Versatile Sword Cultivator

Chapter 125 – Forced to close?

Lin Jichen originally thought that with the stock in his three stores, it would last at least two or three days.

Unexpectedly, they opened at ten, and by twelve... everything was sold out...

In less than two hours, the pharmacy and equipment store were completely emptied.

Two of the three stores were forced to close.

Players could only leave disappointed.

Lin Jichen had underestimated the players' purchasing power and demand.

Currently, the number of players in the Tale of Immortal world was in the hundreds of millions, and this number was still skyrocketing. Even if divided among the four states, each state would have twenty million players.

Even if only one out of every hundred players bought something from Lin Jichen's stores, that would still be a demand of two hundred thousand.

The combined stock of the three stores was only twenty to thirty thousand items, so it was no surprise that the players quickly cleared them out.

Lin Jichen smiled wryly as he looked at today's revenue.

Harmony Pharmacy had sales of about 200,000 Spirit Stones.

Friendly Equipment Store had sales of about 280,000 Spirit Stones.

Honest Auction House had sales of about 350,000 Spirit Stones.

Adding these up, after deducting the share for the sect's equipment and elixirs, the rest was Lin Jichen's personal net income, nearly 500,000 Spirit Stones.

Earning half a million Spirit Stones in a single day.

If word got out, those guilds would go crazy. Even Jiang Luoyu's massive gold farming team only earned tens of thousands of Spirit Stones a day.

His rate of earning Spirit Stones was faster than all the gold farming teams in the Tale of Immortal combined.

Logically, Lin Jichen, as the boss, should be very happy.

But Lin Jichen wasn't pleased with this situation because it meant his stores were out of stock.

What would he sell tomorrow?

The next batch of goods from the Sword Sect wouldn't arrive for another seven days. Even if the alchemy masters and craftsmen he hired worked overnight, they could only produce a hundred or two hundred items at most.

That was undoubtedly a drop in the bucket.

Lin Jichen regretted not setting a daily sales limit earlier.

Fortunately, the auction house was still running. Even though his items were sold out, players could still auction off their good finds.

Lin Jichen quickly lowered the handling fee to attract more players to join.

He also hired more alchemy masters and craftsmen, offering higher pay to encourage them to work overtime for the next seven days to produce as much as possible.

But this was still far from enough.

The quickest way to gather equipment was to clear Secret Realms.

However, Secret Realms had a limit on the number of times they could be cleared. Each Secret Realm could only be cleared once a day, and the more difficult the Secret Realm, the longer it would take.

He could re-clear Nightmare and Night Cave Ghost Ridge, but Corpse King Valley would take another half day.

However, the drop rate for equipment in Nightmare and Night Cave Ghost Ridge wasn't high; clearing them might only yield a few dozen items.

The best option was Corpse King Valley, and the more people, the more equipment.

But the problem was, he was just a lone player. Where could he find so many people?

Even if he joined a random party, they wouldn't let him take all the equipment.

Lin Jichen couldn't help but think of Jiang Luoyu. Should he ask her for help?

But if he asked for her help and demanded all the equipment, with Jiang Luoyu's intelligence, she would surely guess that those three stores were his.

He had lied to her before, saying those weren't his stores. It would be so awkward to be exposed now.

Just as Lin Jichen was about to dismiss the idea, he received a message from Jiang Luoyu.

"Those three stores, they're yours, right?"

There was a sly smiley face at the end.

Lin Jichen's heart skipped a beat, feeling guilty as he replied, "Why do you ask?"

He was freaking out inside. He hadn't even asked her for help yet, so how did she know???

Did this woman put a tracker on him or something...

"I visited those three stores today. I saw a lot of Blood Fiend Guild's equipment in the auction house and the equipment store, so I guessed it might be you."

"Then, the three stores sold out and closed within two hours on their first day. If it were a real capitalist, they wouldn't do that. Clearly, the boss behind this lacks business experience, which matches my impression of you."

"Finally, I saw a familiar employee in Harmony Pharmacy, someone from your Commoner's Pharmacy. How could they end up in Harmony Pharmacy?"

"So, all things considered, you are the boss behind it."

After reading Jiang Luoyu's message, Lin Jichen didn't know what to say.

"You should be a criminal detective; it's a waste of talent otherwise," Lin Jichen joked.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Luoyu replied with a laugh, "My mom is the head of criminal investigation, once the most famous detective in China, so they don't need me."

Lin Jichen's mouth twitched. He had nothing more to say.

He thought her family was the world's richest. Her mom being a cop? What a weird combination.

"Well... can you keep it a secret for me?"

Lin Jichen asked weakly. He couldn't hide it from her, nor could he do anything about it, so he could only plead.

"You lied to me and still want me to keep it a secret? I can't do that."

Lin Jichen smiled bitterly. A real man knows when to yield. He immediately apologized.

"My bad, my bad. I was just afraid of attracting too much attention. Please understand, I'm just a small fry. I can't afford to offend any of you big shots. If you spill the beans, I'll be in big trouble."

He even sent a pitiful emoji. (Ｔ▽Ｔ)

Facing such a clever and well-connected woman, he had no choice but to give in.

Jiang Luoyu, who was in the sect, smiled sweetly when she saw the message.

"President, what's up?" a fellow spell cultivator girl asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing. You guys go ahead and take the tasks. I need to handle something first."

Jiang Luoyu, looking a bit guilty, left her team members and went to a secluded spot to send a message.

Not long after Lin Jichen replied, he received another message from Jiang Luoyu.

"Alright, you've helped me so many times. Keeping your secret is the least I can do. But sooner or later, others will find out."

Lin Jichen quickly replied, "I know that, but at least while I have no foundation or strength, I need to stay hidden. If I'm discovered, I'll deal with it then."

"Okay, that makes sense. Let's leave it at that. I have tasks to do."

"Wait, I need a favor."

Since Jiang Luoyu already knew, Lin Jichen had no more reservations.

"Can you ask your guild members to help me clear a Secret Realm again? I'll lead them through, but I need all the equipment. My store needs to open tomorrow."

"Of course, but if you take the equipment directly, it'll be too obvious and raise suspicion. Give it to me first, and I'll hand it over to you privately. That way, only you and I will know."

Jiang Luoyu agreed without hesitation and even offered a better solution.

"Great, that's perfect." Lin Jichen was delighted. This woman really thought things through.

"Also, you, as a boss, have no sense of business. Don't run your stores like this again. Your new store needs reputation, not just sales. Set a fixed daily sales limit, like your Commoner's Pharmacy. Otherwise, no amount of equipment will last you a few days." Jiang Luoyu also gave Lin Jichen some business advice.

Lin Jichen humbly accepted. Joking aside, getting business advice from the daughter of the world's richest person was better than a thousand lunches with Buffett. How could he not accept it?