The early morning in Punk City was bathed in such light rain, and the air was unusually clear. Lao Li's Pharmacy Shop at No. 14 Three and One-Third Street opened its doors early. Levi's, the player's shop owner, said hello to Aunt York, the proprietress of the Arm Inn.
Put down the door panel and walk into the small store.
The light inside is dim, filled with a fermented smell of medicinal materials and potions. Levi's, who often smells this smell, naturally cannot detect it, but every player who walks into the store will subconsciously cover his nose, which in turn affects
Since then, he has paid special attention to ventilation in his business.
Levi opened all the doors and windows and lit a magic lamp he had just bought from the alchemy shop, dispelling the darkness and strong smell in the store.
It was just dawn and there was not much business. Levis first calculated yesterday's accounts clearly, took out the profits he had saved over the past few days, put them in a space bag, and went out to the ICBC branch a hundred meters away.
ICBC also uses offline logo signs in the game, but it is limited by the materials and cannot make the offline windows clear.
There are not many salespeople, there is only one counter, and there are no players, only hired NPCs.
Under the warm hospitality of the NPC salesperson, Levi sat in the waiting area and waited for a few minutes. When it was his turn, the NPC salesperson politely and thoughtfully led him to the only counter.
"Exchange 2 gold, 16 silver and 88 copper, right?"
"Yes."
"Okay, please take a look at the latest exchange rate. If there is no problem, please sign."
Levi's felt happy when he saw that the exchange rate had increased by several hundred basis points. He happily signed and handed it over to the teller, completing the online and offline exchange procedures.
But the handling fee is too expensive, as high as 5%, and personal income tax will be calculated after converting it to RMB.
The game income tax rate for players in Canaan is a progressive system, with a one-month settlement cycle. Based on Levi's income, the tax rate is as high as 40%. That is to say, for those who work hard in the game, wake up early and work late, nearly half of it will be given to the state.
contributed to the tax revenue.
The high taxation of players has won a lot of praise from offline players. They all think that players can easily make money. Under the influence of ordinary people, it is just like picking it up for free (fighting monsters, quests), and they do not produce anything and cannot contribute to society.
Creating any wealth without taxing them at a high level is simply not fair.
Players were naturally opposed to this, but relatively speaking, their base was still too small, and their interest groups were not large enough. Therefore, their voices were very small, and they were soon submerged in the mainstream public opinion, and even the waves were spread.
Can't get up.
In the past, Canaan Company was not so 'deep' online, and there were still certain loopholes for players to evade taxes. This is no longer the case. Game behavior, especially economic behavior, is heavily supervised by Canaan Company, and relevant data is directly transmitted to the tax department.
The government agencies also block any room for tax evasion and tax evasion.
As time went by, the player accepted his fate and just paid the taxes. His arms couldn't twist his thighs. Since he couldn't resist, he had no choice but to lie down.
After leaving the ICBC branch, which only dealt with players, Levis went to Honest Hall's 'bank', which only dealt with NPCs. Well, it was the NPC gang's lair commonly known as loan sharking, and met with a small leader there.
On the surface, he bought a batch of stolen goods at a low price, cheated and robbed them. One big bag almost exceeded his load, and he sneaked back to his store.
Aunt York next door is also open for business. Her half-grown boy, Chart, who has freckles on his face and dreams of becoming an adventurer like the player, helps him look after the store as always.
"Uncle Levis, a player just came to buy a set of primary red potions. Here is the money."
"Thank you Charter."
"You're welcome Uncle Levi's"
Levis smiled and handed him a bottle of mid-level red potion as a reward for visiting the store.
Chart happily took it, bowed, and skipped away.
The next thing Levis knew, Chart would use this bottle of intermediate red potion to issue a mission, asking players to tell him about adventures they had never heard of. The trigger point of the mission was at the entrance of the alley, and several players who had become beggars would use hearsay.
It has almost become a daily routine to obtain this bottle of red potion from him in the "Adventure Story". These players even funnyly thought they had mastered a channel that no one else knew about, and even agreed to keep it secret. No one knew the source.
Right here with him, haha...
Put the medicinal materials collected at low prices into the container in different categories, carefully take out the well-packaged main materials of various colors sold from the Alchemist Association, open the packages, and let the accumulated magic aura dissipate.
After clearing the work counter, lighting the valuable magic furnace, placing large beakers and neat rows of empty bottles, mid-level pharmacist Levi began the refining process of red and blue potions.
First, pour pure water into a large beaker and heat it to boil, then take out one of the main alchemical ingredients and carefully drop it into the boiling pure water drop by drop with a straw.
Immediately, the rich dark blue color spread in the beaker, and the bubbles of Gudong Gudong evaporated to emit the faint smell of blue potion, which became stronger and stronger as the straw was dripped into it.
Ten Years Charter guarded the door again at some point, stopping two players who were about to come in, and looked into the room curiously.
Under the azure magic light, Levis skillfully prepared potions, looking mysteriously like a mage - young Chart's eyes were full of yearning, but it was a pity that Uncle Levis would not accept him as his apprentice.
Soon, a set of primary blue potion was prepared, and Levi poured the solution in the beaker into clean small bottles to complete the packaging.
“Welcome!”
Then he went out to recruit a few players.
Players who are still hanging out in the game area at this stage have one characteristic, and that is full of resentment.
"What are you doing? We might as well enter the battlefield now. Are you giving up on us?"
"Damn it, combat level discrimination!"
"I heard that the 6th test is about to start. What will the newcomers do then?"
"I don't believe that newcomers are treated the same way. There will be a day when we let go."
"How much does it cost for a set of blue medicine?"
"10 silver," Levi said with a smile.
"Oh, yesterday we only had 9 silver and 50 copper."
"The exchange rate has gone up, and so have prices. There's nothing we can do about it," said profiteer Levi's.
Several players had no choice but to pool their money with each other to buy a set of basic blue potions, and then went out noisily to complete tasks and kill monsters.
Levis, who had earned 5 silver and 45 coppers in blood, was satisfied and threw the 10 shiny silver coins into the cash cabinet. When he heard a tinkling sound, it was like hearing some celestial music, and his whole body was full of energy.
The reason why we don't use the more convenient 'account-to-account' transaction is to save money. Although this transaction method is convenient, it will be scratched by the system. Although it is only 1%, it can add up to a lot, especially for
Those of them who still stay in the game area and suffer hardship are equivalent to the players who have been abandoned, and the legs of flies are like flesh.
Levi continued to mix his potion.
The gold content of today's pharmacists really cannot be compared with the previous tests. They are more like assemblers. The value of potion formulas is not even one-tenth of that of alchemy and enchanting formulas. No, a group of intermediate reds have just been prepared.
For potions, there are players who come to your door and sell a potion formula.
[Intermediate Perception Potion Recipe·Status]
The status potion formula is one of the formulas with the highest explosion rate. It increases a certain attribute of the player within a time limit. It is a crappy thing and the finished product is cheap. You can only make hard money.
Levi's had known this recipe for a long time, and politely sent the disappointed player away, and more players came one after another.
Either buying or selling, the small shop became lively. In one morning, more than 1 gold coin was made. It was not as good as before, but it was still passable.
To be honest, running this kind of small store is no better than some profitable small businesses offline, but offline game nerds like Levi's have no chance to make a living by their own abilities. It is different in the game. First,
Love, the second is timely feedback, the third is relative fairness, the fourth is freedom...
Having said that, Levis was not content with being a little rich. He closed the store at noon and went to the Alchemist Association as usual to increase his presence.
There are very few alchemy apprentices enrolled, and each of them is a being that Levi's is extremely envious of. There are even more alchemy enthusiasts who are still doing tasks, going through inspections, and waiting for the attention of the alchemy mentor NPC. They are almost all in the lobby on the first floor.
Levi said hello to a few familiar faces and chatted about their business experiences for a while.
These people are almost all daily life players who run various small businesses in Punk City. There are blacksmiths who forge blacksmiths, intermediate craftsmen who specialize in jewelry manufacturing, tailors who sew and mend, second-level dealers who specialize in ore business, and people who specialize in the ore business.
NPCs and medicinal merchants who buy medicinal materials from players and sell them to people like Levis, etc.
There are also NPC businesses, which are diverse and of many types.
These people have a common 'hobby', which is alchemy, which can also be counted as enchantment. Of course, such hobbies have a common premise, which is unlimited money!
Just as Levi was telling people to go into the alley, a formally enrolled alchemy apprentice came out accompanied by the NPC instructor. A group of people immediately gathered around and slapped the NPC alchemist instructor wildly.
Levi's movements were slow and he was blocked from the outside. He was anxious when he heard the NPC alchemy instructor say that an 'Alchemist Admission Certificate' that had escaped from the abyss battlefield was about to be auctioned...
The crowd exploded with coaxing, and the players immediately abandoned the NPC alchemy instructor and swarmed up to the second floor.
The auction catalog on the second floor indeed records that the afternoon auction will include the 'Alchemist Admission Certificate'.
The starting price is not expensive, only 50 gold.
For ordinary players, this is really a huge sum of money, but in the eyes of people like Levi's, this price is just like giving it for free.
But not everyone with money can participate in this internal auction. You must earn a certain amount of reputation in the Alchemist Society and have a certain amount of favorability with a certain NPC alchemy instructor. They are willing to accept you after submitting the admission certificate.
, you are eligible to participate.
Fortunately for Levi, he came here every day to increase his presence and never missed a single day. He was quite proficient in flattery skills, and there were quite a few NPC alchemy instructors who were willing to issue him a 'letter of introduction'.
In this way, you are qualified to participate in the auction, and the only thing left is to sell the pot and get this admission certificate.
Many players who don't meet the standards in this aspect are cautious. The auction will start in the afternoon. It's too late to do the tasks and flatter the NPC. They are so anxious that there is nothing they can do.
Levi's was not in the mood to care about this, and hurried back to the store to take stock of how much money he had spent.
regret……
Due to the rising exchange rate, he transferred most of his profits offline, leaving only a little working capital in the store, less than 10 gold.
Krypton gold?
If the amount is small, it's okay. If it's large, firstly, it will have to endure a wave of exploitation by the exchange, and secondly, the yellow-faced woman in the family will not agree.
She was happy to take the money back home, but taking out the money from home to top up the game was equivalent to killing the yellow-faced woman... Alas, when people reach middle age, they can't help themselves.
How can this be done?
Just when I was feeling worried, a professional life player I knew came to my door and offered my attention to jointly bid for admission certificates.
"Well……"
"Lao Li, I know you are strapped for funds. As for me, I don't have much reputation. How about cooperation?"
"Don't talk nonsense about financial constraints."
"You remit money every day without anyone knowing. How much deposit do you have in this store? Do you have 50 gold?"
Levi's thought to himself, let alone 50, I can't even get out 10 gold, but he still made fun of it.
Before leaving, the player said angrily, "I heard that Kang Mazi and the others have formed some kind of family together and signed an entity agreement for offline and online operations. This alchemist's admission certificate is equivalent to public property. If we pool our financial resources, we are bound to get it.
If you want to be alone, just dream!"
After hearing the news, Levi's heart sank, and he had to invite this person back again with a shy face.
This person didn't care and said anxiously, "It's not enough for just the two of us. We have to find more people to come in."
Levi's heart bleeds when he thinks that most of the meat in the bowl will be separated out before it enters his mouth, but the reality is that he can only nod in agreement.
There are too many business people with similar ideas and needs.
Without much effort, Levi's successfully formed a group and raised more than 180 gold in a short time. However... if the bidding is successful, there is a problem who will be admitted to school in the end.
There are three people who are eligible for admission, namely, mid-level pharmacist Levis, mid-level tailor Cuihua Shangshuancai, and mid-level jewelry craftsman Yanyu Chonglou... Yanyu Chonglou is a girl, but in reality she is still a little famous, a handicraft, non-material
Inheritors of cultural heritage.
Levis naturally did his part, and so did the other two.
During the stalemate, a medicinal herb merchant said impatiently, "Stop arguing, grab the meat into the bowl first."
Too.
Everyone then put aside their arguments and formed a group to fight towards the Alchemist Association, marching up to the second floor in a mighty manner.
The auction hall on the second floor was packed with seats. Almost all professional life players who had heard about it were here. Everyone participating in the auction formed a group. The scene was divided into dozens or hundreds of bidding camps. They looked like they were wealthy and determined to win.
Ah...this!
Levi's panicked. He didn't expect that in such a short period of time, even professional players from other system main cities would arrive. 180 gold was thought to be safe, but now it seems that it may not be enough.
What can we do?
Additional funds?
The three players who were able to enter the school naturally had no problem and wanted to give it a try. However, the other players who just joined the group and were ready to share an alchemist's "money path" were very worried. They had already taken out what they could and could not take it out.
Whether it's worth it or not is a question.
It was too late to wire money in from reality. Levi's gritted his teeth when he saw this, "I'll mortgage the store to the bank!"
