Huge thanks to GreenKiTea for the Kofis. Enjoy the Bonus Chapter. Lots of love!

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Grand Merchant system…?

Jian Xingyi was puzzled. What was this?

Opening the mailbox, Jian Xingyi discovered a new section labeled “Grand Merchant” on his terminal. Clicking into it launched a beginner tutorial.

【Players who earn over 50,000 in the mall and reach Management Level 8 or higher can activate this special upgrade system. Higher sales volumes correspond to higher tiers. Each tier breakthrough rewards the player with 2 pieces of D-grade starter farmland.】

Huh? Free land??!

Jian Xingyi’s eyes widened.

One piece of land costs 50,000 credits, yet here you get two pieces worth 100,000 credits for free just by leveling up once?!

Seriously, who in their right mind would buy fields normally?! His current two extra fields were from a side quest reward—this was way more profitable!

【Moreover, higher levels unlock more exclusive VIP Mall items for top merchants!】

The navigation led Jian Xingyi to the 【Mall】 section within the top merchant area.

This store felt entirely different from the player stores everyone knew. It seemed tailored specifically for business-oriented players, and the entire vast store belonged solely to one player.

It really was a VIP store.

Jian Xingyi thought to himself, even when he was focused on managing his farm before, the system never opened this section for him. So, did the system deem qualified business players as needing to juggle both production and trade?

Upon entering the mall, Jian Xingyi immediately spotted a row of Level 0 items available for purchase.

【Magic Growth Potion: Instantly matures crops for harvest】

【Next Refresh: 7 days】

【30,000 Dawn Coins】

Jian Xingyi: “…”

The item was good, but that price… robbery! What kind of sucker would buy this?

He only made 30,000 from listing pickled radishes once!

【Cherry Bomb: Even farming players can join the battle! Deals explosive damage to enemies without affecting yourself.】

【Next Refresh: 2 days】

【1,500 dawn coin】

【Nut Wall: Plants vs. Zombies – Max out your farming defense! Creates a protective wall around you for 5 minutes.】

【Next Refresh: 2 days】

【5000 Dawn Coins】

Jian Xingyi: “…”

The prices were still reasonable, and they could save his life in critical moments, so Jian Xingyi bought them all.

All subsequent items required Level 0 or higher to unlock and remained hidden for now.

But Jian Xingyi’s gut told him something amazing was hidden here! After all, Level 0 items were already incredibly generous. Beyond management tools, there were plenty of life-saving and combat-boosting items—a godsend for his low combat power.

【Newbie Navigation Complete. Please level up to unlock more perks!】

After the navigation ended, the screen stayed on the Merchant’s personal homepage. Jian Xingyi noticed an experience bar—he was still at Level 0.

【Experience Required for Player to Reach Level 1: 110k/150k】

That’s actually almost within reach…!

Jian Xingyi rubbed his hands together eagerly. Once he made a few more sales in the future, wouldn’t it be a piece of cake?

The future…

Jian Xingyi felt a pang of worry.

He wasn’t even sure if they had a future together.

A full 70,000—how were they ever going to scrape that together?

Jian Xingyi stared at that single bottle of Acceleration Potion for a very long time.

“…”

Damn it, was he really going to take out a loan from the mall and get screwed?

Even so, there was only one bottle of magic potion. He couldn’t list enough items to cover 70,000.

It wasn’t just Jian Xingyi who was worried; the rest of the guild members were even more so. That’s why everyone mobilized to fight in the guild group battle.

It wasn’t always like this, but now that they were immersed in the game, each guild raid resulted in massive losses. Weapons and armor wore down significantly, and the danger level was high.

But now there was no turning back. Everyone had to grit their teeth and push forward.

Jian Xingyi’s combat power was simply too low, so he was exceptionally exempted from going. Left alone in the guild, he could only silently monitor the guild channel, waiting for the system’s good news.

While refreshing the screen, Jian Xingyi noticed a message on the public channel.

【Did you hear? Blue Sky and White Clouds disbanded!】

Jian Xingyi froze.

It made sense…

With less than three days left until the guild points deadline, the system would close creation, disbandment, and transfer privileges in half an hour.

Blue Sky and White Clouds had lost the match, couldn’t sell their food, and maxed out their combat power. Now they had no choice but to disband and each seek their own path.

【Tsk, they brought it upon themselves! Serves them right! Bet they’re scrambling to find new guilds now? But time’s running out, huh?】

【Check my screenshot—Sisi was begging for a spot in another server’s shopping channel earlier, even posting photos. Gross… She might as well have typed “selling herself” right there.】

【Rongrong and Yiyi are also applying to guilds everywhere, but with their track record, who’d dare take them?! Don’t they fear their guilds getting disrupted? Not to mention, weren’t they the ones who suggested hoarding all the Xinghe farm crops earlier?】

【Players without guilds will be wiped once the system starts calculating points. That means the end is near for that dog couple, right? Serves them right!】

Jian Xingyi watched with a sigh.

Who would’ve thought a guild that was once fairly sizable would end up like this—now nothing but a pariah.

After watching for a moment, Jian Xingyi didn’t want to sit idle. He decided to head to Peace Mountain to hunt for essence points. At the very least, he could grind up some combat power.

But the moment he stepped out the back door, he sensed two hostile gazes fixed on him.

“Freeze!”

Jian Xingyi turned to find Rongrong and Yiyi flanking him, guns trained on his back.

Startled, he wondered—had they ambushed him here after learning the entire guild had gone to a raid, assuming he hadn’t joined?

What if he hadn’t left the house? Did these two plan to camp out here indefinitely?

Jian Xingyi suppressed his nerves, took a deep breath, and asked, “What do you want?”

Revenge?

Rongrong sneered coldly, “What do we want? Ha! Do you even need to ask? Xinghe, you’ve caused us so much suffering!”

Yiyi chimed in, “That’s right. We’re going to die, and you won’t survive alone!”

Jian Xingyi shook his head. “Leave a way out for others, and you may meet again. It’s your actions that left no room for compromise.”

The two fell silent.

Jian Xingyi continued, “If you hadn’t slandered me back then, hadn’t stolen my food, and had peacefully sold only the meat your rank could handle—perhaps there would still be hope?”

“Naive! How could we ever scrape together enough by trading food honestly? This is the apocalypse—survival of the fittest! Either way… you’re going down with us!“ Rongrong stepped forward, pressing a pistol against Jian Xingyi’s temple. ”Unless you can convince your guild to take us in. After all, you’re their savior—you should have some sway, right?”

It was blatant blackmail.

Jian Xingyi’s brows furrowed slightly.

Half an hour later, the system would revoke guild privileges. If they took Rongrong in, they wouldn’t be able to kick her out anytime soon.

Rongrong nudged the barrel forward. “Don’t want to die? Then pull out your terminal and notify the Guild President!”

Jian Xingyi didn’t move, lifting his eyelids to look at Rongrong. “I may be held hostage, but right now, you’re the ones needing me. At worst, you can kill me. That way, we all die together, and you’ll have absolutely no chance of being accepted.”

Rongrong’s eyes widened. “You…!”

Thud!

Yiyi kicked Jian Xingyi to the ground, planting her foot on his back with a cold sneer. “Can’t kill you? We can still torture you! How about we chop off your fingers one by one? Or break your legs? Care to try?”

Rongrong smiled sweetly. “You’re the smart one!”

“Ugh…” Jian Xingyi curled up on the ground, clutching his stomach. Yiyi pressed the gun barrel against the back of his head. “Rongrong, baby, cut off his fingers!”

“Yay!”

Rongrong crouched down, about to grab Jian Xingyi’s wrist…

“Ah…! What the hell?!” Rongrong felt a blood-red spherical object hurtling toward her. Instantly, a “Boom!” echoed as something exploded!

Rongrong and Yiyi both screamed, instinctively shielding their faces with their hands, only to get burned on their arms and bodies by the fire.

Jian Xingyi hadn’t expected his freshly bought, piping hot cherry bomb to come in handy so quickly. He couldn’t help but feel relieved he’d bought it!

As the thick smoke dispersed, Jian Xingyi seized the moment to scramble to his feet and sprint toward the guild’s back door.

Once he reached the guild, Rongrong and Yiyi couldn’t touch him!

“You bastard…!” The pair chased after him like madmen. Yiyi’s pistol had been blown apart, but Rongrong’s remained intact. She aimed the barrel directly at Jian Xingyi.

Bang!

Unexpectedly, however, it wasn’t Jian Xingyi who fell… but Rongrong herself.

Yiyi’s eyes widened as he saw Haihai raising a pistol nearby.

A bullet struck Rongrong in the back, and she screamed as she collapsed.

“Rongrong!”

Yiyi’s eyes turned bloodshot. “Are you out of your mind?!”

Haihai coldly remarked, “You… went too far.”

Seeing Haihai raise the gun again, Yiyi scooped up the blood-soaked Rongrong and fled in disarray.

Haihai didn’t pursue.

Rongrong and Yiyi wouldn’t survive the day. This was the end for Blue Sky and White Clouds.

They’d even lost their Guild President, killed by Sisi.

Jian Xingyi: “…Thank you.”

“It’s nothing.” After a pause, Haihai said, “Since you’re fine, I’ll be going.”

Since everyone was from Blue Sky and White Clouds, no one dared take risks, so Haihai hadn’t found a new guild either. Having known each other, he decided to formally bid farewell to Jian Xingyi.

Haihai smiled wryly. “Be more cautious from now on. This is the apocalypse.”

“Wish you luck in the future.”

This was probably his fate.

He hadn’t protected the guild Shy had left him, allowing Blue Sky and White Clouds to be destroyed. This was his punishment.

“Wait…”

Jian Xingyi called out to Haihai as he turned to leave.

“Hm?”

…

Half an hour later.

【Dawnbreaker V2.0 Phase 1 is concluding. The system will disable guild creation. Over the next three days, players without guilds will be purged.】

As the system’s mechanical announcement echoed, tension began to mount.

Purge… How exactly would this purge occur?

Even players with sufficient levels felt no sense of complacency.

What would happen to guildless players over these three days? What would happen to guilds failing to meet the score requirement after three days? And what about guilds that did meet the score requirement…

What future were they about to face?

One of the lucky survivors—Haihai—stood in the open space of the Long Live A Hundred Years Guild, still somewhat dazed.

All he remembered was Jian Xingyi asking if he wanted to join Long Live A Hundred Years. Too stunned to think, he’d blanked out and nodded dumbly. Then Jian Xingyi turned and typed a line in the guild channel.

【Haihai is my friend, he wants to join the guild】

The next moment, he received the guild invitation and successfully joined.

Haihai: “…”

Life… truly has its ups and downs.

Two hours later.

After the guild battle ended, Jian Xingyi checked the results…

Good news: a single battle yielded a whopping 10,000 combat power points.

Bad news: the guild still needed 60,000 more experience points.

Guild battles could only be fought once a month, so there was no way to grind more.

With no other options, Jian Xingyi gritted his teeth and headed to the merchant section… to play the sucker!

With only one potion left, Jian Xingyi ultimately chose the safest option: radishes. If he listed bamboo shoots and players deemed them too expensive on the eve of the crisis, he’d lose big. Jian Xingyi wasn’t about to take that risk.

On the final day, Jian Xingyi finally completed the synthesis and listed 25 jars of pickled radish.

Heiye also listed his rifle alongside Jian Xingyi’s advertisement, selling for 20,000. Lone Wolf’s rifle sold for 10,000—the fruits of their two-week expedition gathering materials.

Now, only 30,000 remained to reach 200,000!

During the final half-day, Jian Xingyi stayed home, glued to the shop’s transaction log.

The radishes weren’t selling as quickly as before, but they were still moving steadily.

Until he heard a commotion at the back door.

Jian Xingyi’s house was too close to the back entrance leading to Peace Mountain; he was the first to know about any disturbance.

Jian Xingyi rushed to the back door and found Haihai standing within the guild boundary line, silently observing the people outside.

Outside the back door stood a group of Blue Sky and White Clouds players—or rather, unguilded players—at least a dozen of them, unable to enter.

“Save us… Save us! You’re… cough… our former vice-guild leader! Why did you betray us…”

“You traitor… save us…”

Those people… their skin had turned purplish-red and bruised, wounds appearing one after another on their bodies. Their eyes were bloodshot as they pleaded for help with their last shred of sanity.

Jian Xingyi was horrified.

So… this was what the system’s purge meant? It turned players into zombies!

Stepping closer, Jian Xingyi discovered Rongrong and Yiyi among them—their bodies bound in bandages, faces deathly pale.

Faced with overwhelming terror and the unknown specter of death, their former arrogance vanished. Rongrong sobbed, “Please, I was wrong… Waaah, I don’t want to mutate…”

Spotting Jian Xingyi, Yi Yi knelt before him, sobbing, “Xinghe, we were wrong! Save us! We’ll do anything you ask!”

Jian Xingyi remained silent.

What good would pleading for help do now?

Jian Xingyi approached Haihai. “Why didn’t you leave?”

Haihai shook his head. “This was my choice. I must face the consequences.”

Outside, chaos reigned—screams echoed in a scene straight out of the apocalypse.

Just then, a notification alert sounded. Jian Xingyi opened his terminal and froze.

【One hour remaining until guild score statistics are tallied. Shop functionality and player terminal pages are now disabled.】

【Congratulations to player 【Xinghe】 for successfully selling 24 pickled radishes, earning 24,000 dawn coin】

Jian Xingyi felt the blood freeze in his veins.

Jian Xingyi turned to check the guild’s experience points.

【100000/100000 Congratulations! The Long Live A Hundred Years Guild has leveled up from 18 to 19.】

【94800/100000 The Long Live A Hundred Years Guild requires 6000 more experience points to level up.】

Still 5,200 short…!

He had listed 25 jars of pickled vegetables, but only 24 had sold. Even if they sold out, it would only add 1,000 points—and now he was so far behind…

Everyone else was out grinding combat power right now. These extra 800 experience points were the last-minute effort they’d managed to scrape together.

Jian Xingyi murmured, “Still 5,200 short…”

Haihai: “Yeah, I checked your guild records. Ten thousand combat power takes a week. Everyone’s been grinding like mad these past three days and only scraped together 400. With just an hour left, there’s no way we can hit 5,600.”

Jian Xingyi froze in place.

Haihai: “You’ve done your best.”

Jian Xingyi slumped down, defeated.

So close.

If only his food sales had been a few thousand yuan higher, if everyone’s combat power had been just a bit more, or if they could have snatched items selling for even slightly higher prices… they could have succeeded.

But… there were no such things as “what ifs.”

Haihai stayed with him. Together, they stared blankly at the former Blue Sky and White Clouds members outside the door, who were becoming increasingly irrational and inhuman.

Outside, wails and screams filled the air; inside, deathly silence reigned.

Jian Xingyi glanced at his arm and noticed his skin had shifted from pale to purple, glowing with an eerie hue.

Jian Xingyi froze, his entire body stiffening.

It seemed the purge had shifted from targeting guildless players to now targeting those in guilds that didn’t meet the required level.