A huge thanks to Green KiTea for the Kofis. Enjoy the bonus chapters!

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【Seed money? What do you mean?】 

Jian Xingyi directly uploaded the document he had prepared. 

One of the guild’s features is allowing players to register as members. Currently, the guild’s level is low, so there’s a limit of 10 permanent members and officers, but there’s no limit on temporary members. 

If players register as temporary members, they can list and purchase items, as well as pledge their “assets.” This pledge is merely a more convenient way to make one-click payments or receive advances, but Jian Xingyi came up with an idea: to use this pledge feature to create a points system. 

If players pledge a certain amount of assets, they can earn higher points. Once these points reach a certain level, they can be exchanged for rice seeds. 

In other words, to obtain rice, players would pledge more assets. Jian Xingyi could collect a small amount of interest from this to keep the guild running and establish trade posts. While this interest might seem insignificant to individual players, it would add up over time for the guild. 

These assets also become “real estate” under Jian Xingyi’s name and can be counted toward the 5 billion required by the alliance.

In this way, the rice is both priceless yet affordable to everyone, and since the supply is limited, it won’t undermine the value of other foods. 

Of course, if everyone is willing to pledge their assets, the guild can generate interest and receive rewards from upgrades, so Jian Xingyi isn’t too worried about other foods going unsold. 

This is a good plan, but the only concern is… 

Xinghe: 【The only issue with this plan is that it tests everyone’s trust in the guild officers and me—whether it’s worth registering their assets under my name and placing them under the guild’s protection. After all, some might worry that I’ll swindle their money and resources. But then again, we guild officers have Grapevine Peak, and it really is freezing up there. With you all here, it should be fine, right…?】 

Bai Jie: 【??? Did you misunderstand something?】 

Le Ke: 【+1+1 Isn’t there a chance that we might actually be a burden to you!! Your ID is the biggest guarantee here!!】 

Wu Yun: 【+1】 

Jian Xingyi: “?” 

Really? 

But in the end, everyone was just joking around—the list of officers still had to be posted. After Jian Xingyi announced it, another wave of excitement swept through the public chat. 

【Wait, isn’t this just a bank? Our Big Shot Xinghe started a guild, and now he’s heading in the direction of a bank?!】 

【But this is way more reasonable than a bank—low interest rates, and you even get rice as collateral! Oh my god, this rice is insane—it’s a total lifesaver!】 

【It feels like this opens up an opportunity for us to pitch in. After all, the guild details mentioned that establishing trade posts requires a massive amount of dawn coins—we can’t let Big Shot Xinghe shoulder this alone!】 

【That’s right! Trade posts have now been set up at Peace Mountain, Volcano, Flag Mountain, and Snow Mountain—Xinghe really delivers on his promises!】 

Peace Mountain has gotten pretty lively lately, with more and more people flocking there for refuge—the population is booming. 

Yet, despite this, no major disturbances have occurred. The reason is simple: no player dares to cause trouble on Grapevine Peak—and now, with the addition of the Long Live for A Hundred Years. 

They can’t win a fight, and it would cut off their own supply lines—people aren’t that stupid.

After Jian Xingyi announced the rice-related updates and listed the rice seeds for sale, the guild’s assets began to rise and rise, reaching several hundred million in an instant. 

Jian Xingyi was somewhat surprised; he hadn’t expected everyone to be willing to entrust their assets to him. If he had ill intentions, he could indeed find a way to seize everyone’s resources. 

Now that he effectively controlled everyone’s resources, Jian Xingyi swallowed hard. 

He wondered if this would count toward the Great Merchant System. If it did, he could level up. 

【Ding!】 

【Congratulations to player 【Xinghe】 for earning over 3 billion in the marketplace. Merchant Level has been upgraded to 6. Please open the Grand Merchant page to claim your rewards!】 

“……” 

“……?!” 

It actually works?? 

This… 

It came out of the blue, but it’s a good thing! 

Jian Xingyi’s mood brightened even more, and he happily opened the Grand Merchant system for the first time in a while. First up were the usual level-up rewards. 

【Player 【Xinghe】 has reached Merchant Level 6. After assessing the player’s current resources, the system rewards 20 Grade A farmlands and 5 Grade B livestock zones.】 Wow! 

The rewards for farmland and livestock zones were several times more than before! After claiming them, Jian Xingyi felt light as a feather. 

Sure enough, whether in real life or in a game, the happiest moments are when you’re claiming rewards. 

After claiming the livestock zones, Jian Xingyi expanded all of them to 5—except for the loach zone, which takes up a lot of space but produces meat just like the others. He also expanded his fish ponds and snake nests to 2 each, just in case, since those two are Grade A products. 

After finishing all this, Jian Xingyi opened the in-game store. The first items he saw were some tools he had seen before… 【Excavator: Sir! Times have changed! Who still digs shovel by shovel? Let the machine show off the spirit of the new era!】

【Remaining Stock: 10】 

【500,000 dawn coins】 

【Chainsaw: Sir! Times have changed! Who’s still using an axe? Let the chainsaw show off the spirit of the new era!】 

【Remaining Stock: 10】 

【500,000 dawn coins】 

The excavator and chainsaw appeared in the previous Level 4 Shop, but back then, there were only two in stock. Jian Xingyi bought both and used them during the zombie horde—they were incredibly helpful, and he still regrets that there were only two. 

And now, here come 10 of them at once! 

But since they’re a bit pricey, Jian Xingyi decided to hold off on buying them for now and kept scrolling. 

【Magic Growth Potion: Grow instantly!】 

【Remaining Stock: 5】 

【Time until next refresh: 7 days】 

【30,000 dawn coins】 

Huh? 

There used to be magic synthesis potions and various functional liquids, and now there’s a new update. Upon opening it, he discovered it was a magic potion that could make animals grow rapidly. 

Jian Xingyi was very pleased. Combined with the Magic Acceleration Potion, both his crops and animals could be accelerated—this served as a safety net, and he’d stockpiled quite a few in his backpack. 

Next up… 

【First Aid Kit】 

【Remaining Stock: 1】 

【1,000,000 dawn coins】 

Huh?

What is this? 

Jian Xingyi clicked on the details and was completely stunned. 

This first-aid kit was like a treasure trove; when opened, it contained quite a few medicinal recipes. 

In other words, after purchasing this first-aid kit, Jian Xingyi’s synthesis station gained new recipes, allowing him to craft potions! For example… 

【Ingredients Required for Wound Medicine】 Salt: Disinfectant 

Sea God Flower: Purification 

Medicines obtained from the shop or on the map cannot be stacked, but this one can. Jian Xingyi could already foresee how popular it would be once listed. 

【Ingredients Required for Infection-Delaying 

Potion】 

Snake Gall: Fight poison with poison 

Fish Eye: An Eye for an Eye 

It can delay the onset of infection after being attacked by infected creatures or zombies… This is just too amazing! It essentially buys players more time! 

Jian Xingyi felt a surge of relief. Thank goodness he had the habit of collecting things everywhere, even though the uses for most of the materials hadn’t been revealed yet. It was like that with the snow lotus, vines, and green vines before, and most of the materials this time were the same. 

He never imagined the Sea God Flower was meant for this very moment. He never imagined that salt, besides making food taste better, had such an effect. And he certainly never imagined that the A-rank snake and fish he’d been raising for so long—wondering what use they could possibly have—were so valuable precisely because of this! 

The fish meat was edible, but what elevated it to A-grade status was undoubtedly its medicinal properties—and the same went for the snake. Jian Xingyi was overjoyed; he could synthesize these two medicines directly! 

Now that the Guild Store had rice available through the points system, injury-healing potions for 10,000 dawn coins, and infection-delaying potions for 100,000 dawn coins as permanent stock, their product lineup was already quite sufficient. 

Jian Xingyi continued reading. The last medicine was… 

…Cure Infection?

Jian Xingyi：“?” 

What kind of cheat is this?! 

Is this a victory for the player-run economy?! Can he really craft medicines that delay and cure 

infections?! The crafting station is his eternal god, aaaah! 

The only way to treat infections in this game is with the Red Spider Lily, but it’s way too precious. Earlier, at Grapevine Peak, there was only one, which is why they were forced to give up one of their members. 

If he could synthesize a cure for the infection, then… maybe zombies and the infection wouldn’t be so terrifying after all! Jian Xingyi’s heart was racing, and he felt the blood in his veins grow hot. 

But after taking a closer look, he felt a bit discouraged. 

Although the permissions had been unlocked, meeting the synthesis requirements was extremely difficult—even more troublesome than the beast parts and the Eye of the Otherworld from that previous Otherworld Container. 

【Synthesis Materials Required for the 

Infection Cure】 

Snake Venom: Resisting with the most venomous saliva 

Reishi Mushroom: Purifying impurity with the purest essence of the earth 

Red Spider Lily: Resurrection promised by the gods 

Snake Venom can be extracted from snake meat, so now all the byproducts from the snakes he raises have a use. Reishi mushroom… I have no idea what that is. 

Red spider lilies… If he wants to obtain a large number of them, that means Jian Xingyi will either have to craft them or make a wish, or he’ll have to find the first red spider lily to increase the number he possesses. 

All in all, it doesn’t seem easy. 

He’d never even seen or heard of a lingzhi mushroom, and the red spider lily is 

notoriously hard to find. Jian Xingyi sighed. 

“I’ll take it slow—I’m bound to find one eventually!”

Seeing that the blizzard outside was about to subside, Jian Xingyi got out of the car to soak the seeds. 

Earlier, when he activated his skill in the Earth’s Core, he had obtained four A-grade seeds awaiting rebirth. After soaking the seeds for a while, the system asked him the same question as last time. 

【Do you wish to convert 4 A-rank seeds into 2 S-rank seeds?】 

You can upgrade them directly. 

Jian Xingyi naturally agreed; after all, A-rank seeds offered no significant benefits. 

After Jian Xingyi clicked the option, two gleaming S-grade seeds appeared in his backpack. 

Before revealing what these seeds were, Jian Xingyi began to ponder: since his synthesis station supported seed synthesis, perhaps he could try synthesizing more, taking a chance to see if he could uncover even better ingredients? 

Like that Reishi mushroom he’d never seen before. 

The life of a business player… is all about having zero luck, but getting nothing but guaranteed rewards!! At least there’s a guaranteed reward, right?