Chapter 18

After Yang Ye finished stating his conditions, Qin Dongsheng remained silent for a long time without responding.

It wasn't that he didn't want to reply, but rather he didn't know how to. He wanted to get the money immediately, but the second condition Yang Ye proposed was too tempting. In the end, he could basically earn several hundred dollars a day without doing much work, and the conditions were merely to lay flowers at his brother's grave and apologize to the mother and daughter. It didn't seem like a difficult task. Qin Dongsheng's eyes struggled, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't open his mouth.

Yang Ye wasn't in a hurry. He slowly sipped the tea Qin Yan had poured and waited quietly.

Finally, Qin Dongsheng took a deep breath and asked with a smile, "Sir, what is your surname?"

"Yang," Yang Ye replied indifferently.

"Mr. Yang, despite your young age, you have a certain level of cunning and ruthlessness, and you know how to use people's hearts. Mr. Yang's two conditions... I choose..." Qin Dongsheng steadied himself, took a deep breath, and continued, "the second one!"

Yang Ye glanced at Qin Dongsheng, put down his cup, stood up, and extended his right hand. When Qin Dongsheng also extended his hand, and their hands gripped tightly, Yang Ye said with a smile, "Mr. Qin is indeed a man of great potential. I admire you very much. To avoid any worries about my payment, let's write a contract. What do you think?"

Qin Dongsheng withdrew his hand and muttered, "Sure, sure."

Yang Ye fetched paper and pen and wrote the contract. The main content was that Yang Ye would immediately repay 100,000 yuan, and the amount to be repaid each month would increase by 1,000 yuan based on the previous month. For example, if 10,000 yuan was repaid the previous month, then 11,000 yuan would be repaid this month, for a total of 24 months, amounting to 300,000 yuan, starting next month. Qin Dongsheng's task was to lay flowers at Yang Xiang's (Qin's mother) husband's grave and apologize to Yang Xiang and Qin Yan every month. He had to record video and audio every month, and if he missed one month, it would be considered a breach of contract, and he would have to pay double the compensation, which was 600,000 yuan in cash.

They signed and sealed the contract.

Looking at the contract in his hand, Qin Dongsheng felt as if he had fallen into a trap, but the 300,000 yuan in cash that he could slowly collect made him feel it was worth it.

"Mr. Qin, is everything okay? If not, please leave. I still need to eat. Here is 100,000 yuan. Count it to make sure it's all there." Yang Ye kicked a black bag filled with 100,000 yuan in cash towards Qin Dongsheng, revealing stacks of red 100-yuan bills.

Seeing the bag full of cash, Qin Dongsheng's last bit of worry disappeared. He bent down to pick up the money, thanked Yang Ye, nodded to Qin's mother and Qin Yan, and left with the money.

Yang Xiang looked at Yang Ye with a complex expression. 100,000 yuan, just given away like that. Even if he wasn't her son-in-law, it was rare to find such a generous son-in-law. Moreover, he didn't have much money himself. Yang Xiang thought about saying a few words of thanks and telling him that the money would be repaid, but before she could speak, Yang Ye said first.

"Aunt, there's no need to rush to thank me or repay the money. You know, I'm just an orphan, and no matter how much money I have, I can't use it all. Helping you solve your immediate problems is a way for me to do something useful. Besides, I earn money quickly. Don't worry. Even 300,000 yuan is not a big deal for me now!" When he said the last part, Yang Ye was full of confidence.

Hearing Yang Ye say this, Yang Xiang swallowed her words and didn't speak anymore.

After eating a meal at Qin Yan's house, which was neither breakfast nor lunch, Yang Ye informed the dazed Qin Yan that she should follow him to earn money in the game. But the girl was in a daze, and Yang Ye, feeling helpless, said goodbye and returned to his room to lie down.

Some people, despite having family and siblings, use them to bully others; some people, who have never seen their parents and long for a family, never achieve it.

And Yang Ye was the latter. If you asked him what he hated, he would definitely say—Spring Festival.

When others' homes were filled with joy, it was his most lonely time.

He smiled with a hint of self-mockery. What was he thinking? How many years had passed, and he still wasn't used to it?

Closing his eyes, he slept until evening, went to Qin Yan's house for dinner, returned to his room, put on his helmet, and logged into the game.

After logging in, he appeared in Rainfall City. Yang Ye thought for a moment and went to the trading hall to auction off his 5th-level silver sword, starting at 10 gold coins with no upper limit. He estimated it would fetch an additional 2-3 gold coins.

He took out the Nog Light Ruins invitation and tore it forcefully. A halo appeared around Yang Ye and Lilina, and they were instantly teleported away.

The scene became clear, and the surroundings gradually became visible. They were in a vast jungle tribe, clearly on the outskirts. Tents were scattered at a great distance, where the half-orc scouts lived. The entire map was dark, creating a terrifying atmosphere. On Yang Ye's right was a small river, emitting a foul smell, with piles of bones on the riverbank, both human and animal.

[System: You have entered the outskirts of the half-orc tribe. According to the information, you must collect 5 scout badges to pass through the half-orc gate. The badges are found on half-orc scouts, and killing them will yield the badges. If a player dies, they will drop all the badges they have. Currently, 0/2 players have entered the half-orc tribe. 7 badges have appeared. When a player has 3 badges, the system will announce their coordinates every 5 minutes.]

This task was a large-scale competition, and it seemed many players had entered. However, only two could ultimately enter, so the fastest way was to find and kill others.

Looking at the 6 thin lines indicated by the miner's helmet, Yang Ye chuckled. A collection task, his favorite!

He chose one of the lines, thinking this guy had two badges, so who else but him would drop them?

"Lilina, let's go!"

"Okay! Let's go get some gold coins!"

...

Feiyu, an archer and a treasure hunter, was a skilled player. His archery skills were among the best in the country, but he was obsessed with digging for treasure. Whenever he saw a treasure map, he couldn't stop, leading to his level always lagging behind. His friends knew he loved digging and gave him all the treasure maps they found. Feiyu wasn't greedy and paid market price for them. If he found something good, he would share the profits. Today's treasure map was also given by a friend, but it turned out to be a cleaning task. It took him half a day just to accept the task, and now he had to fight for badges. Fortunately, he had good luck and encountered a not-so-newbie player, from whom he obtained his first badge. Later, while fighting monsters and looking for players, he found another one. He only needed three more.

Where are those three cute newbies? Feiyu smiled slyly, confident in his skills.

Hmm? What a big tree, hiding behind it would be perfect... Feiyu thought happily and sneaked behind the tree...

Just as Feiyu turned his head, he suddenly saw a broken sword slashing towards his chest, and a strange, green-glowing long knife appeared below...

Feiyu had no time to react. The other player had clearly been waiting for a long time.

-277!

-337!

-566!

Three consecutive hits, the first two from Yang Ye, and the last from Lilina, instantly dealing over a thousand damage. The archer didn't even have time to scream before he fell. A ring and two badges dropped. Yang Ye nodded, satisfied with the damage.

Picking up the ring, he found it was the 20th-level silver ring he had been targeting. Collecting the badges, Yang Ye turned and left.

Feiyu was so angry he wanted to spit blood. He had been planning to kill three newbies to get three badges, but the third one killed him instead! He even dropped his 20th-level silver ring.

"Encountered a pro, really unlucky. Two people together? Doesn't seem like it..." Feiyu muttered, thinking for a moment, and decided to resurrect on the spot. His level dropped from 20 to 19, but he didn't have to take off his equipment, and the attributes remained the same.

After resurrecting, Feiyu immediately chased after Yang Ye. His attributes were halved, and his speed was slow, so he had to shout, "Bro, wait, I need to talk to you!"

Yang Ye heard someone calling from behind, seemingly addressing him. He stopped and looked at the archer who had taken a long time to catch up, asking, "What's up? Want to PK?"

Feiyu rolled his eyes. With his attributes halved, how could he PK? He said angrily, "PK! PK! All you think about is PK! Have some ambition, okay? Digging for treasure is so much fun. I saw you have good skills. I want to team up with you. My skills are also good, as you saw. It's better to team up with someone you know a little bit than a complete stranger. Right? Besides, I'm not interested in equipment; I just want to dig for treasure. What do you say? Take me along?"

Yang Ye listened to his long speech, thought about it, and nodded. "Okay, but what are the conditions?"

"Conditions? What conditions?" Feiyu asked.

"The conditions for me to take you. You need to collect 10 badges. Can you do it?"

Damn, if I can't, can you? Feiyu was angry but said, "Sure, if you're so confident, help me get 5 badges. In return, I'll give you a 20th-level silver warrior shoe when we're done. How about it?"

"Deal." Yang Ye nodded and sent a friend request to Feiyu.

[System: Player War of Promises wants to add you as a friend. Additional message: None]

Feiyu gritted his teeth and accepted. War of Promises, so this guy is War of Promises. No wonder his attack is so high; he must have gotten a lot of good equipment from dungeons!

"Conditions are set. Great War of Promises, take me to get the badges," Feiyu said sarcastically.

"Follow me." Yang Ye said briefly and turned to leave with Lilina.

Feiyu followed gloomily.

At this point, 12 badges had appeared, with a maximum of 15. There were at least 20 players, and 20 people fighting for 15 badges, with the need for speed, made it quite challenging.

Yang Ye and Feiyu played hide and seek, and Feiyu was speechless but didn't say anything, just following Yang Ye.

However, what happened next shocked Feiyu and everyone else present...