novel bin Page 144
Page 144
With a wave of his hand, Kennot's robes billowed into the sky.
"This eerie castle is no place for a human to stay. I haven't seen this new friend next to you before, Dr. Wanfeng..."
He bent down, looked at the raven standing to the side, and introduced himself:
"Hello, my future guest. You can call me Kannot. As you can see, I am a merchant. You can buy some junk from me with Originium Ingots, although I don't know what they are used for."
"You call these things... junk?"
Raven looked at the coveted collection inside Cannott's cloak and asked incredulously.
"Of course, collecting these junks is very laborious, so they won't be too cheap. But we merchants value integrity. You give me Originium Ingots, I give you goods. It's that simple."
As Kannot spoke, he displayed all the goods to everyone. But while Raven admired the collection under his cloak like a country bumpkin visiting a grand garden, Li Ji quietly asked Kannot a question.
"Old Kan, do you still have the Originium Ingots I invested with you?"
"Of course, we're in the same industry, and I would never do something like cheating my colleagues!"
Upon hearing this, Kannot immediately handed Li Ji a bank card with a clear indication of a high value of 999 Origin Stone Ingots.
This is Li Ji's save file from before he transmigrated here.
Because he hadn't played Phantom Rogue in a long time, with the help of a certain software that used Pallas as an icon, he easily saved up 999 Originium Bars.
I haven't taken another penny, I never thought this would come in handy.
"Even though the money is all there, haven't you cheated me countless times already?"
Instead of getting angry, Li Ji asked with a smile.
Seemingly having gleaned something from Li Ji's words, Cannot echoed in a very low voice, "That was just because you accidentally fell into the water, my friend. You just happened to be the unlucky one who fell in that day."
He even spoke to Li Ji in an extremely generous tone:
“If Dr. Wanfeng is still holding a grudge, I can give you another chance to try. Such opportunities are not common.”
"Give me another chance? You'd be more likely to screw me over again!"
"How could that be! Believe me, I would never mistreat a friend. But even though we're old friends, we still need to settle our accounts."
Cannot somehow managed to pull an old projector out of his cloak.
Amidst the curious gazes of the crowd, the projector was placed directly in front of the courtyard.
As the projector's beam shone out, a huge crack appeared in the open space in front of the courtyard.
Unlike other cracks, this one was surrounded by many thick, brown tentacles, and its outer edge was a deep gray-black.
There was no ominous sign or repulsive aura associated with the cracks.
The crack, much like the one that created him, seemed to exude an air of trustworthiness.
"It's an investment to start anew. Your friends in the castles of other branch planes aren't as lucky or as generous as you. They're either destitute or, even with dozens of Originium Ingots, they're unwilling to trust me and invest even a single Originium Ingot in their future adventures..."
"A life that's always 999 will only bring boredom; people always need a little motivation!"
"My friend, human desires are always limitless, and we must learn to control them!"
After he finished speaking, countless identical cracks appeared in front of the teams from various countries. In a corner that no one paid attention to, the originally fixed and mysterious trade node suddenly became an unexpected encounter node!
Every team that passed through the mysterious merchant node gained an extra option.
[Node Description: On your inevitable path, a strange jar-shaped creature claiming to be a TerraInvesting Master, a top lecturer, and a peerless guru extends a friendly invitation to you...]
→【Accept Invitation: Great! I love venture capital! (Restriction: Minimum 2 Originium Ingots) – Engage in a thrilling guessing game (up to five random collectibles), and you can still enter the Mysterious Merchant Guild afterward.】
→【Declining the Invitation: I only love investing, never venture capital—directly entering the world of unscrupulous business.】
Then, a loud sound echoed through the castle:
"I am a businessman. I sell everything that exists in civilization. This naturally includes ways to increase wealth."
"Now, please allow me to solemnly introduce to you the course I will personally teach—"
"It couldn't be better! TerraInvesting Masterclass!"
Chapter Fifteen: Don't frame me!
After passing through the crack in Kannot, Li Ji seemed to be drawn by a mysterious force and stepped into this familiar environment.
Beside him, the three people who had been traveling with him had also woken up, and Ling had even picked up his wine cup again to take a sip.
"Wake up."
For the first time, Ling didn't think about having a drink with Li Ji. He probably knew Li Ji might be going to participate in a guessing game, so he didn't dare let him touch alcohol, lest he get drunk. "I don't remember this happening before. Gambling is something that should be done as entertainment between games, right? And gambling doesn't involve activities like cricket fighting, does it..."
"Yes, I also got something unexpected from that unexpected encounter. Apart from the similarity in the course of events and the characters, the integrated strategy here seems to be somewhat different from that of Terra."
Li Ji first glanced at Raven beside him and noticed that she was holding an old cell phone and watching the exclusive gold-medal course from Cannot play on the screen.
He then replied quietly.
However, just as the two were discussing, quirky music suddenly came from the arena.
……
Everyone's (All all all all)
Everyone's (All all all all)
Everyone's (All all all)
All in (all all)
Music blared from the loudspeakers above the arena.
As the music began, Cannot himself appeared at the back of the audience.
"Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, everyone! I am your best gold medal instructor and your best friend, Cannot!"
"I'm sure everyone has watched the course I sent you, and I'm also sure that all of you students here are eager to try it out for yourselves."
"This prediction contest will consist of 10 different rounds. When your Originium Ingots reach 0, it means you have lost the contest! In the first 4 rounds, you can invest a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 20 Originium Ingots. In rounds 5-7, you can invest a minimum of 50% of your current Originium Ingots and a maximum of all your current Originium Ingots. When you enter rounds 8-10... the only option will be ALL. It's a matter of heaven or hell!"
"Of course, all the Originium Ingots for this event will be provided by everyone present. Currently, apart from a certain country that has a VIP card with 999 Originium Ingots, the total number of Originium Ingots for the entire event is—350!"
Even though Cannot’s voice wasn’t loud, the weight of his last words was like a thousand pounds pressing down on everyone.
"VIP cards? 999 of them...?"
"Did someone manage to get their hands on some rare collectible? We've saved up 27 of these even if we scrimped and saved!"
“999 can clear out the store several times in a row. This is our first time entering. Could it be the Gaul team? Have they come in several times already?”
"Blue Wings was just scouting ahead for others... Have you forgotten who their starting team was? How could we possibly give 999 Originium Ingots to their team?"
"Then whose are these 999s?"
"We only have 300 Originium Ingots in total. If we take out these 999, we'll win immediately, right?"
"Is it too late to team up with Raven now?"
"She's rejected countless teams already, and I've never even heard of that guy from Yan... Does Raven have a thing for pretty, innocent-looking boys?"
[Holy crap, there's even a VIP with 999 guests! Has Raven's secret stash been exposed?]
[This is Wanfeng's live stream; what if Yan Guo snatches it up?]
[Damn it, that scoundrel Cannot has exposed all of Gaul's money!!!]
[Brother Wan, don't turn back! We're really broke! We're giving you votes, please have mercy!]
Raven was even more confused when she saw that everyone, from the audience to the live stream, was focused on her.
She even looked at Li Ji next to her and asked with a puzzled expression after hearing the news: "Why didn't you say you had 999? Why did we even get involved in this stupid competition? We could have just bought out the store. Now we're doomed. The whole world knows our team is easy prey!"
For some reason, Li Ji even managed to squeeze out a few tears. "Now the whole world knows that I, Wan Feng, am a gigolo. You have to take responsibility for me, okay?"
The sound was so loud that even Raven wondered if he really wanted things to get bigger and made sure other teams could hear it too.
"????"
Although the most suspicious party here is indeed the Gaulish team that has entered several times, how could the Raven team, which is caught in the middle of political struggles, get such good stuff in?
She knows she's here to be a cushion, but she's the one being cushioned... making her the prime suspect!
Now it's like smearing mud on your crotch; even if it's not shit, it looks like shit.
"No, I didn't, I really didn't, don't talk nonsense!!!"
To prove his innocence, Raven turned all his pockets inside out and showed them to Li Ji, even handing him his backpack. "I'm truly innocent! It wasn't me!"
"Sigh, it's alright. Although I know you definitely didn't hide them in those places—after all, you have plenty of other places to hide cards—at least you're willing to team up with a poor guy like me. Thank you."
"I really didn't! Don't frame me!"
Raven was practically ready to strip naked to prove her innocence; she had even pulled Li Ji's hand over so he could touch it himself, but then she remembered that this was happening in public, and live on stream...
Moreover, just as she was about to make her move, she felt two 'kind' gazes from beside her, which made her immediately abandon the idea.
"I... I really didn't, you have to believe me, it must be someone from another team! You can't be fooled by this sweet talk, what if it's Kannot deliberately causing trouble? He's not from this world, he's really bad!"
……
"Quiet! Although some people have already embarked on the road to financial freedom, those of you who only have two Originium Ingots should not be discouraged, because this is the only way for you to reach wealth!"