Chapter 43

After Sun Ran exited the virtual world, he directly entered the address of the Order Maintainers' headquarters. After a series of light and shadow changes, the familiar Order Cube appeared before his eyes.

The sky was as usual, blue and clear, with endless grasslands where Order Maintainers frequently came and went. In the air, many figures appeared and disappeared, making it look very busy.

Not long after Sun Ran appeared on the grass, he received an email from Lan Xin. Opening it, he found it was a letter urging him to quickly enter the Order Cube.

The letter was short, but the excitement and joy in Lan Xin's heart could be clearly felt.

Sun Ran smiled and sped up, heading towards Jingji Rose's office.

He soon arrived at the door, pushed open the wooden door, and Ke'er, who was sitting directly opposite the door, immediately jumped up from her seat, ran a few steps, and threw herself into Sun Ran's arms.

"Hubby is back, hahaha." She looked up at Sun Ran, giggling.

It was fragrant, warm, soft, and very elastic, all these sensations flooded Sun Ran's mind, making him want to hold her longer.

He smiled and secretly glanced at Lan Xin, seeing that she wasn't unhappy but instead had a doting expression, just like Bai Tingxuan. He felt happy, thinking that the three women might be able to coexist peacefully.

Unfortunately, Ke'er only gave a brief, ceremonial hug before breaking free from Sun Ran's embrace, closing the door, and then taking off his coat and placing it on the coat rack. Only then did she take his hand and lead him to his seat.

As they walked, she teased, "Hubby, guess what my evaluation is?"

Sun Ran guessed, "Is it excellent?"

The task evaluation is personal. As an assassin, Ke'er successfully obtained the blood of a high-level vampire, making a significant contribution to the task's completion.

Ke'er laughed, "Hubby is so smart! It's excellent! This is my first excellent, with a base reward of 10,000 credits and a bonus of the same amount. It's amazing!"

This was the price Sun Ran had quietly negotiated. Seeing Ke'er so happy, he felt it was worth it.

"What about you two?" Sun Ran looked at Lan Xin and Bai Tingxuan.

"We are both excellent," Lan Xin was also very happy. "Even better, the system judged our team cooperation to be excellent, so we received a team experience bonus. This means that although we are all excellent, our experience points will double, so we each gained 100 experience points."

"That's great." Sun Ran was very happy.

Lan Xin was even more delighted, "With this experience, I only need 30 more points to advance to Bronze."

Ke'er was also excited, "I need 50 more points."

"I need 60 more points," Bai Tingxuan smiled.

The three women had similar abilities and often went on missions together. Most of the tasks they completed were rated as average, with excellent ratings being rare. Therefore, their experience points were not far apart, and they were all on the verge of advancing.

Becoming a Bronze Order Maintainer means having a Level 3 Order permission. If combined with a Level 3 skill, their power would increase tenfold, enough to directly confront a Level 3 Destroyer. More importantly, the starting reward for a Bronze Order Maintainer is 10,000 credits.

These were just monetary rewards. In reality, a Bronze Order Maintainer is equivalent to an elite figure, with a significant increase in social status. They can apply to the Federation for larger housing, a better living environment, and better social welfare. These tangible benefits were enough to make anyone excited.

Moreover, because higher-level permissions are difficult to obtain, as the level of Order Maintainers increases, the gap in power with ordinary Destroyers decreases. By the time they reach the Silver level, the power disparity seen in the Dark Middle Ages is rarely seen.

Sun Ran also checked his evaluation and was happy. His evaluation was perfect, and with the team experience bonus, he gained a total of 200 experience points, bringing his total to 700 experience points.

He also received a double reward, and Hao Qiang did not go back on his word, transferring 10,000 credits. In total, he received 40,000 credits.

In modern society, credits are a very stable currency. Compared to historical times, it is equivalent to 200,000 US dollars in the early 21st century, or nearly 3,000 taels of silver, enough to sustain an ordinary person for a lifetime.

Sun Ran still had a small regret. He originally thought that with all his efforts, he should have received a legendary rating. He began to check the battle records to see where he had affected the rating.

As he looked, he regretted it. From the beginning to the Danube River, the AI's evaluation was legendary, but when he created an iceberg in front of everyone on the Danube River, the impact was too great, and he was docked one level, losing the double bonus, which was 20,000 credits.

'I can't show off anymore; the cost is too high,' Sun Ran warned himself.

This time, they spent a total of about half a month in the game, which in the real world was just over an hour. The total income for the team reached 100,000 credits, making the earning efficiency very high.

For a Black Iron team, this was indeed a big harvest, and everyone was very happy.

Lan Xin then proposed her idea, "Sun Ran is the strongest and his performance is evident. I can't continue being the captain. From today, Sun Ran will be the new captain of Jingji Rose."

Sun Ran was about to object, but a private message from Lan Xin came through, "Don't refuse. If I continue being the captain, how can I face others in the future?"

Hearing this, Sun Ran fell silent.

Lan Xin explained, "We, Xuanxuan, and Ke'er have already discussed this. You have to be the captain, no choice."

Ke'er waved her small fist at Sun Ran, "Hubby, you can't let us down."

Bai Tingxuan smiled, "Sun Ran, we all trust you."

With these words, it would be meaningless for Sun Ran to refuse. He stood up and made a bow, speaking in a literary tone, "Since that's the case, I can't refuse!"

Being the captain also means having the authority to contact the game administrators at any time, which greatly facilitates the formulation of mission plans.

At this moment, an email suddenly appeared in front of everyone. Ke'er clicked to receive it, puzzled, "Strange, it's from Jing Ke."

"The mission is over, why is he contacting us?" Lan Xin was also puzzled.

Jing Ke, as an independent Order Maintainer, is generally quite reclusive, rarely speaking in the game, let alone after the mission.

"I'll open it and see," Ke'er clicked on the email.

The email opened, and the content appeared above the table, visible to everyone in Jingji Rose.

The content of the email was simple, stating that he did not perform as a Bronze Order Maintainer should and felt unworthy of the Bronze-level reward.

Almost immediately, a credit transfer notification appeared.

Opening it, it showed that Jing Ke had transferred 8,000 credits to Jingji Rose's public account. The base reward for a Bronze-level Order Maintainer is 10,000 credits. Jing Ke's performance was only average, and a quick calculation showed that he only took the Black Iron-level base reward, which is 2,000 credits.

The four people in the room looked at each other, falling into silence.

"This Jing Ke is a reliable person," Lan Xin broke the silence.

"He is very generous," Ke'er was happy with the extra 8,000 credits. Who doesn't like money?

"This money, emotionally, he can give, but logically, it's not necessary. Since he did this, it shows he is a principled person," Bai Tingxuan analyzed.

Sun Ran laughed, "Since he is so generous, let's accept it."

This money is not a small amount; with some savings, it can sustain a year of a good life in the Earth's slums. It's not a large amount, not enough to pay for a Level 2 skill, which costs 10,000 credits, and he was still 2,000 credits short.

Sun Ran then suggested, "This is extra income. Everyone must be tired from this mission. Why don't we all log out and use this money to gather in the real world, travel around, and relax?"

According to the time difference of one day to one year, half a month in the game is only about an hour in the real world. However, everyone was mentally exhausted from the constant tension in the virtual world.

"Great, great, but where should we go?" Ke'er was the first to support the idea.

"There's nothing fun in the first layer. It's all gray steel jungles," Bai Tingxuan also supported the idea.

Lan Xin agreed and, being generous with the 8,000 credits, suggested, "Why don't we go to the Garden Layer for a trip?"

The Garden Layer, where the middle class of the Federation resides, is much better than the steel jungles of the first layer. Lan Xin's suggestion was immediately supported by the three women.

"Alright, let's go to the Garden Layer," Sun Ran decided.

The four then discussed some details of the gathering and logged out with high spirits to prepare.