owner of Nightless City—the aforementioned boss. He was a billionaire in his fifties who had a net worth of more than five billion star coins. Several manufacturing bases for mechanical parts on Administrative Planet 17 were also under his name. In an interstellar society like the Star Federation, five billion was not all that much wealth. But in the eyes of ordinary people, at least, he belonged to the truly rich class.

Mu Wu nodded. “Yes. He decided to invest a billion star coins first. If it wasn’t enough, he would invest up to 500 million more.”

“A billion star coins. The boss sure is bold! However, if it were to fail, they will lose a lot of money.” Feng Luo was truly surprised—first, by the boldness of the boss, and second, by the trust that Mu Wu had for the boss.

Having five billion star coins did not mean that it was possible to directly spend five billion star coins’ worth of funds. As a matter of fact, the main business of the owner of Nightless City was the manufacture of mechanical parts, which was an entirely real-world industry. Most of the capital was tied up in equipment, so the liquidity was not high.

It could even be said that the one billion definitely exceeded his liquidity cap. It was not easy to gather so much money. Fortunately, the billion was not planned to be injected in one go. Although it wouldn’t take long to build a city in War, it would take at least a few months to complete it, so the fundraising was not all that urgent. However, a whole billion star coins directed into a game was really unbelievable, even if the game had been widely recognized to contain business opportunities.

Feng Luo all of a sudden felt that they were on a whole other level. Be it the million credits from the Hurricane Controller or the estimated value of tens of millions of credits of the pet biochip, both amounts were crushed to cinders in the face of one billion star coins—an amount that was equivalent to ten billion credits.

To truly make money in War, the long and difficult route was the way to go. Also, one had to have the courage to spend money and accept the risks.

The Little Witch, who had not spoken at all, suddenly cut in. “It wasn’t the big boss but the little one who decided it!”

“Oh, so it was the young master!” Feng Luo finally understood. The boss had three daughters but only one son. Naturally, it went without saying who would inherit the family business.

Moreover, this young master was not a rich playboy. As a result of the boss having some health issues, the conglomerate had been in his hands for two years. Its performance had not declined. On the contrary, it had improved a lot. Therefore, the staff members were genuinely sold on this “young master.”

Of course, Feng Luo did not really use the phrase “young master” in a respectful tone. In fact, when he was with Mu Wu, he was more accustomed to referring to this young boss as “Rich 2G” (second generation). But Feng Luo felt a little strange. He noticed that when Little Witch was talking about the young boss, Mu Wu’s eyes seemed to change for a moment, but the look disappeared quickly.

“So, you guys have come to Silvermoon City to choose a site. Wait, could it be…?”

Feng Luo did not pursue the matter at first. He just looked at Mu Wu doubtfully. Finally, he said, “Don’t tell me, that the city is to be built near Silvermoon City?”

“To be precise, they’re not all that close. The straight-line distance between them will be about 150 kilometers.” Mu Wu opened the electronic map of his terminal and projected a virtual three-dimensional image on the table. “The Ruins Area numbered NC-5504 was a medium-sized city before the Great Destruction. Although it has been 100 years since then and it is completely deserted, some basic facilities can be used if they are sorted and repaired. Building a city here can save expenditures on infrastructure to the greatest extent. The good geographical location provides more training spots for Levels 20 through 50 in the surrounding area. Most importantly, it may be the only passage to enter the battlefield in the future!”

Mu Wu enlarged an area to the west of Silvermoon City on the three-dimensional map to show Feng Luo.

“Battlefield?” Feng Luo raised his head and asked. “Are you planning to make money from players who enter the battlefield?”

“Indeed. Once the war breaks out, the rebels and the Federal Army will definitely focus on taking over this large area south of Silvermoon City.” Mu Wu’s eyes sparkled.

Feng Luo looked at Mu Wu. “That’s too dangerous. Aren’t you afraid that the war between the two sides will destroy the city?”

It was known that in War, a player city’s defenses were incomparable to those of a system city. Once involved in the war, players could resurrect indefinitely. As for a city, however, if it were to be destroyed, the loss would not be compensated.

“The difference between a player city and an NPC city is that the player responsible as city manager need not take a stance,” said Mu Wu. “As a matter of fact, according to my calculations, after the end of this worldwide war, it will turn into factional confrontations. So, if necessary, you can join the dominating side.”

Mu Wu’s demeanor was very calm. To him, betrayal was not an issue. The pursuit of maximized interests was what he needed.

“Well, I’m not going to say anything regarding the building of a city,” said Feng Luo, “but you still haven’t said what you are going to do in Silvermoon City.”

Feng Luo found himself baffled by Mu Wu. He still had not figured out the answer to his first question.

“The planned area for the city is within the Ruins Area, which contains a large number of monsters at grades that aren’t all that low,” said Mu Wu. “As you know, the first phase of the task, cleaning up, means clearing out all the monsters in the planned area for the city within a day. Otherwise, they will constantly respawn. It will take a lot of people to complete this task. However, the company is short on people, and they don’t plan to spend too much on it. So they want to hire some players to help with this cleanup.”

Feng Luo finally understood. “And if you want to hire people, naturally it’s best to get people nearby. So that’s why you came to Silvermoon City.”

“Indeed,” Mu Wu said, looking at Feng Luo’s face. “My original plan was to just hire a guild. I did not expect the situation in Silvermoon City to be so complicated. I hired the two biggest forces in Silvermoon City, the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group and the Veterans Tribe, at the same time to avoid offending either of them. In this case, though, it seems that you and the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group don’t get along well… If you don’t want us to hire the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group, you can tell the boss. I think he might just grant it because he regards you highly.”

Little Witch, who was at the side, had a surprised expression frozen on her face—probably because she couldn’t believe that Feng Luo, the assistant manager in a nightclub would have the guts to ask the boss to withdraw from the deal he had signed.

Feng Luo shook his head said hesitantly, “No thanks…”

“All right!” Mu Wu seemed to have guessed what choice Feng Luo would make. He did not show surprise on his face but went on with the topic. “However, the monsters in these ruins are quite troublesome. It is estimated that it will take a long time to clean it up. If there’s not enough manpower, it might become difficult to handle.”

“Troublesome?” Feng Luo said with some doubt in his voice.

“According to the information obtained from probes, there should be Boss-grade monster in the area, maybe even more than one. In addition, even the little monsters are not easy to handle—”

“Mainly because the monsters there are disgusting,” Little Witch interrupted again, the expression on her delicate face a bit sour. “Especially beetles of all kinds!”

“Beetles?” Feng Luo was genuinely stunned this time.