The Great Thief

“Raise the price or think of something else. Get as much as you can.”

Lu Li was happy, but he wasn’t entirely satisfied.

Three hundred thousand Scrumptious Fish would be a crazy number for him in his previous life, but they were now within his reach.

Aunty Scallion hesitated, but she didn’t object.

She wanted to change Lu Li’s mind, as this wasn’t an insignificant sum, but 6000 gold coins. That would be equivalent to thousands of dollars, but they had spent it all on Scrumptious Fish. Was this really worth it?

“Lu Li, what are you trying to do? This is no joke; we’re running low on our liquidity,” Square Root 3 said.

He thought that Lu Li had discovered some secret to turn a profit out of this, but at what risk?

Human resources were money too, and Ruling Sword had already invested hundreds of people in purchasing Scrumptious Fish.

What Square Root 3 didn’t approve of the most was the use of their assets. The guild was already short on funds, and if they suddenly needed money, they would be forced to purchase gold coins from the market.

“Don’t worry, Square Root 3, I won’t mess up. Give all the money to Aunty Scallion, and I’ll borrow some more money from Old Shen,” Lu Li assured.

Shen Wansan was quick to answer to his call; Lu Li had always had a good relationship with him.

He had his own shops now and worked with Ruling Sword; he had been doing well for himself in the game.

“You’ve got to be kidding! Ruling Sword is so big now; you can get anything you want. Why are you asking me for money all of a sudden?’ Shen Wansan asked in surprise.

“The one purchasing Scrumptious Fish on the market is me,” Lu Li explained.

“Tell me, tell me! Are the prices for these Scrumptious Fish going to rise?” Shen Wansan had been waiting for his next big opportunity ever since he began working with Lu Li.

“No, you’re thinking too much. I have these for another purpose; it’s nothing of much value to you,” Lu Li answered.

He could have said nothing, but he was positive that Shen Wansan would have been able to figure out the truth based on the current situation in the market.

Although Shen Wansan did not understand what was going on, there was a good chance that he would stick his foot in the business.

However, Lu Li didn’t hide anything and chose to reveal his intentions. That way, Shen Wansan wouldn’t interfere with the situation as he wouldn’t want to upset Lu Li.

“How much did you need?” Shen Wansan asked.

“We’ll take five thousand gold coins first. I’ll return the extras,” Lu Li said.

Before long, Ruling Sword received their funds. With the rest of the gold supplied by the guild, they made another mass Scrumptious Fish purchase.

By the afternoon, the buying frenzy was over. Although there were still some fish left, they were all in the hands of random players. They didn’t care about the money they could earn; they would rather keep them as a souvenir.

“That’s a total of 526,422 fish purchased. They’re all in the guild storage; have a check boss,” Aunty Scallion reported. She looked exhausted.

“How much money did you spend?” Lu Li asked.

It would be a lie if he said that he wasn’t slightly pained from spending all this money.

“The prices rose in the end. On average, they were about five silver coins each. Adding on the six thousand gold coins spent before, that’s a total of seventeen thousand gold coins,” Aunty Scallion said, feeling breathless.

She was the one who was in charge of managing this business that was worth 1.5 million dollars in real life. “Nice, everyone can go back now. You’ll have to work a little more and split these by guild points.”

Lu Li was very satisfied as he nodded his head; he felt like he had really scored a bargain.

The Trade skill players from Ruling Sword closed their shops and instantly disappeared.

“Lu Li, can you tell me why now? The products are in the guild storage. Only you, me and Wandering have authority to access them now,” Square Root 3 begged. He was very curious.

“It’s simple – these items can be used for experience,” Lu Li answered with a smile.

“Experience…”

This was an unexpected answer; Square Root 3 thought that they could turn a massive profit from these purchases.

“Are you disappointed?” Lu Li asked.

“Of course not!” Square Root 3 exclaimed, then continued, “I’m just surprised. Experience is good; you can’t even purchase it with money. How do you plan to sort this out?”

“I’ll give you a list; tell them to come to Booty Bay,” Lu Li said.

The list included players from the Xin Xin Mercenary Group, competitors for Ruling Sword and some executives from the elite group. There were about a hundred players in total.

Square Root 3 didn’t agree entirely.

“Why don’t you use it for yourself? Wouldn’t you get more from it?”

“That wouldn’t be right,” Lu Li said as he shook his head, “These things are similar to the Scarabs; their use decreases after you reach a certain level. I wouldn’t reach level 50, even if I used all of them.”

“I see what you mean.”

“What’s the point of me being the only one who was high-leveled? Competitions rely on the combined strength of the club. In dungeons, I would still die instantly to the Bosses, no matter how high my level was. It’s more efficient for everyone to grow stronger together.”

The players were quickly gathered, but no one knew what was going on. Since it was Lu Li who had asked, they all dropped whatever they were currently doing and rushed over immediately.

Some were quite keen for what Lu Li had in store for them.

“Tell us – who are we taking down this time!”

“Hold onto these items and find a particular NPC in this house,” Lu Li explained as he passed some Scrumptious Fish to Azure Sea Breeze and did the same for the next person.

They were outside an isolated house in Booty Bay that looked like a store.

They followed Lu Li and found another door behind the building that was linked with the body of the mountain. The building was split into a front and yard court.

There was only one person at the back of the house; his name was Hemingway. He was the NPC who was in charge of handing out rewards for the fishing competition this season.

Azure Sea Breeze had no clue what he was walking into, but he still opened the door and went in.

After he came out, he was stunned with himself, mumbling, “****, I’m suddenly level 45 now. Am I dreaming? I’m not dreaming right?”

The next person had the same response.

One, two, three…

One by one, the level 43-44 players walked in and walked out as level 45 players. Their only task was simple – pass the fish to the NPC.