Darkstone Code
Chapter 95 - 0094 One Fish Three Ways

Chapter 95: 0094 One Fish Three Ways

When someone is happy, there is certainly someone who will be frustrated, whether these people feel Lynch was deceiving them before or not, at least now they have seen some real things.

Money, nothing is more real than money; some hold four hundred dollars, while their eyes are fixed on the more money others are holding.

They were actually very perfunctory. Before knowing whether this job was truly so amazing, their attitude was quite half-hearted. They didn’t even consider working here long-term, just wanted to see the result after the first auction ended before making a choice.

Now they regret their laxity over the past week, a kind of regret that only reveals itself under a huge income gap. Simultaneously, they plan to work hard, put in effort to become the kind of person who stands out in the next auction.

In the focus of everyone’s gaze, several twelve or thirteen-year-old newspaper boys dryly received a commission from Lynch, a hefty commission of over eight thousand dollars, their contribution almost matched the combined total of the other dozen people.

They didn’t even realize the wealth myth they had created; they just distributed the flyers to those who needed them as Lynch told them, none of them thought they could earn such a commission; it was just a job.

In fact, these children had an advantage over Richard and others, manifested in two aspects; first, they ran on the streets every day, probably without realizing it but knowing how to evaluate someone’s worth through their attire.

The second advantage is their wide coverage; they aren’t alone, there are many of them, allowing more high-quality resources to see the flyers and also screening potential clients to a greater extent.

Richard and the others didn’t lose to a group but lost to individuals within the group; the children aren’t strictly victors. If the money were averaged among them, their income would immediately drop to a mid-to-low tier.

Lynch watched the children whisper excitedly with red faces far from others, observing the crowd centered around Richard as people sang praises and flattered, with Wood smiling behind Richard; it was like a miniature social scene.

Lynch had fulfilled his promise; merely the first auction generated such substantial profits that he didn’t need to subsidize anything himself. At least five people might take home over ten thousand dollars in commission by the month’s end.

Such enormous profits made everyone’s eyes turn red; what does earning over ten thousand dollars a month in Sabin City, where the average wage is only two hundred, mean?

Ten thousand dollars is equivalent to a family’s combined funds savings for about seven or eight years, yet they earned it within a month. They can proudly tell others they are at the forefront of Sabin City’s monthly income, at least in the employee class.

Lynch waited for their emotions to cool a bit, pouring cold water, "This is a great start, but not every time will have such a high transaction volume as today. People are always interested in fresh things, this kind of bustling scene won’t last long."

This wasn’t just casually spoken; economic downturns tend to last a long time, many families will completely cancel any acquisition plans later, not even considering second-hand goods, so transaction volumes will gradually decline.

Fortunately, Sabin has a population of eight hundred thousand, about fifteen to twenty thousand families, not all are impoverished households, second-hand transactions will continue to exist but it’s tough to create as dazzling a performance as today.

This is also why Lynch targeted extending this plan across the state from the start, a single city couldn’t support his ambition, he had to grab the entire state for the things he wanted.

Wealth, fame, status, and authority.

The room fell slightly calm due to his words; Richard also collected his smile, having just enjoyed the short-lived extreme profits, Lynch’s words snapped him out of the feverish state in his mind.

He liked this lifestyle, felt he couldn’t live without it.

Chatting with different people every day, bragging, then sitting somewhere making money, others even thanked him for the opportunity provided; he was becoming a little obsessed with this life, even though it had just begun a few days ago.

Seeing these people calm down, Lynch nodded satisfactorily, beckoning Richard and taking the list in hand, said while looking down, "From elementary school to entering society, we all know this world has rewards and punishments..." This half sentence made the room’s atmosphere heavy; they didn’t know what Lynch meant.

Having finished viewing the list, Lynch handed it to Vera, then turned back to the others, "It’s the same with me, we’re racing against time and I can’t waste limited resources on some of you."

"I hear some of you didn’t work for the first three or four days, only the last two days did you get involved; maybe we have different attitudes towards work and life."

"I won’t force you to agree with my values, likewise I won’t accommodate yours; seventeen people, the last five are eliminated, you can pack and go home..."

Lynch mentioned this last-place elimination system at the start; no one cared then, many forgot because, in their view, they were leaving in a week regardless, elimination didn’t matter.

But now seeing the newspaper boys, Richard and Wood as the foremost sales personnel and their commissions, these people didn’t want to leave.

To put it bluntly, even if sleeping here, one could earn hundreds or thousands a month, why leave?

Lynch’s words directly cast them into the abyss, the guy holding four hundred dollars proudly didn’t even hold onto the cash, stood there dumbfounded.

Soon, the people split into three groups; the children remained independent, standing a bit further behind Lynch watching the events over here, feeling somewhat detached — this was why Wood initially found Lynch’s relationship with the children puzzling; it didn’t seem like an employee-boss relationship.

The second group included Richard, Wood, and the twelve staff who got to stay; although feeling urgency due to the elimination system, a sense of superiority came with it. They watched, indifferent, the people who had been friends minutes ago.

The third group had strange expressions, some sad, some regretful, some panic-stricken, and some angry, looking at Lynch expressing their thoughts, hoping to regain opportunities.

Facing their pleas or anger, Lynch didn’t immediately respond, just watched them, waited three to five minutes, when everyone thought nothing would change, Lynch suddenly spoke.

"Actually, I can give you a chance, or rather, you still have the opportunity to save this job."

"Starting from the next auction, I will fix the total number of auction seats, Richard..." he looked at Richard, who responded "Boss" and stepped forward; Lynch watched him say, "You folks will receive a hundred auction seats for free, including the children, the number of seats remains unchanged and free."

"You..." he turned his gaze back to these people, "five dollars per seat, valid for a single occasion, it’s your punishment, but also your opportunity."

"As long as the people you bring can make transaction prices exceed your ’cost,’ you can earn a lot of money."

"Continue or end, the choice is yours!"