I Can Get 1,000,000x Returns from Selling Anything!

Chapter 171 -171-The Night Belongs to Another World

"Your subject Alan greets you, my King."

Alan bowed with perfect formality.

Daniel did not bother with small talk. "Speak. What is it?"

Alan drew a deep breath.

Everything under his charge revolved around players, including those from the former World Zone No. 1213. This was the area Daniel had always watched most closely.

During this period, Alan had followed Daniel’s instructions to the letter and had already achieved considerable results.

"Following your orders, my King, more than ninety percent of the players from the former World Zone No. 1213 have now been converted into life-class professions."

"There are still a few stubborn ones left. We’ve been beating them down hard. In my judgment, before long there won’t be a single combat-class player left among them."

After hearing this, a faint smile rose at the corner of Daniel’s lips.

Turning all the former players of World Zone No. 1213 into life-class professionals had been his plan from the very beginning.

There were more than a billion of them.

Once players were allowed to grow unchecked, they became increasingly difficult to control. If they were left to develop freely underground, sooner or later they would become a serious problem.

So the simplest and most effective solution was to completely sever their ambition to walk the path of combat and force them all into life-class professions instead.

That way, they would lose all capital to make trouble.

The more than one billion players of World Zone No. 1213 would become his permanent labor force—ripe for harvesting whenever he pleased.

Daniel nodded. "What about those undead?"

Alan smiled as he replied, "My King, the undead passageway in World Zone No. 1213 is currently guarded by more than a dozen epic-grade elite regiments from the Polaris Legion. Their retreat route has been sealed completely."

He paused, then continued, "Right now, those undead have become living targets for adventurers to grind levels and farm treasures from. They can be handled however we like."

Daniel gave a mild hum in acknowledgment.

Back when the Undead Cataclysm had raged through World Zone No. 1213, Daniel had not rushed to exterminate all the undead after taking over that territory. The reason was simple: he intended to keep them alive like a crop, saving them for players to reap.

To prevent the undead from escaping back into the Undead Realm, he had stationed troops to block every avenue of retreat.

Now those undead had long since become training dummies for the players of World Zone No. 616 and the Polaris District.

Using a natural disaster as a farmable crop—there was probably not a second player in gaming history who had ever done something like that.

Daniel nodded in satisfaction. "Well done."

"Now then—how far have you gotten in gathering information on the new version?"

The moment Alan heard that, his expression changed abruptly, becoming unusually grave.

"My King, we’ve collected quite a lot of information about the new version... but all of it seems highly abnormal."

Abnormal?

Daniel frowned and gestured for him to continue.

Alan said, "Every night, mysterious sounds begin ringing in the ears of adventurers."

"Mysterious sounds? What kind of sounds?"

Daniel’s brows drew together more tightly.

After thinking for a moment, Alan explained, "Some people say they hear the calls of a bustling marketplace. Others say they hear the murmured conversations of a family sitting together. Some hear the noise of cups being raised and set down inside a tavern."

He continued, "Even stranger, some people claim they hear the clash of swords on a battlefield, or the cries of wild beasts."

There was astonishment in Alan’s voice. "And it isn’t just one or two people saying this. Nearly every adventurer can hear something unnatural."

"However, according to the information we’ve collected, none of these sounds can be heard near an Ancestral Temple or an Ancestral Statue."

Daniel let out a low sound of interest. "Oh? What’s so special about the Ancestral Temple and the Ancestral Statue?"

"They are special," Alan said with certainty.

Then he continued, "A great many adventurers have personally seen that, at night, the Ancestral Statues emit glowing figures identical to the stone statues themselves. Those figures roam around in the middle of the night carrying weapons—and those weapons are stained with blood."

"Now that is interesting."

Daniel’s eyes lit up.

The purpose of an Ancestral Statue was, in the first place, to protect the clan.

If these statues were coming alive at night and patrolling with blood on their weapons...

Did that mean they were automatically cutting down anything hostile to humankind?

The strange behavior of the Ancestral Statues, together with those mysterious sounds, was indeed thought-provoking.

Daniel asked, "Have you reached any conclusions?"

Alan hesitated briefly before answering, "We have reached one conclusion, but... it sounds rather unbelievable."

Daniel smiled. "That’s fine. Say it."

Alan spoke slowly and clearly, enunciating every word.

"We believe one of the secrets of the new version is this—the night in this world belongs to another world."

Boom—!

Daniel felt his mind tremble.

It was as though he had understood something—and yet understood nothing at all.

Strange sounds. Moving statues. The night belonging to another world?

He blinked.

Could this be one of the true faces of the new version?

At that thought, he took a deep breath.

"Excellent. You’ve done very well."

Then he added, "Keep digging into these secrets. Do not overlook a single clue."

Alan bowed respectfully. "As you command, my King."

...

As Daniel watched Alan’s retreating figure, light flickered in his eyes.

So the new version of the game was this interesting?

It had actually created an entirely second world?

Only, this world overlapped with the main world, divided by day and night.

It seemed he would have to go and investigate it personally.

With that thought, Daniel directly took out the Phantom Emporium.

At the moment, this item was of the utmost importance.

His class change quest required him to cultivate one hundred Holywing Angels.

That meant he absolutely needed sufficiently powerful players to serve as the backbone.

And the Phantom Emporium was precisely the perfect tool for allowing players to rapidly grow stronger.

What was more, the Aerial Realm was also waiting for players to mature as quickly as possible.

The Phantom Emporium before him was capable of producing tens of thousands of different phantoms. Their strength could be adjusted freely, with the maximum reaching transcendent legendary-grade, and they refreshed once every sixty minutes.

If the level of the Phantom Emporium was raised, the refresh time could be shortened.

Not only that, after being upgraded, the number of these Emporiums would increase from one to several.

Daniel directly pulled out the Phantom Emporium and checked the conditions required for upgrading it. It required sacrificing ten legendary-grade companion eggs.

Then he remembered the mountain of World War Points still in his possession.

"I’ve got more than enough World War Points left."

Daniel immediately exchanged a large batch of legendary-grade companion eggs with his points.

[ Ding! Do you wish to use legendary-grade companion eggs to upgrade the Phantom Emporium? ]

"Confirm!"

[ Ding! The Phantom Emporium has been upgraded successfully. Current level: Level 10. ]

In one breath, Daniel pushed the Phantom Emporium all the way to max level.

After reaching max level, the item could deploy ten Emporiums simultaneously, and the refresh time had been reduced from sixty minutes to once every six minutes.

Only after finishing all that did he leave the imperial palace.

He placed five Phantom Emporiums in the Polaris District and another five in World Zone No. 616, adjusting the phantoms’ level and grade to the range most comfortable for players to grind.

He also set an admission fee and restricted access so that only guild members could use them.

That way, he could lightly fleece the players for another round of profit while simultaneously allowing his guild members to level up at astonishing speed.

And once the players grew stronger in the future, the difficulty of this item could be increased again.

By the time Daniel had finished placing the Emporiums and sent out the guild-wide announcement, the sky was already growing dark.

"Perfect timing," he murmured. "Let’s see what kind of unspeakable things are hidden in the night."

...