Earning More

"Let's trade," Beitang Meng said after she glanced around.

Nocturne noticed no one else dared to beat her price, maybe because they were deterred by the girl's intimidating aura.

"Okay."

After the deal, Beitang Meng wanted to leave but Nocturne held her back.

"Hey, why don't I add you into my friend list! I'll contact you first thing if I get something good in the future."

Nocturne then sent Beitang Meng a friend request.

There was once a joke about different types of consumers and their spending power: woman > children > old people > dog > men.

Someone as generous and wealthy as Beitang Meng was rare, she could be considered the best kind of customer, so Nocturne ought to keep her in his contact list.

Beitang Meng looked at the name, it somehow felt a little familiar. She paused and thought about it before agreeing with a nod. She then wanted to leave for good.

"Hey, hey, hold up, don't leave just yet! I still have things to sell!"

More? The leaving crowd was captivated by what Nocturne said, they turned around and saw Nocturne put several new items on sale.

Refined Shield, Small Potion, Delicious Rum.

The items that he listed were needed for any Boss run in the current meta.

"God damn! This kid really has something up his sleeves! They are all good stuff! I think someone is going to achieve First Blood on the alpha wolf!"

"I'm more curious about how this kid got all these. Since he's putting everything on sale, I bet he's a solo player."

"I know right. He should have gotten the items from boxes, but the boxes around the newbie village are all opened, where did he get all the boxes?"

…

The crowd were talking about Nocturne's items and were curious about how he got his hands on them.

"I want them all. Wrap up and we'll talk at the tavern," Beitang Meng said right after Nocturne listed the items on sale.

"Sure." Nocturne wrapped up and followed Beitang Meng to the tavern.

"Hoho, an invitation from the goddess! I'm jealous!"

"This kid is really lucky. He's only wearing newbie gear yet the goddess favors him so much. What's good about him? Why would the goddess accept his friend request?"

The crowd were jealous of Nocturne.

Nocturne followed Beitang Meng into a room at the corner. The room was equipped with a noise-canceling function, the moment he stepped in, all the noise outside was isolated.

"Let's get to the point. I'll pay you 200K for the items you are selling, plus a question. What do you say?" Beitang Meng was a succinct woman, the moment she sat down, she went straight to the question.

"Of course. Ask away."

Nocturne knew what Beitang Meng wanted to ask: how did he get all the items. 

He did not plan to keep it a secret as well. Since it would be known by the general public sooner or later and his news would be worthless, he might as well sell his information away while it was worth something. 

Other than that, he believed the items he got from fishing were only worth something at the early stage of the game. When the other players got access to more content and resources, his fishing loot would hardly be worth a penny.

Beitang Meng offered such a high price for the items and information because she wanted to seize the advantage. As long as she could be faster than other guilds, it would be worth it.

"How did you get the items and the achievement?"

As expected of Beitang Meng.

"I got all of them from fishing. I got the achievement because I fished a skill book about fishing, I learned it and got the achievement, 'Fish Has No Footprints'."

"Fishing?" Beitang Meng was surprised. She thought Nocturne found the spawning points of a rare treasure chest, hence the number of items. She did not expect him to get all of the items from fishing.

"Yeah. You can get Waterproof Boxes from fishing. As for what you can get inside, it's a little random and it's not as good as other boxes and chests in the wild, but you don't need to fight for it and the chances of getting the box is quite high. Oh right, a friendly reminder: I got so many items because I learned the fishing skill. If I didn't have the fishing skill, the chances of me getting the boxes would be lower."

"I see. Okay then, let's trade. Oh, what about your achievement title, letting it go for 5 Gold?"

"Of course. Let's put it into the tab."

"Sure."

After the trade, Beitang Meng remained in the room instead of leaving. She started to contact the other players from her guild.

Nocturne was curious about the tavern. He had been in the game for a few days now but had not visited the tavern before. He saw comments in the forum saying the mini games in the tavern were fun.

He ordered two glasses of drinks, one for Beitang Meng and one for himself. He then started playing mini games.

After Beitang Meng settled all her matters, she took a sip of the drink in front of her. Only then did she realize that she was drinking something she did not order. She looked at Nocturne who was addicted to the mini games.

"Geez, he's really bad in the mini games, GG soon."

"Shoot! I lost again!" Nocturne sighed but the mini game, War Chess, was quite fun.

"Wanna play together?" Nocturne invited Beitang Meng to play together since she seemed to be free.

"Sure. Send me a party invite." Since it was dark and she could not go leveling at the moment, she could spend some time enjoying the game. Judging by how bad Nocturne was at the mini game, she would never get the last place, so she agreed to play together.

"Damn it, how did you form your formation so fast?"

"You are just unlucky."

"Damn it! I'm getting last place again!"

"Noob!"

…

Time flew by as he was having fun. He looked at the time and realized it was almost 7:00 p.m., so he asked to be excused.

"It's almost 7, I should be going now. It's time for me to prepare dinner. Let's play again sometimes."

"Sure. Bye."

After saying goodbye, Nocturne went offline.

"Prepare dinner?"

Beitang Meng remembered the taste of the spicy fried fish she bought from Nocturne during their first meeting, she liked it a lot. She ought to buy more from him next time.

It was getting late and she too had to go offline to have dinner.

…

Nocturne was in a splendid mood after earning a fortune. He hummed his favorite song as hopped his way to the kitchen.

"The wind of spring blows, warming the icy river and making the dandelion dance.

Blossom blooms endlessly, accompanied by the chirps and buzzes of summer birds and bugs.

As the windy breeze reaches the White Dew season, the eagle flies across the autumn river.

Winter snow embraces the furnace, washing away the old and cold with a glass of rum.

The young man is still studying in the hall.

Bathing in the morning sun while reading.

When the sun sets…"

After both of them had dinner, Nocturne sat down for a cup of tea while Chubby Blue jumped up on his lap and started sleeping.

He looked at the number in his phone and his thoughts slightly drifted away.

"I did not expect to earn this much in the game. It's been two days and I earned twice as much as what I made in the past 3 years… Is it too easy or are there too many rich people in the world?"

He looked at the savings that he worked day and night and overtime for the past three years and the money he earned in the game after playing for two days.

He wanted to say something but he failed to find the right words. He picked up a pack of cigarettes, which he had quit for a while, and wanted to light them but when he saw his cat, he stopped.

He put Chubby Blue down before he walked to the balcony and locked the door.

He lit up the cigarette under the dark but starry sky.

A cloud of smoke spewed out of his mouth as he sighed.

"I really don't know what to say."