The call was silent for two seconds. In the end, Bailu was the first to break the silence: "T-This doesn't seem right? I already beat Old Jing up. I feel like the Heliobus is about to come out of him any second now..."
"Stelle, could it be that you made a mistake on your side?"
"...I don't think so. Things are getting way too big over here. I-I can barely hold her back anymore."
"What? Stelle, where are you? I'll bring Old Jing over to help you right now!"
"No no no, you coming won't help this time." Stelle said somewhat anxiously: "Send Old Jing and Xueyi and the others over. The faster the better!"
...
A few minutes earlier, on the other side.
"Sister Jingliu used Old Jing as collateral to loan out such a huge sum of credit points. Could it be that you have some kind of plan?" Stelle laughed.
"Correct."
Jingliu nodded gently and said: "Miss Trailblazer, you also know that this time I returned to the Xianzhou with nothing on me. If I want to live the rest of my days peacefully and steadily, relying on just one Jing Yuan is absolutely impossible."
"That rebellious disciple of mine always says that earning money is harder for me than practicing swordsmanship, but I don't think so."
Jingliu took a small, refined and elegant sip of tea and continued: "I have, after all, stayed in Penacony for several hundred years. How could I not know how to make money?"
"Jing Yuan's thinking is typical Xianzhou thinking. There's no point explaining it to him. It's simpler to use fists, feet, and sword to replace words—saves both time and effort."
"But this isn't his fault. Not to mention the Xianzhou—even 'IPC thinking' has to bow a little before 'Penacony thinking.' You can only call it regional limitations."
Stelle: ?
Why did those words… sound a little strange?
Also, what is "Penacony thinking"?
Stelle thought seriously for a moment. She remembered that ever since Sunday volunteered to join the Express crew, every time he saw her he would show a strange, mysterious smile.
However… oh right, and then there was no "then," because at that time March 7th would have already refreshed behind Sunday. The two of them would occasionally duel because of it, but most of the time it ended with Sunday's defeat.
So… does someone like Sunday count as having "Penacony thinking"?
(At this moment, on the other side, Sunday—who was missing Stelle—suddenly sneezed for no reason. He wiped his nose with a piece of gold leaf and murmured: "It must be that Miss Stelle is thinking of me.")
Stelle thought for a moment and finally asked tentatively: "Then… Sister Jingliu, how do you think one should earn credit points using Penacony thinking?"
Hearing this, Jingliu let out a soft laugh. "What's so difficult about that?"
"It's just making money. Miss Trailblazer, let me ask you—how do you think my appearance is?"
"Eh?"
Hearing this question, Stelle was stunned for a moment, then began to seriously examine Jingliu's looks: standard oval face, delicate features. Although she had the face of a young girl, there was none of the corresponding immaturity or childishness. Instead, the accumulation of years gave her an air of dignity and elegance.
This was the typical ceiling of the cool, mature big-sister type. Even with bare makeup, this face would be enough to gather countless fans on short-video platforms.
"V-Very beautiful." Stelle scratched her head, a little embarrassed.
Jingliu rested her jade-like hand on her fragrant cheek and said lazily: "Not bad. A person must learn to utilize the resources around them. Take me for example: Jing Yuan is a resource, and this face is also a resource."
"Both can be used."
"Huh?"
Stelle's heart jumped. A bad thought immediately surged up: "Wait, Sister Jingliu, y-you're not thinking of going into… edge-lord stuff, are you?"
Stelle felt this was very possible!
Not to mention anything else—just Jingliu's cold, otherworldly pretty face doing edge-lord content, with that kind of contrast… hiss—!
Stelle could already imagine what the comment section would look like:
—What if?
—Stop making your Sister Jingliu laugh.
—What persona is Sister Jingliu going for today?
Eek!
Just thinking about that scene made Stelle feel a deep sense of powerlessness: Could even someone like Sister Jingliu sacrifice her dignity for credit points? How can that be?!
Jingliu is different!
Slap!
Stelle slammed the table and stood up, saying with a heartbroken expression: "Sister Jingliu! You're not like those other women! How can you have such thoughts?!"
"I, the Trailblazer, will absolutely not allow my friend to walk down the wrong path. Even if I have to force it, I'll drag you back!"
"Although compared to credit points, face really isn't worth mentioning, actively doing it and being forced are two completely different concepts!"
"..."
However, Jingliu only gave a calm smile: "Miss Trailblazer, see? This is exactly the typical Xianzhou thinking I mentioned earlier. If a person only learns the one truth 'making money isn't shameful' after coming back from Penacony, then that person went there for nothing."
"Eh?"
Seeing that Jingliu was still sitting calmly like she was fishing, Stelle was also stunned for a moment, then sat back down: "Sorry, I got anxious. Please continue."
"Heh..."
Jingliu held her teacup and took a small sip. Taking the opportunity, she secretly glanced at Stelle and felt it was interesting and amusing.
The moment Stelle had stood up and accused her just now, it had caused Jingliu a brief moment of daze. In that instant, the Stelle before her overlapped with the figure of a certain fox-girl from the past, making one feel dazed.
...That's right. If she heard the words Jingliu had said earlier, she would probably also be unable to resist directly accusing her, right?
After putting down the teacup, Jingliu finally said softly: "Sacrifice my body? How much money can sacrificing one's body even exchange for? In Penacony, even the industry of sacrificing one's body is highly competitive, and the income isn't high. After all, not everyone is a long-life species."
"That kind of method is nothing more than drinking poison to quench thirst—a small path at best."
"My plan only has two steps. First step, I need to invest a sum of money in exchange for a massive amount of traffic. The only thing I need to do is edit a large number of works. It can be completely outsourced."
"And the second step is where the real money-making begins."
"True Penacony people are always the first to eat crab."
At this point, a trace of excitement surged in Jingliu's ruby-like eyes: "Edge-lord content? Sacrificing one's body? Heh, nothing more than a bunch of low-class methods. I will deliberately do the opposite!"
"The more they reveal, the less I reveal! I won't even show my face!"
"Then, I will organize a large-scale concert at the biggest venue in the Luofu. It can accommodate one hundred thousand audience members. Tickets at 999 each. Two shows per day—daytime and nighttime—and run for three consecutive days..."
"At that time, I only need to go on stage and say 'I am Jingliu, how are you all?' and I can sit back and collect credit points in the hundreds of millions, directly achieving financial freedom. Then I can retire from the internet forever and never need to make a comeback."
"What is making money? If both sides pay an equivalent price, that's called a transaction. But if others pay for the ticket while I do nothing at all—that's called making money."
"This is Penacony thinking."
"..."
Stelle stared blankly at the Jingliu in front of her. Although she really wanted to say "Stop making money for a second, I have a question," she thought about it and ultimately swallowed the words. She silently dialed Bailu's number.