The Great Thief

Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

Because the two parties had refused without hesitation, the negotiations didn’t go for too long. The people present were able to quickly watch the two videos.

“I found the problem. You took the wrong angle to convince them,” the supervisor said as he knocked his knuckles on the table. “These two players obviously don’t care about popularity. Water Fairy and Lu Li’s popularity are already high enough. There is no other female player comparable to her. As for Lu Li, if you considered the number of commercial endorsements that he has accepted, he is also already quite popular.”

Neither of them needed more popularity!

Lu Li was still sitting in the newly built tavern after Customer Service had left. There was a big screen on the wall, and a movie was being played.

There was a pair of special glasses under the table. If you put them on, you could enter the movie. It was an immersive experience that allowed you participate in the movie, but you couldn’t change the story or the result.

This was one of the tavern’s newest features which was only available through Ruling Sword’s Stronghold. This was one of the reasons why Lu Li had paid so many gold coins. In fact, Ruling Sword had invested a huge amount of gold coins into the development of the Stronghold. Almost all the money they had earned was invested. This level of spending even shocked Water Fairy.

However, Lu Li wasn’t wearing the glasses. He thought they looked a little dumb. When Water Fairy arrived, the movie was playing a very cool scene. It was a group of people who had been bitten by spiders and were howling like beasts. Their bodies began to distort: their legs became slim, their feet vanished, their arms became slender, and their hands turned into claws that were sharp enough to cut into flesh. Their clothes ripped apart as their ribs began to crack open and blood and water flowed onto the ground. Their ribs then twisted open and became claw-like, just like the claws on their limbs. This scene didn’t stop the people in the tavern from enjoying the food and wine. At the same time, their faces elongated and twisted. Their eyes split again and again; this scene was particularly disgusting. Lu Li recalled that the style of this tavern was supposed to be quite hardcore.

Unfortunately, it was too late to change locations. Water Fairy almost witnessed the entire deformation process on the big screen.

“The style of this tavern is a bit strange. I randomly chose it, but I didn’t expect it to be so hardcore,” Lu Li explained. If it was someone else like Customer Service 316, Lu Li probably wouldn’t have bothered explaining.

“This is fine. I’ve seen this movie before; its pretty good,” Water Fairy commented while looking at him. Perhaps this girl just couldn’t be compared to the average girl. Lu Li immediately asked, “Did Customer Service come looking for you?”

“Yep, just before you sent the message, they asked me about the couple system,” Water Fairy said. She looked at Lu Li’s expression and knew that he had also been questioned. However, she didn’t know how Lu Li responded to the Customer Service’s suggestion.

If he accepted, it would be very unlike him. However, if he declined, then Water Fairy obviously would be a little unhappy. If Lu Li heard about an opportunity to have a relationship with her, and instantly rejected it, she would have mixed emotions because she knew it wasn’t because of her. Even if he didn’t reject it, it wouldn’t matter because she already had.

However, her refusal was not because she disliked Lu Li, but simply because she wasn’t interested in the chance to be gain even more popular.

“I refused too; it didn’t make much sense to me,” Lu Li answered as he observed Water Fairy’s expression. He couldn’t figure what she was thinking. He continued explaining, “I am not a person who likes doing something just for the fun of it. The only useful thing about the Couple System is that couples can access each other easily. However, the pocket watches that we have are even better.”

“Yeah, I think so too,” Water Fairy said with a smile. “The officials are so stingy as well; they tried to get us to do something for free.”

“What if there are some other benefits?” Lu Li asked.

“That depends on who makes the offer,” Water Fairy replied.

“What if they promise something beneficial?” Lu Li felt his resolve wavering. If Water Fairy wasn’t involved and an official offered something valuable, there was a real chance he would accept it.

“Then they would have to follow through with the promise. Why do you ask? What kind of benefits are you looking for?” Water Fairy smiled at Lu Li.

She knew that this guy wasn’t necessarily a good person, but Water Fairy, who had been in business since childhood, didn’t mind this kind of thinking. On the contrary, if Lu Li was too innocent, she would be very uncomfortable.

“I probably don’t need anything weapon related – our current weapons are pretty good. I’ve almost used up the Darkmoon Card so another one of them would be good, or maybe even a whole set of them. Enhanced Skill Books would be good too…” Lu Li licked his lips and started passionately listing all the things he wanted.

They weren’t that different from anyone else. The discussion revealed their inner thoughts and revealed they weren’t completely against the couple system.

Customer Service 316 logged in again and appeared in front of Lu Li and Water Fairy.

“Oh, the two of you are here. That’s good,” Customer Service 316 said. His tone seemed to imply that he would soon get their cooperation because he knew their inner desires.

“Yes, hello,” Lu Li nodded, and Water Fairy greeted the Customer Service member.

The Customer Service account was very special. Normal player accounts were bound to the single person, but the Customer Service account had no such restriction, so you didn’t know who was using it.

Customer Service 316 began, “My last name is Yu, and I am the head of the couple system project team. The previous two were my employees.”

It was the supervisor that had logged in this time. After watching the videos of his two subordinates, he had personally entered the game. The fact that he was working as a supervisor meant that his work experience and qualifications were obviously higher.

Lu Li had gained a lot of information from this encounter. Since the supervisor had personally appeared, it must mean that the officials placed great importance on the couple system.

Mr. Yu had personally taken charge of the couple system. There were plenty of competitors waiting for his project to fail. So, he had personally met with Lu Li and Water Fairy to give them a sense that this offer had come from the higher ups.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Yu. I think we have made our response very clear,” Lu Li said bluntly.

Water Fairy quietly gave him a look of encouragement. He was acting very well to set good conditions before an offer was made. If they let them know that they weren’t interested, it would result in more benefits for them.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” the supervisor shook his head.

“Oh, and why do you think that we will agree? To gain the name of the first couple? Or the transfer ring between couples?” Lu Li asked.

“The couple ring is a pretty good item. Not only can you use it to summon another player, but it can also regenerate fatigue,” the supervisor explained. “When you’re fatigued, HP and Mana regeneration slows…”

“Please, have a look at this item,” Lu Li interrupted as he took out his pocket watch.

He was quite impressed with the Game Company. They had promised not to interfere with the players and had followed through. They didn’t even look through his backpack, otherwise, they wouldn’t have offered him the transfer ring. The pocket watches that Lu Li and Water Fairy had were much better.

“This…”

The supervisor was dumbfounded. He felt like an idiot.

After a pause, he said, “Alright then, let’s just get down to business. What do you want?”

From the two videos, the supervisor could see that the two weren’t interested in being the official OTP, but they didn’t hate the system. Since they didn’t hate it, there was still a hope of persuading them. The key to convincing these two was to find out what they wanted.

To ensure success in anything, there needed to be the right preparations. The Game Company had given this supervisor some permissions to facilitate this project, but he couldn’t just recklessly use his powers. He had to achieve project goals with minimal cost.

Unfortunately, the couple before the supervisor were not fools. If he tried to fool them again, it would appear insincere to them and would just irritate them. As such, the supervisor simply allowed them to name their price.

“I want to fly.”

Water Fairy was first to speak. She had seen Lu Li and Hachi Chan do it and had obviously been envious of it.

There were few players that could fly, and many were in Ruling Sword.

“I can’t directly give you the ability to fly, because everything is monitored by the AI. If I give out an excessive reward, the Game Industry Monitoring Centre will find out about it,” the supervisor said, then thought for a while before continuing, “But I can give you information on how you can achieve flight.”

The first request had been rejected, which was not a good start to the negotiations. Water Fairy’s request wasn’t even that valuable. There were several other people who could fly already. Even if Water Fairy learned how to, it wouldn’t greatly affect game balance.

“If you can’t give a Skill Book, then I want to know how my ring can be upgraded to the next level,” Lu Li said, showing the supervisor his Supreme Ring. The current Supreme Ring was still pretty good. When compared to the other top rings, there wasn’t a large gap in power level.

The supervisor looked at Lu Li’s ring and almost exclaimed out loud because he knew this item. He and the head of design were good friends, so he knew all about the process through which this ring was designed. When someone excitedly received a legendary item, it was likely that such an item would have effects more powerful than the player itself. In other words, this ring was basically really powerful.

However, as soon as he began to wonder how Lu Li managed to get the Supreme Ring to the fourth level, he realized that this was how Lu Li managed to rise up in the game so quickly. It had only been six months, but he had already upgraded it to the fourth level.

Although this ring was really powerful, it wasn’t overpowered. With Lu Li’s currently level of strength, he would obviously want to upgrade it if he could.

“Can this ring not be upgraded anymore?” Lu Li asked.

He had asked this question quite skilfully. He didn’t ask the other party if he could give him any clues, but whether the ring could still be upgraded.

“Of course, it can still be upgraded,” the supervisor answered, not noticing the trap set by Lu Li, then snorted before saying, “However, I will have to apply for something like this. You will have to wait a little, but I don’t think it will be a problem.”