Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou ate a quick breakfast and went downstairs. Just as they stepped out of the guesthouse, they heard a heated argument coming from the pedestrian street—
A young man pointed at the menu and cursed, "Is this robbery? I used to only pay 800 gold coins for a bowl of rice noodles, but today it's 3200! Boss, are you out of your mind?"
The shop owner explained with a bitter face, "The price of rice noodles I bought this morning has quadrupled. There's nothing I can do. If I sell them at the old price, I'll lose money! Everything is going up in price now, and business is about to go out of business."
A young man nearby angrily slammed his bowl on the ground and yelled, "I'm not eating anymore!"
The boss immediately gave chase: "Damn it! You think you can just run away after smashing a bowl? Stop right there and pay up!"
The young man turned and quickly slipped away, with the slightly overweight owner panting as he chased after him. Several customers in the rice noodle shop, seeing the owner run off, finished their food and fled. The owner, who hadn't caught up with the young man and returned to the shop to find all the customers gone, turned ashen-faced. Dejected, he told the waitress to clear away the empty bowls, then simply closed the door and hung up a "Closed for Business" sign.
Further on, an older woman and a young man were arguing. The reason was that the young man was not paying attention and bumped into her, breaking her basket of eggs. She demanded 10,000 gold coins in compensation, but the young man refused. So the older woman grabbed his sleeve and wouldn't let him go.
A crowd had gathered around, whispering amongst themselves: "Are these prices insane? Luckily I bought a lot of instant noodles at the supermarket yesterday..." "I bought over a hundred eggs yesterday, if I sell them now, I'll be rich!" "Don't rush to sell them, what if they go up again tomorrow?" "My God, they're going up again?! This is unbearable!"
The pedestrian street is located in the old city area, and there are many small businesses there.
Because many people skipped out on their bills at the rice noodle shop early in the morning, and a steamed bun shop was even vandalized by customers, the owners were so frightened that they all closed down. As Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang walked along, the pedestrian street, which was quite lively yesterday, suddenly became very deserted. One shop after another hung up "Closed" signs to avoid trouble, and the pedestrians on the street looked terrified.
Shao Qingge was waiting for them downstairs at the hotel. Upon seeing the two, he immediately stepped forward and asked, "How was last night? Did you encounter any thieves?"
Xiao Lou shook her head: "No, it's very quiet at Shanshui B&B."
Shao Qingge rubbed his temples, his head aching: "I didn't sleep last night. The two girls next door cried all night. It seems like all their supplies were stolen... Looks like the thief had a good haul yesterday and isn't planning to target Shanshui B&B for now?"
Yu Hanjiang frowned and said, " Shanshui B&B is the place where Challengers are most concentrated. There are more than 20 people living there. If everyone unites to deal with him, the thief will not be able to gain any advantage. This thief is very clever. He probably targets people who are alone."
Shao Qingge sighed: "If I had known, I would have left all the supplies with you."
Xiao Lou smiled and comforted him, "It's okay, less than a tenth of our reserves were stolen. As long as the warehouse is fine, it's alright."
Yu Hanjiang said, "I'll go check the warehouse. You all go together and be careful."
***
Shao Qingge and Xiao Lou have returned to the stock market.
Real estate-related stocks remained stable today, with some even showing an upward trend—for example, stocks like Tianhong Real Estate, Rongguang Real Estate, and Fangke Real Estate Group, which Shao Qingge had been monitoring yesterday, all rose by about 5%.
A 5% increase in the stock market in a single day is already a very high bonus. Many stock investors have realized this and are discussing: "Why not sell all other stocks and buy real estate stocks?" "My food stocks have fallen by 25%, what a huge loss! I should have bought real estate stocks..." "Yeah, prices are going crazy, only housing prices are stable."
Xiao Lou was at a loss for words when she heard these comments.
What's terrifying isn't falling into despair from the start, but constantly giving people hope and then destroying that hope little by little.
Plum Blossom A is indeed manipulating the world in the way Shao Qingge predicted—he intends to gradually destroy people's psychological defenses. Seeing real estate stocks rising, many people are starting to invest in them. But what if the real estate market collapses? Will these people still have the will to live?
Some smart people sense something is wrong and immediately sell their stocks, but there are always some people who cling to wishful thinking, hoping they can make it back. This is like the "gambler's mentality": when you lose 1,000, you think you can break even; when you lose 2,000, you still think you can win it back. Because you're unwilling to accept defeat, you invest more and more—until you go bankrupt.
Many stock investors are already trapped in their stocks, and getting out is easier said than done.
Xiao Lou walked to the window and saw a large number of stock investors gathered on the rooftop. The stock market had fallen another 50% today compared to yesterday, and these investors had spontaneously organized themselves, unfurling large banners demanding an explanation from the municipal government.
Not far away in Central Square, some people were also marching and demonstrating, holding up flags covered with various slogans: "Strongly demand the restoration of prices!" "Give us back a stable market!" "A week's wages can't even buy a bag of eggs? How are we supposed to survive?"
The crowd in the square was agitated, but thanks to the police intervention to maintain order, no bloodshed occurred.
At 8:50 a.m., a middle-aged man in a suit with a respectable appearance suddenly appeared on the large screen in Central Square.
Facing a large number of cameras, the man spoke in a calm voice: "Good morning, citizens. This is a press conference. I am the director of the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of City A."
Mayor Liu Qingming, please don't get agitated or panic. Due to the financial crisis, prices in the city will fluctuate to some extent in the next few days, but we are working hard to regulate the market and will restore order as soon as possible..."
The crowd quieted down and looked up at him as he gave his speech.
Director Liu Qingming gave a long explanation of financial concepts that the public couldn't understand, and then said, "Please do not gather in groups to cause trouble and make the situation worse. The best thing for us now is to go home, enjoy the air conditioning, and watch TV. This nightmarish weekend will soon be over, and I believe prices will soon return to normal levels."
Xiao Lou: "..."
What kind of nonsense are you spouting? Are you trying to fool a three-year-old?
Shao Qingge pinched the bridge of his nose and said, " Liu Qingming, what a name... If you believe him when visiting graves on Qingming Festival, you're a ghost!"
Xiao Lou was both amused and exasperated: "Maybe there's no Qingming Festival in this world? But when Challengers hear his name, they'll understand—this is a character deliberately arranged by Ace of Spades or Plum Blossom A to temporarily stabilize the situation. He might just run away next week."
Shao Qingge: "..."
Sending the bureau chief out to make grand promises and reassure the public is merely a temporary measure to calm public sentiment. However, such deception will only lead to a hurricane-like outburst and backlash from the temporarily stabilized public emotions.
Not only are prices rising, but the officials who are supposed to be monitoring the market are actually deceiving everyone. Who can stand that?!
Because Director Liu gave a bunch of vague and incomprehensible explanations, and with the police controlling the situation, the crowd quickly dispersed, each hoping that things might really be as he said, and that the price fluctuations would stabilize in a day or two.
Deep down, no one was really sure, but humans are good at comforting themselves. Sometimes people would rather believe a lie than face a harsher reality.
The supermarket in Central Square was packed with people.
This morning, the supermarket restocked its stock, and everyone went on a shopping spree. The shelves were emptied in no time, and the queues were far less orderly than yesterday, indicating that people were noticeably more agitated than yesterday.
Shao Qingge and Xiao Lou glanced at the supermarket and quickly turned to go to the internet cafe from yesterday.
The price of internet access rose to 1600 gold coins per hour. Xiao Lou still had some change left, so she paid for the internet access of two computers. Shao Qingge sat in front of the computer trading, continuing to short real estate stocks, while Xiao Lou looked up some information online.
He discovered that all he could find information about was the world of Spade 3 Secret Room.
The city they were in was called "City A," which seemed to be a small space within Card World. On the forum, many people were swearing, and media reporters were using various slogans to brainwash everyone: "The financial crisis is only temporary; believe that we will overcome it!" "Join hands to overcome the difficulties and protect our home, City A!" "The soaring prices are just stimulating consumption; everyone, please be patient, the market will soon return to normal..."
There are many such inspirational quotes, and quite a few people in the comments actually believe them.
The forum participants were divided into optimists and pessimists. Optimists said that the Financial Crisis would soon pass and that as long as they had savings and supplies, they had nothing to fear.
Pessimists are already trying to escape: "I booked a train ticket to Moon City for tomorrow. The ticket price is extremely high and tickets are hard to come by, but I believe that leaving City A now is the best option." "I have lived here for many years and I don't want to leave, but I really can't take it anymore. I plan to go to my relatives' house in another city for a while."
These are all freelancers who can travel whenever they want.
But most people's jobs, relatives, and houses are all here—their roots are here, so how can they leave so easily?
Xiao Lou tried to buy a ticket to " Moon City " on the online ticketing system, but after verifying his identity information, the system displayed "You are prohibited from purchasing tickets"—a result he expected.
He's a Challenger, so he definitely can't just buy a ticket and run away. The only ones who can run away are the freelancers in this world.
After browsing local forums and news for an hour, Xiao Lou discovered that quite a few freelancers were buying train tickets to escape the city. These people are undoubtedly clever, but only if the current transportation system is still functioning normally.
Once traffic is paralyzed, there's no way to escape!
Nearby, Shao Qingge had finished trading stocks, and Xiao Lou got up and left with him.
Shao Qingge asked in a low voice, " Professor Xiao, what did you find while searching the web?"
Xiao Lou said, "Judging from the forum replies and information released on various social networking sites, about 40% of people are optimistic and believe that prices will recover; 40% of people are frantically hoarding supplies with the worst-case scenario in mind; and another 20% of people are… in a hurry to buy tickets to escape."
Shao Qingge stroked his chin and said, "Tomorrow is a workday, there will definitely be a large-scale strike. Once the transportation system is paralyzed, even optimists will turn pessimistic." He thought for a moment and suddenly said, "I need to prepare in advance and buy a computer from the internet cafe owner."
Xiao Lou asked understandingly, "Are you worried that the internet cafe will also close tomorrow?"
Shao Qingge nodded: "It's better to be prepared."
After all, too many restaurants have already put up "closed" signs today. This internet cafe is deserted, with only three or five people surfing the internet. If the cost of internet access doubles again tomorrow, people will have trouble even getting food. Who will have time to come to an internet cafe?
Shao Qingge went to the front desk of the internet cafe and said, "Boss, do you have any old computers for me to sell? I don't have many requirements, just need to be able to access the internet."
The boss asked for an exorbitant price: "100,000 gold coins, and you can choose any of the several obsolete machines you want."
Xiao Lou smiled and said, "Boss, you know the current situation. This internet cafe has over fifty seats, and only four or five people are using it today. Maybe tomorrow..."
Nobody comes anymore. People are struggling to even get food, who has the spare money to come online? You agree, right?
The boss's lips twitched violently, because he knew the young man was right.
With electricity and internet fees skyrocketing these past two days, his internet cafe had to raise its fees as well, causing business to plummet. On weekends before, the computers were always full, but this weekend, yesterday there were only half the people, and today… only 10%.
Looking at the empty internet cafe, he felt sad. This was an internet cafe that he had invested half his life savings to open!
Xiao Lou continued with a smile, "You have so many computers; if they're just sitting there unused, they're no different from a pile of scrap metal. Sell one to us."
The boss thought about it carefully and said, "Okay! Then name your price?"
Xiao Lou said, "How about this, I'll trade you ten boxes of chocolate for your old laptop. Chocolate is really expensive now. You can go to the supermarket and see, it's been sold out for a long time and you can't buy it at all. Ten boxes of chocolate will cost tens of thousands of gold coins, and the price might even go up tomorrow."
Shao Qingge was taken aback— Professor Xiao was truly clever. After the price collapse, "bartering" was the best method. They could take the extra gold coins out of the secret room and spend them in other worlds.
The boss frowned, seemingly quite conflicted. Xiao Lou continued, "We don't need a high-end desktop computer, just a laptop that can access the internet. I see yours is quite old, why don't you give it to us?"
As Xiao Lou spoke, he took out a chocolate from his backpack.
The sight of slices of chocolate, already sold out in the supermarket, made the shop owner swallow hard.
He paused for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Fine! I've been using this laptop for four years, mainly for managing client data. I'll copy the data onto a USB drive, and you can take it with you."
Internet cafe owners have no shortage of computers, let alone a very old laptop.
Xiao Lou happily traded ten boxes of chocolate for a laptop...
It's almost unbelievable in the real world.
After leaving the internet cafe with his laptop, Shao Qingge exclaimed, " Professor Xiao, your reaction was too quick! I almost paid up."
Xiao Lou smiled slightly: " CEO Shao usually doesn't really consider the price when he buys things. But now, with prices so unstable, exchanging rare items for his surplus items is something we can easily afford, and it's not a loss for him either."
Shao Qingge was full of admiration: "You really know how to be shrewd, trading chocolate for a laptop... What a bizarre experience." He put the laptop into his backpack, squinted his eyes, and said, "How about trading instant noodles for two cell phones?"
Xiao Lou said, "We can check out the secondhand market."
He specifically requested a laptop because laptops can be charged. If he opted for a desktop, firstly, it would be inconvenient to move, and secondly, if there's a power outage, the computer wouldn't turn on and he'd be completely ruined.
The laptop has several hours of battery life, and can be used again after a full charge when taken to other places.
A cell phone is also necessary, since Captain Yu always acts alone, and he's really worried about him. He'll buy Captain Yu a cell phone that can make calls, and he and Shao Qingge will also buy one, so it will be easier to stay in touch.
Xiao Lou and Shao Qingge went to the second-hand mobile phone market.
It's very deserted here, with only a handful of shops open. After all, the market has gone crazy, and most people are rushing to buy supermarket supplies. Nobody is paying attention to secondhand mobile phones.
The bosses were all sickly, sighing and listless.
Xiao Lou traded milk, instant noodles, and other supplies for three mobile phones. At the time, each old phone cost about 50 RMB. But now, the prices of supplies have skyrocketed... You can eat instant noodles, but can you eat broken phones?
The boss readily gave him three old cell phones and even threw in three SIM cards.
In this world, people use mobile phones that are not like smartphones in the real world that can video chat and use WeChat. They can only send text messages and make calls, but that is enough for them. With these three mobile phones, it is convenient for the three of them to contact each other when they are acting separately.
******