After all, it was the outer district. The taste of the milk and bread was quite ordinary, but as someone who had bought boxed meals from the convenience store downstairs, Cheng Tingyu could easily understand Wei Xugui's choice of food.
After all, it's white bread, not whole wheat bread. No matter how bad it tastes, there's a limit.
Cheng Tingyu: "You have a deep understanding of the 'Dangerous Mask'?"
"Wei Xugu shook his head: 'Aunt actually doesn't want me to get involved in these matters, it's just... it's just that I'm curious myself.'"
Her voice was still just as hoarse, but her fluency in speaking had improved somewhat.
Cheng Tingyu lowered his eyelashes and fell into deep thought.
She remembered the experience she had at Wei Heng's residence.
After the Wei siblings posted the task, the member of "Dangerous Mask" accepted the task from the sister's side, then entered the instance to retrieve the items.
Now Cheng Tingyu already knew that dungeons could be artificially created, and some dungeon entrances could even be carried around. For this organization, was such a situation part of some common procedure?
Cheng Tingyu thought, to facilitate his movements, Wang Si's hideout wouldn't be too far from Apartment No. 6. To attract the attention of the recycling department, after his death..
"Do you think a new instance will appear near Wutong Street in a couple of days?"
Her prediction was very accurate. On Monday, three days later, a "hot" megastore unexpectedly spawned a dungeon. The surrounding residents were notified not to enter the dungeon area until it was cleared. For residents who knowingly violated this rule, the inspection team would not assume any responsibility for their rescue.
This news made Cheng Tingyu unable to hold back a sigh.
Shopping resources in the outer district, already scarce, now seemed even more strained. The neighbors were all talking about it, as just a couple of days ago, the "Hot" market was still looking for staff. Some people had been thinking of trying to get a job there, but with the appearance of a new quest, they had to put their original plans on hold.
Wutong Street, after all, was located in the outer district. The appearance of a clearly defined replica did not significantly affect the surrounding housing rental situation.
The only ones affected were the residents with shopping needs, who had to temporarily change their shopping locations.
There weren't many people walking there. Under normal circumstances, those who did were mostly players taking on tasks from the forum, employees of the "Screwdriver" insurance company responsible for after-sales service, and members of the inspection team.
However, this time the situation had changed. Perhaps it was because the inspection team had already confirmed that Wei Heng's copy was related to the "Dangerous Mask." To prevent the organization from completing its KPI, the task acceptance permissions were temporarily not open.
Faced with this, Cheng Tingyu, who wanted to investigate but was stopped in his tracks, felt somewhat melancholic and eventually contacted an unscrupulous insurance company employee.
On the other end of the phone, Shen Xingliu's attitude was no different from the last time they discussed business, making one oscillate between "With such a good attitude, there shouldn't be any pitfalls" and "No, with such a good attitude, there's probably a big pitfall."
"We do need to go to the 'Fiery' mall because some insured items are trapped inside. The company needs to send someone to retrieve them within ten days," Shen Xingliu said with a smile. "If any outsiders want to replace the 'Screwdriver' employees to enter the instance, they need to pay us a sum of money."
Cheng Tingyu sincerely said, "…Your company truly has a knack for making money."
This is practically the dream of many bosses—to carve out a new path where people pay to work, amidst low-wage and unpaid labor.
Although it is absurd, it is very capitalist.
Shen Xingliu used the persuasive tone of a seasoned salesperson and said, "Where there is demand, there is a market. This is, of course, also a kind of demand."
Cheng Tingyu habitually tapped the table lightly with his middle finger while making a phone call.
——The ability to grant others the qualification to enter the "fiery" megastore when the inspection team is indifferent, this is the "commodity" that the "Screwdriver" insurance company holds in this transaction.
In the outer district, the signal is poor. If the two parties in the conversation are not speaking for a while, a distinct static noise can be heard through the phone receiver.
Cheng Tingyu smiled, "After all, it's a seasonal product. If we miss the sales opportunity, it will inevitably end up stuck in our hands."
Her voice was both gentle and tinged with a hint of casual interest.
There is a ten-day deadline for item recovery. If by the end of this period, the "screwdriver" still hasn't managed to sell the opportunity to enter the instance, it means losing this income forever.
The voice of Shen Xingliu continued on the phone.
"Doing business inevitably comes with setbacks; it's something unavoidable."
Even though Shen Xingliu didn't speak too bluntly, Cheng Tingyu could still hear the implication in his words. "Screwdriver" was a famous big company, and of course, it didn't mind losing a bit of profit because it couldn't sell something.
Rather than lowering the price, even if it means not selling, is a more common practice for companies of this scale.
Cheng Tingyu: "Since it's a big company, don't they have any KPI requirements for their employees?"
Of course, a big company doesn't care about losing one or two deals, but what about the salesperson?
Especially since Shen Xingliu lost the stable income from Apartment No. 6 and had just botched a deal involving sealing paper.
Shen Xingliu: "When the management was setting the KPIs, they fully considered market fluctuations and the various possibilities of player ability awakenings. Bad debts are bound to occur."
Cheng Tingyu: "Someone told me not to do business with 'Screwdriver' when you're not in a position of strength. It must be a company that places a lot of emphasis on profit."
There is no leeway here, not only for the clients but also for the salespeople themselves.
Of course, the company can tolerate a salesperson's bad debts, but if there's an opportunity to improve one's KPI, why give it up for the long-term benefit of the company?
Especially if this copy cannot be sold despite efforts, the employees of "Screwdriver" will have to risk their lives and enter the copy themselves to retrieve the goods.
Shen Xingliu was silent for a moment, then smiled and said, "If you are a 'disaster bug,' you should really come work at our company."
"Alright, we can waive the entrance fee and provide you with some information. You will need to hand over the mission items you find, but you can keep the rest. As for the commission fee..."
"Normally, we would charge the substitute party in reverse, but this time, we are willing to pay half of the commission for this policy."
Cheng Tingyu: "Deal."
When she ended the call, Cheng Tingyu smiled slightly.
On the other side, Shen Xingliu's movements paused for a moment, and he muttered to himself, "It seems I've still been played."
The earlier conversation revealed a piece of information—the other party implicitly acknowledged that if they didn't sell it to her, it would end up stuck with them, which also meant that no one else had come to inquire about the price.
The junior beside him was curious: "It's one thing not to charge, but why give her half of the improvement?"
Shen Xingliu replied, "For potential clients with a commission value exceeding a single order, don't worry about the initial freebies."
Cheng Tingyu leaned back in his chair after hanging up the phone.
After the inspection team showed signs of vigilance, the "Dangerous Mask," hiding who knows where, did not attempt to enter the instance through the screwdriver, but instead displayed a certain intent to lie low.
Perhaps the appearance of that copy was just a coincidence, or maybe the "Dangerous Mask" was preparing to abandon the item recovery work to reduce the risk of exposure.
For an organization that must conceal its presence, this choice is quite normal.
However, from the standpoint of the inspection team, if they intended to follow the clues, they would definitely have to pretend to know nothing, relax their surveillance of the marketplace, and then seize the opportunity to catch them.
The current choice of the inspection team reveals a sense of intimidation far greater than a determination to get to the bottom of things.
Cheng Tingyu pondered silently, then sealed the unanswered question and placed it into a small box in his mind. It would remain there until the day he found the key to unlock it.
After the "fiery" hypermarket became a restricted area, the number of people in this area decreased.
Cheng Tingyu picked up a flyer from the mall to look at. The pictures printed on it depicted a bustling scene that didn't quite match reality. Employees from different stores were all dressed in neat uniforms and name tags, smiling warmly as they welcomed customers.
If she had known there would be a duplicate, she would have meticulously gone through this store inside and out at least three times when she first bought daily necessities.
The "Fiery" marketplace is shaped like a square with a hollow center, consisting of three floors. There are no elevators, and movement between floors relies on two sets of stairs in the middle. There used to be emergency exits on the sides, but they have been blocked off for a long time, clearly failing to meet fire safety standards.
The top floor no longer had any stores, and the shops still in business were mainly concentrated on the first and second floors, primarily clothing and daily necessities stores. The quality and prices of the electronics inside had a certain randomness to them, making Cheng Tingyu very grateful that his ability was "appraiser." Otherwise, it would be easy to spend ten times the price to buy a bunch of old, not very attractive, and even less useful electronics to take home.
"The Screwdriver" over there, Shen Xingliu, whether he had come to his senses or not, as a person who valued credibility and loved working on long-term projects, he faithfully sent over the relevant information.
On the seven days of the week, Monday has the least customer traffic. The employees at the "Fiery" megastore also lack the determination to expand their business. In the end, many shop owners choose to give their staff a day off on Mondays.
At the time of its birth, there weren't many people in the store, and no one who had purchased emergency rescue insurance was present.
With the temporary position at the "Screwdriver" insurance company, Cheng Tingyu needed to retrieve the antique gloves of the policyholder from the "Little Tailor" clothing store on the second floor. Theoretically, this item should be very valuable, as judging by Shen Xingliu's attitude, the policyholder had likely purchased an expensive insurance policy for the gloves.
As for the inspection team, they did send a specialist to the "Fiery" marketplace to check the situation, but they couldn't gather much information.
Because those commissioners were blocked at the entrance of the marketplace.
Before departing, Shen Xingliu gave Cheng Tingyu an additional piece of information.
"Although the company hasn't reached a conclusion yet, I have a personal guess that you can use as a reference.
"'Fiery' marketplace dungeons are formed through a very complex internal power structure, primarily involving realms, though the likelihood of distortion is extremely high."
The day of the agreed departure.
Wei Xuguang didn't really understand why Cheng Tingyu was investigating the "Dangerous Mask" information with him. When they reached the entrance of the "Fiery" marketplace, he asked her, "Are you really not going back?"
Faced with his companion's confusion, Cheng Tingyu was also quite helpless.
She could barely restrain her interest in courting death, but her current amnesia convinced Cheng Tingyu—how could she know if the "Dangerous Mask" had anything to do with her previous self without seeing it for herself? She had to take the risk to fulfill her own expectations.
Cheng Tingyu: "There are so few shopping malls in the outer district. Since we're here, it would be a shame not to go in and take a look." He waved the mall flyer in his hand and said seriously, "Besides, I checked, today is discount day."
"..."
Wei Xuguang found Cheng Tingyu quite special. Every time she started to think he was rather reliable, Cheng Tingyu would take action to correct this perception.
If she knew what Wei Xuguang was thinking at this moment, Cheng Tingyu would certainly feel a bit emotional. She was originally just an ordinary recent graduate busy looking for a job, but now that her sanity value had dropped significantly, she had become much more cheerful..
The marketplace, now a replica, looked no different from usual from the front. The main entrance was made of common glass material, without even a chain hanging on it. Through the door, one could still see the appearance of the shops inside.
All the observable scenes appeared completely normal, with no signs of a copy.
Cheng Tingyu observed for a moment and said, "The oil sheen on the fried chicken legs in the first-floor food store looks normal, but it's been three days since the copy was created. Unless the chef is still working, fresh food is bound to change."
"So there is a certain problem with the scene before us. Either the time in the store is frozen, or what we are seeing is not the real situation inside, but a picture of the scene stripped of its people."