Chapter 78

Chapter 078: Clearly It's...

After noon, inside the wooden cabin.

Yu Jing sat at the simple wooden table, holding a cup of tea at just the right temperature.

In the Trial Ground, tea leaves themselves held little value, and with the current price crash, they were even more worthless.

However, with Good Fortune Coins enabling people to open useful items from chests, it was expected that the future output of tea leaves would decrease significantly.

Scarcity increases value.

So, taking advantage of the low prices, she bought a few kilograms of fresh Longjing tea, along with some Pu'er tea to keep her alert during late nights.

Taking a sip of the Longjing, its sweetness lingering on her tongue, Yu Jing's gaze fell on the Fate Net interface deep in her consciousness.

Just a few minutes ago, her private message with Zhuang Hongwen had ended.

"The People's Union Association is making quite a stir, but as long as it doesn't stray off course, there won't be any obstacles within the organization."

Zhuang Hongwen's words were as concise as ever. "But don't forget the Special Task Force's mission; we need to step up efforts on that front too."

After replying with an "Understood," Yu Jing sank into thought.

It seemed the commotion caused by the Offline Rescue Team this morning had already caught the attention of the higher-ups.

The message conveyed was clear: they wouldn't interfere.

This was good news.

Although the standard for "straying off course" was hard to define, she only needed to keep a close eye on the Faction Contribution Ranking.

As long as her personal contribution continued to rise, no one could deny the legitimacy of the People's Union Association.

With that thought, Yu Jing couldn't help but glance at the Personal Contribution Ranking:

[First Place: Yan Cang, Faction Contribution: 7,135,114,168]

[Second Place: Yu Jing, Faction Contribution: 15,685,682]

[Third Place: Zhang Xinghe, Faction Contribution: 915,846]

[Fourth Place: Yang Dongyao, Faction Contribution: 907,653]

...

Day seven,

Over 15.6 million!

When she woke up in the early morning, the number had been less than 14 million.

In just one morning, it had grown by nearly 2 million.

The effectiveness of the Offline Rescue Corps established by the People's Union Association was evident from this.

Of course, most of this contribution could be attributed to the Light Body Nine-Segment Guiding Technique.

Yu Jing's gaze then fell on the astronomical figure at the top of the ranking, her heart stirring.

In just one day, the Chief had gained nearly 2 billion in contribution!

But usually, the increase hovered around 1 billion.

This sudden surge—was it the effect of the Good Fortune Coins going live?

"That must be it. Even though the Good Fortune Coins were under limited sale yesterday afternoon, the price crash alone benefited the entire faction..."

She murmured to herself, her eyes moving downward.

The third place had changed!

This Zhang Xinghe, like Yang Dongyao, was also a guide expert on the Fate Net Forum.

From the start, the gap in faction contribution between the two had been small, so a shift in ranking wasn't surprising.

However, Yang Dongyao still had the 800,000 Fate Points from selling that mirror, so he would likely overtake him again later.

After making a simple judgment, Yu Jing continued reading.

Soon, she spotted some "familiar faces."

"Official organizations and camp leaders have already begun to emerge on the ranking."

"The competition for rankings will only get fiercer from here on."

Yu Jing glanced at it and then looked away. Her second-place position was as solid as a mountain.

Although her Contribution value was still far from even a fraction of the Chief's, it could still be described as a tier-breaking lead.

And without internal obstacles from the official side, the expansion of the People's Union Association would proceed smoothly.

As for the Special Task Force...

Zhuang Hongwen's reminder wasn't a reprimand; it was more of a push.

True, it had been so many days.

But the problem was that everything that could be done had been done.

She had been following the progress of the Information Team closely.

Unfortunately, there had been no results yet.

This couldn't be blamed on the Information Team's lack of effort.

The main issue was that on the Fate Net Forum, information about people pretending to share the Chief's name kept popping up endlessly, with claims like "I have a friend named Yan Cang" appearing at every turn.

Truth mixed with falsehood, falsehood mixed with truth.

So they couldn't afford to ignore it. The Information Team spent every day sifting through a sea of noise, wasting a massive amount of energy.

"Could it really come down to contacting him directly?"

Yu Jing's gaze fell on the Food Zone interface of the Fate Net.

The shops opened in the Food Zone all had channels for communicating with customers.

That meant the several State Banquet Restaurants could all reach that major client.

At this point, it was almost certain that he was the Chief.

Moreover, the layout of the State Banquet Restaurants, the design of the dishes, and the control of service details were all highly unified... Everything hinted at an organizational nature.

The Chief had clearly received this signal as well—he had ordered from all eight of those restaurants without missing a single one.

But the two sides had never crossed that line, maintaining a tacit distance from each other.

Should this tacit understanding be broken now? And how?

Yu Jing sank into thought.

"With Good Fortune Coins going online, the value of Fate Points rises, and prices drop... The ingredient costs for the State Banquet Restaurants naturally decrease as well, but the previous orders were still at the original price."

"At this juncture, contacting that major client under the pretext of a 'refund' is perfectly reasonable."

"If the Chief is willing to respond, that would be the first formal contact."

"If he's unwilling, it wouldn't count as an offense."

She nodded slightly.

The timing was indeed very good.

A refund had solid grounds and didn't seem forced.

Even if the other party ignored it, it wouldn't leave a negative impression.

Just then, a report from a logistics staff member popped up:

"Deputy Team Leader Yu Jing, Chef Li from the Anhui Cuisine Restaurant reports—the major client's pre-ordered lunch today has still not been picked up."

Yu Jing raised an eyebrow slightly and instinctively glanced at the time.

1:04 PM.

More than an hour past noon, and the meal still hadn't been collected?

She couldn't help but recall a similar delay yesterday.

At that time, the Fate Net had followed up with an update announcement shortly after.

Could it be...

Just as she was thinking, a familiar notification sound echoed in the minds of all users connected to the Fate Net:

[Fate Net Patch Update Announcement]

[The Trading House has added a new "Designated Transaction" feature: when listing an item, you can limit purchases to specified users and send related links in private messages.]

A very short announcement.

It wasn't even a version update, just a functional addition as stated.

But for those familiar with how the Fate Net operated, the strategic value of this feature wasn't hard to grasp.

"Designated Transaction..." Yu Jing softly uttered these four words, instantly understanding. "It bypasses public trading, enabling point-to-point targeted transfers."

"This essentially adds a private channel to the trading zone."

Her thoughts quickly expanded.

This feature was indeed very useful!

For instance, when gifting items, previously you could only list them publicly and sell them at a low price to the other party, with the risk of someone else snatching them up in between.

Now, with designated transactions, you could directly lock onto the other party, making it much safer.

For high-value item trades, this channel could also be used, with both parties agreeing on payment before delivery or delivery before payment, sending the link via private message to complete the transaction.

This could save a considerable amount in transaction fees.

Of course, risks still existed—the possibility of fraud couldn't be eliminated.

But among acquaintances, this feature would undoubtedly greatly enhance convenience.

However...

"Why was this feature suddenly updated?"

Yu Jing's eyes narrowed slightly.

The message she had just received flashed through her mind—the Chief's lunch hadn't been picked up yet today.

Could it be... he was eating someone else's food?

As soon as this thought emerged, Yu Jing's mood turned somewhat subtle.

"If the Chief has truly accepted a gift from someone..."

Her fingers tightened slightly around the teacup.

"That means someone has already opened a direct communication channel with the Chief."

This possibility made her heart tighten.

Compared to the State Banquet restaurants in the Food Zone, the significance of being able to privately trade directly with the Chief was undoubtedly entirely different.

And what was being traded? Food?

What could be more delicious than dishes crafted by an Imperial Chef?

Supernatural Ingredients?!

"But it's all just speculation for now."

Yu Jing took a deep breath, a faint blue light flickering in her eyes.

"The Refund Plan will proceed as usual; the timeline can be postponed, no need to rush."

"Let the Information Team keep up the effort; perhaps they'll find something."

She slowly calmed her thoughts and pondered:

"Also, we can have the masters try processing some special ingredients from treasure chests."