Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 750 - 341: Auction

Chapter 750: Chapter 341: Auction

Unsure whether it was praise or criticism, Stone said, "Starlight sure has a lot of tricks up her sleeve. To motivate everyone and show her fairness, she found a reason to dismiss Emerald Feather and replaced him with a newcomer as the Deputy Commander. I could tell right away that this guy was no good—a true flunky, especially adept at squeezing the lower ranks to fawn over those higher up. Sooner or later, Starlight will sacrifice him."

Lin Meng didn’t understand, "Uncle, why would Starlight want to make a scapegoat out of him?"

Stone said, "A cool official can do the dirty work the emperor can’t. Once the task is done, the emperor will dispose of them to pacify the hearts of the civil and military officials. You see, not only did the emperor get things done, but he’s also earned a good reputation. The most interesting part is, these cool officials know full well they’re expendable tools, yet they willingly become those tools because the feeling of rising from obscurity to power is just too intoxicating. It also leads them to treat those who once looked down on them with even greater brutality."

Stone said, "Whenever Starlight has any unreasonable demands, it will be this Deputy Commander who carries them out. Over time, dissatisfaction with the base will turn into dissatisfaction with the Deputy Commander. They will first talk in private, then muster the courage to confront the Deputy Commander Peanut. Starlight will gauge the extent of everyone’s resentment and then get rid of him, either by expulsion or demotion. This way, everyone will think all the faults lie with the Deputy Commander, and they’ll be more willing to toil for the Sawmill’s cause."

Lin Wu asked, "You’re so familiar with all this, so why didn’t you use this tactic before?"

Stone glanced at Lin Wu through the internal monitor, "Although Shadow was also a command system, it was essentially personal because Shadow wasn’t suited for a strict command system. First off, there’s you, a thorn in the side, with wings too stiff to be controlled by any lackey. Then there’s Maya, who only works and doesn’t engage with people—she’s particularly difficult. Say one wrong thing and she might just force you to abdicate, believe it or not? Shana is too smart; if I used her to bully others, she’d turn the tables on me and depose me."

Stone said, "The biggest difference is that Shadow was built by us together, while the Great Commander is just a position; I still have to do a farmer’s work on the side. The Sawmill’s Starlight Base was built by Starlight, and she has absolute control over it. To put it another way, she’s the boss of Starlight Corporation; she can do as she pleases. Even if employees think she’s messing around, they’ll still see it as her squandering her own property."

Lin Wu asked, "So what’s the point after all this talk?"

"The point?"

Lin Wu said, "Coming back empty-handed?"

Stone replied, "That’s not my fault, blame it on the Starlight Base; there’s really not much to gain. In the end, I barely managed to get them to fill up my fuel. By the way, they don’t know you guys have come back; I told them Shana found a decent base and that I, along with Su Shi, plan to move there."

Lin Meng asked curiously, "Uncle, why didn’t you tell them?"

Lin Wu also said, "Right, Nightmare will tell her sooner or later."

Stone said, "It’s about showing attitude and stance. It’s easier to deal with Outpost Cards, but Repeating Crossbows are indeed a hassle."

"How are Outpost Cards easier to deal with?"

Stone replied, "Have Lin Meng buy one."

Lin Meng hastily said, "That’s impossible, I can’t get one; I’ve heard the drop rate is decent, though. An Outpost Card may not necessarily be good; I did a mission once that included a piece of information stating the more outposts a base has, the lower the chances of triggering a siege."

Lin Wu queried, "More outposts lead to a greater likelihood of high-star sieges?"

Lin Meng nodded, "That’s right."

Lin Wu said, "I still want the Sentry Card." High or not, being able to take hot showers and not having to wash clothes beats everything else.

There were many facilities like the pump factory, hydroelectric station, water plant, and others. Apart from Laimeng Airport, the closest Laimeng Hydroelectric Station to Shadow Base was approximately 40 kilometers away. Take the exit from Highway 99, and after a two-kilometer walk, you can reach the reservoir. Taking over the hydroelectric station, you could choose between an Electrical Outpost or a Water Source Outpost.

Little Knife and Snow Egg weren’t much for conversation, but the other three talked all the way. The sun had set when they were still 80 kilometers from Leimeng Town. Lin Wu looked outside and said, "Looks like it’s Twilight Night."

Stone didn’t care and asked, "What, are Night Demons particularly collision-resistant?"

Before Lin Wu could retort, Dawn announced a global broadcast.

First, Dawn explained that about four thousand players were still in Hardcore Mode, which averaged out to about fifty people per town. To cope with the increasingly scarce resources, Dawn would open anonymous auctions at eight o’clock the next morning, with the currency being pistol bullets. Dawn generously stated that she would only take a ten percent commission.

Each base had one opportunity to sell per day and countless chances to buy. By eight o’clock every evening, bases were to upload the items for the next day’s auction, which would then be locked and could not be retrieved until the auction was over. After eight o’clock, all bases would receive a list of the next day’s auction items and the auction times from eight in the morning until six in the evening.

The daily auction items also included some provided by the system.

Once the auction was successful, the items would be delivered at eight o’clock the same day.

Dawn: Of course, what’s coming up next is what everyone is most concerned about, the end-of-season Hardcore Event. After the Summer’s End event, a small number of players felt that the mandatory Hardcore Event was unfair. Hence, Dawn conducted a vote in non-Hardcore Mode, with more than 95% of players supporting the continuation of mandatory Hardcore Events. Since the approval rate was over 95%, there was no need to waste the Hardcore players’ time and energy on voting.

Dawn: The theme of this Autumn’s End event is the Waste City Underground City.

All Hardcore players would enter the event instance divided by base, assigned to a building identical to their own base, but entirely devoid of anything. The event would provide every player with initial weapons, and players could not bring any non-skill items into the instance. Wai was a Skill Summon and could be brought along. Little Fight, being crafted and upgraded from blueprints, was a non-skill item and could not be taken into the instance.