Chapter 75

"Why are you both online at this time?" When he logged in and saw that Taohuayan and Kantu were both online, Qingdaofu asked with some surprise.

"Since I'm on leave, I naturally have to take a few more days. The holiday hasn't ended yet, so I'm naturally playing the game," Taohuayan said with a smile, and Kantu also grinned, nodding at Qingdaofu.

"I forgot to log out, Trigger, check if this mech can still be repaired." Qingdaofu took the Wolfman mech out of the mech space. Seeing the battered and unrecognizable mech, both Kantu and Taohuayan's eyes flashed with a hint of emotion.

"The energy furnace and power system are not damaged. Just replace the wiring and the damaged parts," Kantu said after carefully inspecting the mech next to Qingdaofu. However, seeing the state of the Wolfman mech, Trigger was also quite surprised. Although he hadn't experienced that battle firsthand, the mech was almost falling apart, indicating the intensity of the fight.

"It's good that it can be repaired. This mech has a powerful move that's really enjoyable to use. It would be a pity if it couldn't be repaired," Qingdaofu sighed in relief. The Wolfman mech had been very handy over the past few days, and it would indeed be a shame if it couldn't be repaired.

"Captain, how many merit points do you have?" Taohuayan asked.

"500 from completing the main quest, and 2200 from this mission, totaling 2700. What's the matter?" In this decapitation mission, each kill of a minor enemy earned some merit points. The biggest contribution came from the decapitation target, Fly, who was worth 3000 merit points, which was split among the three of them. After that, Qingdaofu cleared the last dense point and killed a few officers, which added to the merit points.

"Hehe, I got a blueprint. Maybe we can play with real estate," Taohuayan said with a sly smile.

"Real estate?" Qingdaofu was taken aback and walked over. Then Taohuayan passed him the blueprint. When Qingdaofu opened it, his eyes lit up: "This is the blueprint for the Hope Safety Base reconstruction?"

Hope City, though a city, was a dilapidated one, with ruins everywhere. It was only slightly better than the war ruins outside, with more people. Other than that, it was almost the same. When he first entered Hope City, the task list included a city-building task, but it was not open to the public. The city-building task was also dim, and Taohuayan's sudden appearance of the blueprint made Qingdaofu think of something.

"That... I felt the decapitation mission was too difficult for players to complete. If the system really set it up like this, it would definitely be criticized by players, so I went to check. I took this blueprint by chance. It's still classified, but the city-building task seems to be about to start," Taohuayan said, rubbing his hands a bit awkwardly but with a proud look on his face. Not just anyone could enter the high-end intelligent defense game database, let alone come out unscathed.

"Captain, I'm sorry." At this moment, Kantu, standing beside him, suddenly apologized, looking very remorseful.

"What's wrong?" Qingdaofu was puzzled.

"Check the decapitation mission settings, and you'll know what's wrong. The system is really a bit unfair," Taohuayan passed a document to Qingdaofu.

After reading the document, Qingdaofu's expression became a bit strange. The document was simple, but the key point was one sentence: the firepower of the decapitation target is one level higher than the player. This meant that if the player went on the mission unarmed, the enemy would have a kitchen knife at most. If the player went with a pistol, the enemy would have a submachine gun.

This setting was indeed a bit unfair. Anyone doing such an unfamiliar mission for the first time would wear their best equipment to ensure success. By doing so, they also equipped the enemy. And Qingdaofu was particularly unlucky this time.

Among the three, Kantu had used money to arm himself to the maximum level that players could reach. As a result, the enemy not only had attack helicopters but also machine guns and artillery, making Qingdaofu's situation very difficult. Knowing that such firepower was only for Kantu, Qingdaofu had to fight with a significant disadvantage while also protecting Kantu and Taohuayan. Surviving and completing the mission was nothing short of a miracle.

So, after learning this hidden setting, Kantu was almost overwhelmed with regret. If he hadn't spent so many points on high-end weapons, the mission would have been much easier with Qingdaofu. Qingdaofu wouldn't have been chased by the attack helicopter like a rabbit.

"Forget it, no one knew the system had this hidden setting," Qingdaofu patted Kantu's shoulder. Although he was indeed tricked this time, it wasn't Kantu's fault. After all, Kantu spent a lot of money to complete the mission, which was a good intention. It was just that the system had tricked them, and Qingdaofu had to bear the consequences.

"Let's talk about this blueprint," Taohuayan interjected, shifting the focus to avoid making Kantu feel awkward.

"What do you plan to do?" Qingdaofu glanced at the blueprint. Although it only showed the main roads, it already gave a sense of a large city. With this blueprint, it was like having a treasure trove.

"Buy land. According to this blueprint, we should buy several plots of land here and here. The current safety base is still a wasteland, and the land is very cheap. These areas will be prime locations after the city is built, and they will undoubtedly be a treasure trove. But there's a problem."

"What problem?"

"Buying land requires a lot of points. Even though most of the safety base is still a wasteland, the land is not cheap. The money we got from selling the mech data isn't enough to make a dent. The bigger problem is the merit points. Buying land doesn't require merit points, but the usage time is tied to merit points. According to the blueprint, even if all players work together to build the planned area, it will take at least half a year. The merit points required for half a year of land usage is astronomical."

"How much?"

"Buying land gives players one month of usage. After that, they need to pay merit points based on the size of the land. If we buy all the selected plots, we need to pay for five months, which is about 100,000 merit points. This is based on the current land prices. As the city develops, the land we buy will become prime locations, and the land prices will rise, which will also increase the merit points required. The exact amount is unknown, but it will definitely be astronomical. Without merit points, even with this blueprint, we can't speculate on the land," Taohuayan said helplessly.

At this moment, Taohuayan was indeed frustrated. It was like seeing a gold mine but being unable to mine it, lacking both the workers and the funds. Besides, he couldn't reveal the existence of the gold mine.

The origin of Taohuayan's blueprint had to be kept secret, or it would cause trouble. Without the blueprint, no one would believe the land could be sold at a high price, and no one would pay for this information. So, seeing the gold mine but being unable to mine it, and even watching it slip away, was undoubtedly a very frustrating thing.

"Besides the tedious tasks, only the two current dungeons can provide a large amount of merit points. Even if we kill all the enemies in one dungeon, we only get about 5000 merit points. Two dungeons give 10,000 merit points. Even if the land prices don't rise, we need to clear these dungeons ten times. The dungeons can only be cleared every three days, and we need to clear them for a month. We don't have that much time to keep clearing dungeons," Qingdaofu shook his head, feeling the task was too daunting and almost impossible.

"Moreover, the higher the enemy's firepower, the more merit points you get. According to Kantu's configuration, killing Fly was worth 3000 merit points. If the firepower was lower, the entire dungeon's merit points would decrease. Merit points are another way the game's AI controls the economy," Taohuayan said, extremely frustrated.

"Shouldn't there be another solution?" Qingdaofu looked at Taohuayan and asked. If there was no solution, Taohuayan wouldn't have chosen so many plots and set an impossible task. Since he chose so many, there must be another way.

"Hehe, you know me well, Qingdaofu. There's another hidden setting for merit points: they can be traded like points. However, traded merit points can only be used for business, not for rank advancement. And because there's no planning yet, a plot of land like this, which is ten acres, can be bought for one year of usage with 10,000 merit points.

We should take this plot first. According to my prediction, since it's a city-building task, the system will release some city-building tasks with merit points. We can buy merit points from other players and get some ourselves. We can buy on installment or buy outright, but we must survive the first half year. However, we must act quickly. Even if the blueprint doesn't leak, some astute merchants will still notice and compete with us."

Thank you to Liuli Feng, Mojie Xuehu, Chidan's instruction, and Tuiyida Xia for your support.

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