The Great Thief

Nearly all the houses along the beaches were wooden.

Lu Li also owned property here. Although he couldn’t quite understand the spirit of exploration that came with these scenic views, he could at least appreciate the beauty contained within them.

“We want to build a city that people would want to travel to,” Ruling Sword’s Jia Ren suggested. “So, we’ll have to add some special features. I had a look at some real tourist cities and have prepared a fresh analysis report. You can look at it when you’re free, Boss.” He had been put in charge of construction and pointed to the street. A document was handed over after he finished speaking. There were quite a few text descriptions, most of which were for the blueprints.

“Oh, I don’t think I really get it,” Lu Li commented. He could read it, but it was clear that Lu Li couldn’t understand all of it. Jian Ren had heard a rumour that Lu Li was born into poor circumstances and had risen from the bottom. He smiled apologetically and explained, “I simply intend to turn this street into a street called Leafy Street. The advantage of being in a game is that you don’t have to worry about how the trees grow – you can just artificially adjust their life cycle. I want to exclusively plant a cherry blossom festival on this street.”

Even if Lu Li was an idiot, he could at least understand the Chief Engineer’s explanation.

However, he was more concerned about something else.

“If you do this, you will have to propose it to the System. Will it be costly?”

“Yes, the bigger the plan, the more expensive it will be,” Jia Ren said. “However, my brother has an idea. We can get some of our guild friends or property investors to invest in the project. The clause in the contract allowing us to plant a few trees in front of their houses is no big deal to them. This clause that they need to agree on when purchasing the house will support our plans for the Stronghold.”

“It would be better if you discussed this sort of thing with Wandering,” Lu Li decided.

Since it didn’t cost money, he didn’t have to worry about it. He wasn’t someone who could appreciate the aesthetic, but he looked forward to seeing the new city that Jia Ren had planned.

“I have also mentioned religious architecture in my report. You don’t have any resistance towards religious beliefs, do you?” Jia Ren asked.

“I don’t care, as long as they don’t interfere with my life,” Lu Li mumbled. He used to live near an old lady that didn’t want anyone to eat pork. Lu Li had once acquired some meat for his sister after some great difficulty, only for her to flip the plate of food onto the ground.

“Noted,” Jia Ren said, then paused and continued, “There are not a lot of construction funds left. The materials used for the city walls were a little over the budget. They were all made of fine stones, and Mercenary Groups have used this as a business opportunity.”

“Talk to Three Bro,” Lu Li said as he looked at his communicator. “Someone is looking for me. Let me deal with this.”

The name of the person looking for him was rather unique – Dawn Customer Service 316.

If Lu Li remembered correctly, players in Dawn couldn’t registered with the words ‘Dawn’ in their name, nor could they register with numbers.

Only an official account could be opened with those words and numbers. These would usually be controlled by the AI if they were testing some signing-in functions.

“Esteemed Lu Li, Dawn Customer Service 315 wants to talk to you. Please confirm,” a mechanical voice rang out from the communicator.

“I confirm.”

“Hello, I am Customer Service 315,” a human voice spoke. It seemed like they had taken over this account.

“What are you looking for?” Lu Li asked.

“Do you have a place we can meet?” the other person responded, avoiding the question.

“Come to our Grey Valley Stronghold— the new taverns are very good,” Lu Li said. Official Customer Service generally wouldn’t contact the players and it wasn’t easy to get in touch with them. Lu Li was quite curious why they took an interest in him and personally called him.

Lu Li waited in the tavern for a while, until the so-called Customer Service 316 arrived. His level wasn’t very high, and he didn’t seem to be wearing any equipment. He was just wearing work clothes which seemed out of place in such a stylish place. There were all sorts of fashion in the game, but no one was dressed like that. The gaming industry had developed to the point that Game Masters had to be clear about their identity in the game. If it was suspected that they had Game Masters hiding as normal players, the Game Company would face a lot of pressure.

However, there were all sorts of dodgy Game Companies that tried different strategies. Dawn had once been part of a scandal. Several Game Designers had used an account to play the game and had triggered a World Announcement on accident which revealed their names to everyone. The officials then had to deal with the accident and several Game Designers publicly apologized for this matter. Dawn’s Game Company’s stocks plunged, and it took a lot of effort just to settle the scandal.

“Want something to drink?” Lu Li asked.

“Thank you. A dark beer is fine,” Dawn Customer Service 316 said, then looked around and praised him, “This place is very nice, even better than the System’s Taverns. I like the vibes.”

“Everyone else had taken care of it. It has nothing to do with me. Why have you come looking for me?” Lu Li asked.

“I need your help with something,” Customer Service responded.

“Hey, don’t make fun of me. You are part of Dawn’s game company; how could I possibly help you?” Lu Li shook his head.

“Mr. Lu is now the owner of Dawn’s first Stronghold. Ruling Sword is the only club that holds two Strongholds, which is obviously a big deal in the gaming circles,” Customer Service said. He was taking a while to get to the point.

“And so?” Lu Li patiently prompted.

Generally, the players didn’t like to be contacted by the Game Company as it was usually bad news. As a professional player, Lu Li was known due to the competitions he participated in. He didn’t want the game company to interfere or do anything that would take away his sense of security. If the world was constantly being manipulated, how could anyone feel any sense of security?

“Thank you,” Customer Service continued as the beer arrived. “Well, let me be straightforward. Has Mr. Lu ever been on the forums?”

“Occasionally,” Lu Li nodded.

“Do you know what often reaches the top of the forums?” Customer Service asked with a smile.

“The number one post…” Lu Li thought about it for a while to work out what he was talking about. If his guess was correct, the post probably had something to do with him.

Due to the gaming industry flourishing, many new gaming communities emerged. One of the most popular communities was Dawn’s official forums that had emerged in the last six months. This was inevitable as the forums were officially supported, and any news was announced there first.

As for the post that topped the rankings, it was probably about the Marriage System. Unlike the ‘level effect reduction rule’ which was strictly confidential, the Marriage System that would be launched at the same was already at the forefront. Almost all players knew that the players would soon be allowed to get married. Therefore, there were often related posts on the forum filled with gossip about their favourite players pairing up.