Chapter 157 The Alluring Arena

The arena's appeal as a "main city" spread by word of mouth among players, attracting even more newcomers and bringing in a huge influx of people and new customers. This was the real benefit Han Xiao desired.

In fact, Grand Technician Han had many more ideas, such as officially opening a betting pool with odds, and setting up an arena points system similar to the customized PK ranks or ladders in "Sky Island and the Maiden." Both could attract players, but after thinking about it, he gave up. These things were difficult to manage and belonged to the official game settings to be authoritative. If he, an NPC, were to do it, he felt there would be some hidden dangers and negative impacts.

Most importantly, if this "official" were to give out rewards, those ubiquitous studios and actors could bankrupt him! Grand Technician Han would never fall for that, after all, his previous life's business included this…

Although he fleeced the players for wool, strictly speaking, it was mutually beneficial and each got what they needed. Standing in a neutral position and simply providing a venue with official fairness, allowing the players to do their own thing, was the most comfortable and safe position for Han Xiao. It could also be explained as "guiding the Heteromorphs to properly vent their excess energy."

Once the main city's position was stable and it processed a large flow of players every day, the next step in Han Xiao's blueprint was the evil real estate business!

As the person in charge, in addition to the shelters for the refugees, all the other vacant land in the shelter waiting to be built were his treasure trove!

Suckers… er, big customers, of course, would be those large guilds willing to buy property.

"Alas, business…"

Looking at the crowds of people surging in the square, Han Xiao stroked his chin and sighed inwardly.

…

Huang Yu was convinced.

He originally thought the arena was a waste of resources, but after observing it for more than ten days, he gradually discovered the potential benefits. Huang Yu didn't understand Han Xiao's grand long-term strategy, nor did he understand the nature of the players, but when he was making the turnover report, he found that the fees the arena charged the Heteromorphs far exceeded the maintenance costs. In the long run, the costs could be recovered sooner or later, and after that, it would be pure profit. And that was just one of the benefits.

Heteromorphs were the main force in building the shelter, but their movements were strange and difficult to manage. Huang Yu was not too willing for Heteromorphs to have too much contact with the refugees, so he divided the Heteromorphs' activity area. However, the Heteromorphs still went to the refugees every few days, although the starting point was to help (do quests), it also caused Huang Yu's management to fail. After the arena was built, the Heteromorphs voluntarily turned the arena into an activity center, and the square and the arena automatically became the "Heteromorph community," saving him the effort of management, and the entire shelter was much more orderly.

At this time, Huang Yu was in the office, eagerly flattering Han Xiao, praising Grand Technician Han's brilliance and foresight. All kinds of nauseating words popped out of his opening and closing lips, jumped into Han Xiao's ears, and made his whole body break out in goosebumps.

After finally getting rid of Huang Yu, Han Xiao continued to think about the next plan for the players' main city. The role of the arena was more reflected in the future, and he was not satisfied with that.

"Cultivating the main city's attractiveness, the arena is one factor, and another way is to conduct some regular activities… In addition to the special activities of the official game festivals, if I want to attract players to do activities, I have to let them see tangible benefits…"

Han Xiao tapped his fingers on the table, pondered for a long time, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and an idea came to his mind.

The moon set and the sun rose. In the early morning of the Goust Wastelands, dust and sand mixed with fog, giving people a humid and rough feeling, which was very uncomfortable. However, the surroundings of the shelter were very clean and refreshing. This hazy dust fog was excluded. The shelter was roughly formed and equipped with super-large air filters. The shelter focused on preventing radiation pollution and ensuring air quality.

Players were adding bricks and tiles to the shelter. On the steel bars of the protective wall, a group of players were welding, and sparks were flying everywhere. This work was dangerous and boring. The players were standing on the steel bars, swaying.

"Be careful not to fall." As soon as one person finished speaking, the person next to him slipped, and everyone's eyes silently followed his figure as he fell, the long "ah~" sound stretched longer and longer.

The protective wall was towering, and it was the most dangerous of all construction tasks. Players occasionally fell and died accidentally.

"I told you to be careful."

On another steel bar, a player with the ID LonelyButt said unhappily, "Damn it, the safe, simple, and rewarding construction tasks have all been divided up by those big guilds, and we ordinary players can only do tasks with low cost performance."

Wherever there are people, there is the martial world. There are many types of shelter construction tasks. The simple and rewarding ones were taken over by the guilds, and most solo players could only be assigned the remaining tasks. Most players were just casual and didn't care about it, but some players took it seriously.

LonelyButt was still upset, chattering, “…Those big guilds monopolize the resources. They are rich and powerful, and we lose from the start. How can we fight in the future?"

Someone next to him laughed: "It's just a game, don't take it so seriously."

"Playing a game is about being the strongest and the best, otherwise what's the point of playing?" LonelyButt retorted, and disdainfully said: "So you are all salted fish, you have no dreams at all."

"If you envy them so much, why don't you join a guild?"

"Hmph, only the weak join groups. Being a loner is the style of a strong person."

LonelyButt looked disdainful. He would never tell the painful experience of being rejected when he applied to join a certain guild.

Everyone was high up, and suddenly discovered that on the shelter's square, players the size of ants were gathering into circles of people. This was a characteristic phenomenon when Han Xiao appeared. Other players' broadcast messages suddenly appeared in the area channel, apparently Black Phantom had a new function, calling friends and inviting companions. The people repairing the protective wall hurriedly put down their work and ran down the wall. Some impatient people jumped down directly to save time, and smacked to death, respawning directly in the square to avoid spending time on the road.

LonelyButt ran to the square, which was already surrounded by a crowd. Han Xiao was standing in a corner of the square, behind him was a large truck. LonelyButt, like the other players, stretched his neck and looked curiously.

Looking at the bustling crowd, Han Xiao coughed a few times and said loudly: "Recently, my warehouse has accumulated a lot of goods that need to be processed, and they have all been packed… If anyone wants to buy them, they can be sold at a low price."

The players in the square looked at each other.

Packed, what does that mean? Don't quite understand.

Since they are accumulated goods, do you still need to buy them?

"I want ten." Blue Sky immediately said.

Based on the idea that anything produced by Black Phantom must be a high-quality product, he was willing to be the first to try. No matter what new function it was, he would know after messing with it.

"Three thousand Aquamarine coins for one box."

"So expensive?!" Blue Sky was shocked, but he gritted his teeth and bought them, spending all the money he had. Although he was the president, he couldn't just carry the guild's funds with him, these were all his personal assets.

After taking the money, Han Xiao moved ten boxes from the truck. Blue Sky opened nine in a row, and his face immediately turned black. All that was in the boxes were some broken parts and cheap mechanical raw materials. The players next to him shook their heads when they saw this.

"What do you call these goods? It's more like accumulated garbage. I wouldn't even want these odds and ends if you gave them to me, they would just take up space."

"Only an idiot would buy this kind of thing, right?"

Hearing this, Blue Sky turned around and glared fiercely, and opened the last box in depression, not expecting anything. However, as soon as the box was opened, Blue Sky's casual eyes suddenly froze, and he stared blankly at the things in the box.

A folding battle blade was lying quietly in the box.

In his field of vision, the name of the battle blade was actually purple!

This was a purple equipment!

When everyone saw his expression, they became curious and stood on tiptoe. After seeing clearly, they all gasped.

Exclamations, like ripples, spread outwards one after another.

Up to now, players have not seen purple equipment, this is the first one displayed in front of the players!

Blue Sky opened his mouth wide, looking at the ten boxes in front of him, and suddenly felt a sense of familiarity, and immediately reacted.

"Wait! This gameplay… isn't it just opening boxes?!"

ps: (Went to a birthday party today, only one update for now, please take a short break… When I think that I still have to update normally tomorrow, my heart, lungs, liver, and patellae hurt so much…)