Chapter 41

Chapter 41 The Other Party Used a Forced Team-Up Item.

At the beginning, the NPCs treated Ning Rong differently because she had used a skill on them. But now, she had not used any skill at all, yet their attitude toward her had become even more fawning.

That was because her identity had changed.

Previously, she was a player, naturally standing on the opposite side of the NPCs. But now, she was their direct boss.

Led by the old woman, Ning Rong went to meet the other employees inside the vacation resort. Along the way, she could see the fiery looks in their eyes. At first, she had wondered whether the employees would slack off and cut corners while she was absent, but after personally inspecting the place this time, she let go of those concerns.

Because she discovered that she and her employees had actually signed contracts!

Unlike contracts in the real world, contracts in the infinite-flow world clearly had much stronger binding force on employees.

After paying a huge sum of game coins earlier, Ning Rong had stopped caring about the later matters of the vacation resort. She had thought before about future operations, but had no clue where to start. After all, she had not personally seen the construction process of the resort.

Unexpectedly, this small world had its own complete system, and many things were logically self-consistent. For example, the construction of the vacation resort, recruiting employees, and so on...

As Ning Rong walked along, she discovered that there were quite a lot of employees in the resort. Most of them were probably original residents of Su Family Village. Listening to the repeated cries of “Boss,” she went from feeling unaccustomed at first to getting used to it now, and only a few minutes had passed.

Ning Rong asked the old woman beside her, “Have you done any external promotion?”

The old woman rubbed her hands together. “Boss, does word of mouth count?”

Now that the resort had been built, how could they not talk about it to outsiders?

Ning Rong said, “It counts.”

Without waiting for the old woman to speak, she continued, “But it’s not enough. The customer flow still isn’t high enough.”

And the profits still weren’t enough either.

In this enormous vacation resort, more than half the guest rooms were still vacant. The resort was laid out in a beautiful staggered design, with excellent greenery, winding quiet paths, rugged mountain roads, and even hot springs inside. Her 29.99 million game coins had truly not been spent in vain.

The old woman quickly straightened her chest and slapped it hard, looking full of confidence as she said, “Boss, leave this matter to me. If you want more people, isn’t that easy?”

Ning Rong said, “Having more people is only one part of it. What’s important is promoting their spending.”

The old woman immediately expressed loyalty. “No problem, Boss. Leave it all to me.”

Although the old woman was advanced in age, she had once been the dungeon’s major boss after all, and could not be compared with ordinary people. Moreover, the infinite-flow world had its own operating rules, so Ning Rong still had some trust in a major boss’s abilities.

Ning Rong clapped her hands. “You did very well before, but I believe you’ll do even better in the future.”

“I said before that if future revenue can double compared to now, every employee will get a raise!”

How much exactly?

That could be decided later.

At the very least, the promise had to be given first.

The old woman shouted loudly, “Absolutely no problem, Boss!”

Judging from the old woman’s mental state, she did not look like an elderly person at all. Instead, she looked like a newcomer who had just entered society, full of motivation to strive.

After inspecting the place, Ning Rong planned to leave.

An option labeled [Leave] appeared in her [Personal Space].

Facing the old woman’s burning gaze, Ning Rong said calmly, “I’ll come again after a while.”

The old woman answered in a powerful voice, “Alright, Boss, take care!”

Other employees who had nothing in hand also came over to see her off one after another.

“Boss, take care!”

“Boss, come again next time!”

Nothing else aside, but the full pomp and ceremony had definitely been provided.

Thinking that, Ning Rong pressed the [Leave] button.

When Ning Rong returned to her rented apartment, more than an hour had already passed. Zhou Yujing was browsing the game forum on the sofa. The moment he saw her appear, he hurriedly stood up to welcome her.

“Rongrong.”

Ning Rong immediately threw herself onto Zhou Yujing.

“Tired.”

Zhou Yujing wrapped his arms around her, letting her lean more comfortably against him.

“The NPCs gave you trouble?”

Ning Rong said, “No.” After speaking, before Zhou Yujing could ask anything else, she continued, “They were too enthusiastic.”

So enthusiastic that she was a little unable to handle it. She followed the old woman on the inspection route, and behind her, a string of little followers slowly gathered.

She never expected that as a sports student, she had not started a business in reality, yet had become a boss in the infinite flow world.

Zhou Yujing gave a light laugh.

If other people knew Ning Rong was tired because of this, who knew how sour they would feel.

The two sat down on the sofa.

Ning Rong leaned against Zhou Yujing to rest. “Anything interesting on the forum?”

In the time she had been gone, Zhou Yujing had gathered quite a bit of useful information.

“They’re mainly discussing the faction war that officially goes live at dawn tomorrow.”

After saying that, he continued, “There’s a player with a hidden identity who couldn’t withstand all the flattery from the other players and exposed his in-game identity himself.”

Hearing this, Ning Rong became a little more interested.

She looked at Zhou Yujing. “What was it?”

A trace of amusement entered Zhou Yujing’s eyes. “Blacksmith.”

That hidden identity actually surprised Ning Rong a little.

She asked, “Did he expose his skill too?”

Zhou Yujing said, “He did. After revealing his hidden identity, even more players praised him. They kept calling him big boss, big daddy, giant boss, flattering him until he was floating with pride. Maybe because his vanity got unusually satisfied, he revealed one skill too. But he wasn’t completely brainless. He only exposed one skill.”

At least he had kept a little dignity for himself.

Ning Rong imagined that scene and could not help laughing too.

Big boss, big daddy, giant boss… once those titles came out, an ordinary person in daily life probably really could not resist it. After all, they had only been ordinary people before. Then after entering the game, they obtained a hidden identity and got to experience what it felt like to no longer be ordinary.

Before Ning Rong could ask, Zhou Yujing continued, “The skill he exposed was [To Forge Iron, One Must Be Strong Oneself].”

Just from those words, Ning Rong could roughly infer that this person’s skill was related to physical enhancement.

Of course, that was only her guess and could not be taken as certain.

But after learning this person’s hidden identity and skill, she became even more certain that the skills of hidden identities were definitely derived from the hidden identity itself. Every unlocked skill was closely tied to that identity.

Zhou Yujing said, “After he exposed so much information, another player who also had a hidden identity cursed him in the thread, saying he was a rough brute who got dizzy from being praised a few times by players and completely lost his bearings.”

“That player also said there were quite a few people with hidden identities. Maybe one of them had a skill that could seize other people’s skills. If that person was a born tyrant, then some of those who had exposed their skills on the forum before—and whose skills were rather special—might already have been targeted.”

“With that, those people finally quieted down.”

Ning Rong froze slightly.

Wasn’t that describing her?

Her skill [Your Thing Is Very Good, Now It Is Mine] could do exactly that.

It seemed hidden identities came in all kinds of forms, and there were many interesting skills. Since that player could think in that direction, perhaps their own hidden identity was not ordinary either.

Ning Rong tilted her head and looked at Zhou Yujing. “Do you want to know my hidden identity?”

This was the first time she had mentioned that term in front of Zhou Yujing.

But both of them understood it clearly.

After all, in the game One-Thirty, she had already told him that she possessed more than one skill. And those who had multiple skills all possessed hidden identities.

Zhou Yujing smiled and answered, “I do, but I also don’t really want to.”

He wanted to know because he cared about everything concerning Ning Rong.

He did not want to know because he was afraid he would become Ning Rong’s weak point.

There were simply too many skills and items in this game. It was better to be cautious.

“Tell me after everything has settled in the future.”

Ning Rong pinched his cheek. “That works too.”

She lowered her head and dealt with some messages.

Some of the messages were from friends in real life, and some were from gaming friends on the forum.

Unsurprisingly, Lu Wen had sent the most messages.

[Lu Wen: Sis, I haven’t entered a dungeon in a long time. The shop won’t even let me buy Safe Time anymore. I’m planning to enter one as soon as possible. Hope I can get lucky!]

Ning Rong replied with, “Good luck.”

After replying, Ning Rong also checked the business situation of Red Tea Hotel. Red Tea Hotel had only just been completed and had not been operating for long, so its profits were not yet obvious. There definitely was not enough time this round. She planned to inspect Red Tea Hotel when she had time later.

Both the Vacation Villa and Red Tea Hotel were her assets. Both could continuously bring her income, so neither could be neglected lightly.

After handling almost everything and resting a little, Ning Rong decided to enter a dungeon.

She took out the item she got from Yan An and entered Yuan Pei’s name, along with his appearance information.

After the input was completed, an illusory screen suddenly appeared in front of her. On it was a face she had seen not long ago.

[Please confirm whether the target you wish to pull into the game is as shown in the image. If yes, press Confirm. If not, press Cancel and re-enter the information.]

This item was surprisingly intelligent.

Ning Rong pressed yes.

[Target confirmed. Transmission into the game will now begin. Countdown: 30, 29...]

There were still dozens of seconds left in the countdown. Ning Rong joked, “This time, that group favorite isn’t following you again, right?”

Zhou Yujing affectionately rubbed his face against hers and said helplessly, “Rongrong, stop teasing.”

What group favorite? That was only a title Chi Juan and Chen Chu gave themselves.

Back then, the one who flattered Chi Juan the most was Chen Chu.

But now, Chen Chu had already fallen into eternal sleep inside the game.

After the thirty-second countdown ended, Ning Rong and Zhou Yujing were teleported into a new game together.

A few minutes earlier.

Yuan Pei was in the lounge playing a game.

Several of his companions were beside him.

They varied in age and personality. The only thing they had in common was that they all worked for the same person.

Seeing how relaxed he was, one of them could not help asking, “You sure that person’s gone?”

Yuan Pei was focusing intently on pushing towers. Hearing that, he took a moment before replying, “Of course I’m sure.”

A newcomer who had only cleared two games, whose skills and items had been sealed by him, and who was thrown into an A-rank dungeon—if that person could still survive under those circumstances, he would kneel on the spot and call her daddy! Though the fact that she had companions by her side was unexpected, it was not a big problem.

Even if she brought three or four companions with her, there was no way they could leave Amnesia alive.

Someone else cut in, “There’s gossip saying 01 also entered the Amnesia dungeon not long ago. Judging by the timing, they entered one after the other. Is it possible 01 directly carried her to victory?”

Hearing that, Yuan Pei finally raised his head slightly.

Come to think of it, that really was possible.

He clicked his tongue, full of impatience. “So damn annoying. Can 01 stop being such a saint already? Is he addicted to playing saint? Why does the National Team love meddling in other people’s business so much?”

Just then, he easily won that round of the game. He put down his phone and casually stretched his wrist.

“If it really didn’t work last time, then I’ll just do it again. She’s just an ordinary player anyway. It’s just a waste of my time.”

While the others laughed at him for handling things poorly, saying that dealing with a newcomer had already cost him two chances—not to mention that last time he had also used up a precious escape item—no one actually took that newcomer seriously, nor did they think she could cause any trouble.

While everyone was joking around, a mechanical prompt suddenly sounded in Yuan Pei’s mind.

[The other party has used a Forced Team-Up item.]

[Countdown: thirty seconds...]

[You are about to enter B-rank instance — Thrilling Amusement Park. Please prepare yourself.]

Yuan Pei: ???