Chapter 391: Chapter 333: Li · Capitalist · Zheng
The Butcher walked away without a word, leaving Li Zheng standing in a daze. He really wanted to know what the Butcher meant by "timing".
Isn’t entering the Outer City better sooner than later?
"Is it because of the tasks?" Li Zheng thought of a possibility. Perhaps after entering the Outer City, the Terminal would give him some high-difficulty tasks. With his current strength, completing those tasks would be very strenuous, so the Butcher advised him to wait until his strength was sufficient before entering the Outer City?
"That must be it."
Finding a reasonable explanation, Li Zheng breathed a sigh of relief: "This Butcher is quite easy to talk to, no airs at all, much more reliable than Luo Aiman."
Luo Aiman is just a Black Market Merchant, always talking about transactions and profits. Even asking for some information requires trading sessions, and nothing useful ever comes out of it; really just a brother.
"Ooh~?"
Pretending to be dead, Little Sakura sensed the Butcher’s departure, sneakily opened a sliver of its eyes to observe for a moment, confirmed the Butcher was really gone, flipped over and jumped up from the ground, instantly full of life.
"Awoo!" The little guy was quite proud, believing that its strategy of playing dead every time it encountered a scary big boss was wise, urging Li Zheng to learn from it.
"Poli! Poli!" The Pink Poli was hanging on Little Sakura, flipping up and down with Little Sakura’s jumping motion, like a water-filled Durex ball.
"If I were like you, playing dead whenever facing danger, we’d have been done for long ago." Li Zheng glanced at the two, not bothering with them; he still had other matters to handle.
The Butcher’s visit, though bringing useful information to Li Zheng, also brought quite a bit of trouble from another perspective.
Firstly, the issue with Liu Qi Shao; the agreement signed just half a day ago was broken, and he clearly needed to provide an explanation.
Opening private messages, as expected, Liu Qi Shao was among those who sent him a message earlier, questioning why Li Zheng reneged.
As one of the direct parties to the agreement, he was surely the first to receive the notification of its dissolution.
Li Zheng thought for a moment and replied: "Would you believe me if I told you someone forcibly voided the agreement?"
Liu Qi Shao was currently in a rage. The agreement was only signed in the morning, and shortly after, Li Zheng reported the agreement’s dissolution; such behavior, lacking contractual spirit, was disdainful to him.
Now using such a lame excuse to fool him, does he think Liu Qi Shao is some idiot who knows nothing?
Agreements certified by the Terminal, besides the signatories, can there be a third party to forcibly dissolve?
Unless that third party is the Matrix Terminal, otherwise it doesn’t make sense.
So the question is, does the Matrix Terminal need to monitor their agreement behavior?
From Liu Qi Shao’s perspective: absolutely not!
They’re just ordinary Players, what qualifications do they have to attract the Matrix Terminal’s attention?
So he got even angrier, angry that Li Zheng not only lacked contractual spirit but also made a fool of him.
"Do you take me for a fool? Otherwise, why use such a lame reason to brush me off?"
Li Zheng sighed helplessly: "Believe it or not, that’s the truth. I can’t let you have this event."
"No problem, our kill Points are already even, and the strength of the mutated ones ahead is greater. Who knows who will come out on top." Liu Qi Shao voluntarily ended the brief exchange.
Li Zheng sighed; he too didn’t want to be the one breaking agreements. The crux was the Terminal directly sent a scary big boss over, what else could he do?
Refuse?
He might refuse to approach the agreement, only to find a Bone-Cutting Knife not falling on the armored Dragon Turtle but on Li Zheng’s neck?
What’s that saying?
If you can’t solve the task, then solve the task target once and for all; that’s also a way of completing the task.
Is his neck harder than an armored Dragon Turtle?
Obviously not!
Convicted criminals before the Qing Dynasty wouldn’t dare boast like that.
So what does that make him?
That makes him someone who has no choice but to bow in the Matrix!
If Cixi were reincarnated, she’d commend him for being adaptable, wouldn’t she?
Might even bestow him a Yellow Banner.
Then he’d be a Bannerman, with sky-reaching patterns on his head, able to boastfully scold others: filthy outlander, come to our land to beg!
Moreover, the Butcher mentioned that winning would directly earn him a ticket into the Outer City.
Others winning don’t get such perks.
What’s that called?
Darn it, that’s called imperial special privilege!
Even just for this entrance ticket, it’s worth breaking an agreement once.
Therefore...
Apologies to you Kunlun, but you haven’t lost anything yet, have you?
Moreover, according to the Butcher’s hints, after receiving the task, he’d spent half a day searching for crops he planted before, causing the agreement to breach only just now when he found me.
If he hadn’t delayed, I would’ve at least gotten one of the mutant bodies, 31 or 32, wouldn’t I?
To be exact, Kunlun came out slightly ahead!
Originally not familiar with Liu Qi Shao, plus the agreed reward wasn’t obtained, Li Zheng truly didn’t feel burdened about the sudden agreement breach.
Yet, the flying device given in advance to Zhan Zhouzhou as a reward probably couldn’t be taken back.
As a middleman, Li Zheng failed to earn a markup and actually incurred a loss.
Where could he find justice for that?
Closing Liu Qi Shao’s private chat window, Li Zheng checked other sent messages.
All from Zhan Zhouzhou and others who noticed their event tickets were usable, asking what happened.
Li Zheng used "I don’t know either." as a blanket response.
After all, talking about either the Butcher or getting targeted by the Terminal sounded a bit far-fetched.
All the better if they didn’t believe him, the worry was that they might!
Then it’d be even harder to explain, so he’d play dumb from the start.
Unexpectedly, a private message from Li Chun also caught Li Zheng by surprise.
"Big Brother Li Zheng, the armor you asked me to make would be done by the afternoon. Do you have any preferences for the design?"
This is the benefit of being kind; helping people and offering small favors could potentially gain a craftsman as an avid fan.
Look at this treatment; equipment that usually takes two days was done in just one.
No doubt, Li Chun must’ve worked overnight for it to be so quick.
"Do as you see fit with the design, I trust your craftsmanship." Li Zheng replied, thought a bit, and sent two bottles of juice he had found earlier in exploration to the girl as a reward for her overtime.
What’s called a competent capitalist?
That’s what a competent capitalist is!
Don’t demand great benefits, nor hold motivational meetings daily, just make sure you give the deserved pay. Aren’t you afraid they won’t fully commit to working for you?
"Thank you, Big Brother Li Zheng, then I’ll make this gear an outer armor. It may be less stealthy but isn’t bulky, and more comfortable to wear."
There, she’s thanking us!