6: Chapter 6 Supply Shortage

The World Channel had gone completely crazy.

Chen Ergou crouched behind a haystack at the east end of the Novice Village, clutching his head as he watched the messages popping up incessantly; his head was buzzing.

"Hahahaha, did you guys see the World Channel? Iron-Head Qiang confessed in public inside the dungeon!"

"Confessed my ass! He said his teammates were trash! And he said he's been secretly in love with the healer from the team next door for three years!"

"Iron-Head Qiang: 'Actually, I've always thought you guys play like shit, I'm the core of the team!'—this has to be the side effect of the regret potion, right?"

"What regret potion? Who's selling it? Where can I buy it?"

"Seems like it's a stall set up by a player named 'Ergous Stall'!"

"Ergous Stall? That name is so cheesy, hahahaha!"

Chen Ergou huddled behind the haystack, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

He was famous, absolutely famous.

But not for a good reason.

He quickly opened his private messages. Good grief, the 99+ notifications had completely blown up his chat box. He flipped through them, and they were all asking about the regret potion—

"Brother, do you still have any regret potion? How much is it?"

"Ergous Stall, right? Where did you buy that potion? I want some too!"

"Buddy, your potion is too wild, can you get me a bottle? I just had an argument with my wife, and I want to rewind..."

"I'm a guild leader, can I get a discount for bulk orders?"

Chen Ergou looked at these messages, his eyes darting around, and the corners of his mouth curled up involuntarily.

Where there is demand, there is a market; where there is a market, there is money to be made.

This was the principle his dad had taught him since he was a kid—although his dad had been running a stall for twenty years without making much money, the principle was correct.

Just as he was pondering how to reply to the messages, a private message popped up with the note "Iron-Head Qiang".

Chen Ergou's heart skipped a beat, and he clicked to open it—

"Brother, your potion is indeed useful. That five-second rewind function really saved my life. Just now, the BOSS launched an ultimate attack, and as soon as I drank the potion, I was instantly taken back five seconds and dodged it perfectly."

Chen Ergou breathed a sigh of relief; at least the functionality was acknowledged.

But the next sentence made his smile vanish.

"But! That side effect! Can't you change it?! I spent two minutes spilling my guts in front of the whole team in the dungeon! I said they played like shit! I said I had a crush on the healer from the team next door! I've been blocked by the whole team now! The healer even called me a pervert!"

Iron-Head Qiang sent a string of angry emojis.

Chen Ergou thought for a moment and typed a reply: "Brother, this is stall merchandise, not a regular store. If you want a version without side effects, I have that too, the premium version, 100 gold coins a bottle."

Iron-Head Qiang replied instantly: "How much?!"

"100 gold coins."

"Are you robbing me?!"

"You get what you pay for. That one you had was a trial version, so side effects are normal. The premium version is guaranteed to have no side effects, with the exact same effect."

In reality, Chen Ergou was purely bullshitting.

The Stall System only gave him this one type of regret potion; all that talk about premium versions and trial versions was completely made up on the spot. But Iron-Head Qiang didn't know that; he was currently being blocked by his whole team and desperately needed a regret potion without side effects to salvage the situation.

Iron-Head Qiang was silent for a full two minutes, then sent: "...Save a bottle for me. I'm going to go scrape the money together."

Chen Ergou was amused.

He quickly set up his stall again and erected a wooden sign in front of it, on which was scrawled—

"Ergous Stall, special prices storewide! regret potion, 5 gold coins a bottle, first come, first served!"

Less than thirty seconds after the sign was put up, someone arrived.

The first to arrive was a scrawny thief player with the ID "Night Traveller". He leaned in with shifty eyes and asked in a low voice: "Are you Ergous Stall? Are you the one selling the regret potion?"

Chen Ergou replied calmly: "It's me. Do you want to buy some?"

"How much?"

"5 gold coins."

Night Traveller gasped: "5 gold coins? Brother, do you know that a white-tier weapon in the Novice Village only sells for a few copper coins? 5 gold coins is enough to buy a full set of green gear!"

Chen Ergou rolled his eyes: "Then look at the World Channel; what happened to Iron-Head Qiang after he used my potion? Isn't that effect worth 5 gold coins?"

Night Traveller thought for a moment and gritted his teeth: "Fine, give me a bottle!"

"Thanks for your patronage, no refunds or exchanges."

The second to arrive was a mage with the ID "Ice and Fire". This guy was even more direct, tossing 5 gold coins immediately: "Give me a bottle! I drank my teammate's mana potion in the dungeon just now and got scolded for ages; I need to go back and apologize."

Chen Ergou happily collected the money and handed over the potion.

Third, fourth, fifth...

In less than half an hour, all five bottles of regret potion were sold out.

Chen Ergou looked at the 25 extra gold coins in his inventory, his hands trembling.

25 gold coins!

He had been killing slimes in the Novice Village for three days and hadn't even saved up 1 gold coin. Now he had earned 25 gold coins in half an hour; was money really this easy to make?

Just as he was feeling pleased, a message from Iron-Head Qiang came again: "Brother, I've scraped the money together! 100 gold coins! Give me a bottle of the premium version!"

Chen Ergou: "..."

Where would he have a premium version?

He quickly typed: "Sorry brother, the premium version is sold out. I'll notify you as soon as I restock."

Iron-Head Qiang: "??? Didn't you just say you had some?"

"Well, someone bought it just now; you snooze, you lose, brother."

Iron-Head Qiang sent a long string of ellipses and then logged off.

Chen Ergou wiped the sweat from his forehead, thinking that this business of bullshitting people was really fucking tiring.

Just then, a ding sounded in his mind—

[Congratulations to the host for completing the first round of sales! Total revenue: 25 gold coins!]

[myriad worlds stall system upgrading... Upgrade complete!]

[Current Level: Lv.2]

[Unlock new items—]

[substitute scarecrow ×1: Summon a substitute scarecrow to attract monster aggro, lasting 30 seconds. Note: The scarecrow has independent AI, and its behavior is unpredictable.]

[shrinking cookie ×3: After eating, shrink to the size of a mouse, lasting 5 minutes. Note: During the shrinking period, you may be chased by small animals like cats or chickens.]

[Unlock stall upgrade function: Stall area +50%, allowing more items to be displayed simultaneously.]

Chen Ergou stared at the information about the new items, his eyes wide.

substitute scarecrow? Attract aggro for 30 seconds? If this thing is reliable, wouldn't tank classes go crazy for it?

shrinking cookie? Shrink to the size of a mouse? Could you crawl into a BOSS's body and attack its weak points?

But he noticed the few lines of small text at the end—

"The scarecrow has independent AI, and its behavior is unpredictable."

"During the shrinking period, you may be chased by small animals like cats or chickens."

Chen Ergou's mouth twitched.

None of the things this system gives are normal.

Every item comes with side effects, and the side effects are more outrageous than the last. The regret potion makes people spill their guts, the scarecrow's behavior is unpredictable, and the shrinking cookie gets you chased by chickens...

He suspected that the system was deliberately messing with him.

But then he thought, side effects are what make it entertaining. Look at Iron-Head Qiang's situation; although the side effect was a trap, the effect was genuinely good—the five-second rewind saved his life. As long as the useful part is powerful enough, people will naturally pay for it.

Chen Ergou chuckled and started pondering how to write ad copy for the new items.

Just then, another ding sounded in his mind—

[System Prompt: A special NPC has been detected at the west corner of the Novice Village; it is recommended that the host go and check it out. Special NPCs may provide rare items or hidden quests.]

[Hint: The special NPC's appearance time is limited, please head over as soon as possible.]

Chen Ergou was stunned.

Special NPC? Rare items? Hidden quests?

Without a word, he packed up his stall and ran towards the west corner of the Novice Village.

The Novice Village wasn't big; running from the east end to the west end took only two minutes. Chen Ergou ran to the west corner, panting, and took a look—

The west corner was a dead end, and nobody ever came there. At the end of the alley was a crooked old locust tree, and squatting under the tree was an... old man?

No, not an ordinary old man.

The old man was wearing a dusty grey robe and a tattered straw hat on his head. In front of him was a stall even more pathetic than Chen Ergou's. There was only one thing on the stall—a pitch-black, fist-sized sphere.

The old man's eyes were half-closed, as if he were asleep, or perhaps waiting for someone.

Chen Ergou walked closer, and the system prompt popped up—

[Mysterious Merchant · Old Zhou (Lv. ???)]

[Special NPC, interactable.]

Chen Ergou swallowed, and spoke cautiously: "Old man, are you running a stall?"

The old man opened one eye, looked him up and down, and chuckled: "Kid, you run a stall too?"

"Yes, yes, yes, I also run a stall." Chen Ergou pointed to his packed-up stall cloth, "We're in the same trade."

The old man snorted: "Same trade? You call that running a stall? A stall is all about 'uniqueness'; the things you sell aren't unique enough."

Chen Ergou disagreed: "How are the things I sell not unique? regret potion, substitute scarecrow, shrinking cookie—which of these isn't unique?"

The old man heard this and suddenly perked up, opening both eyes: "regret potion? substitute scarecrow? shrinking cookie?"

"That's right."

The old man was silent for a few seconds, then picked up the pitch-black sphere from his stall and handed it to Chen Ergou.

"Kid, I have something here, are you interested?"

"What is it?"

"clairaudience potion. After drinking it, you can hear everyone's conversation within 200 meters, lasting ten minutes."

Chen Ergou's eyes lit up: "That powerful? What's the side effect?"

The old man chuckled: "The side effect... you will hear the NPCs' inner monologues."

"NPCs' inner monologues? Isn't that a good thing? Can I find out about the NPCs' secret quests and such?"

The old man shook his head: "You don't understand. Some NPCs' inner monologues will only cause trouble if you know them."

Chen Ergou thought about it and felt the old man was being mysterious. But his intuition told him this thing wasn't simple; it might really be a good item.

"How much?"

"No charge." The old man shoved the sphere into Chen Ergou's hand, "It's a gift. Just one condition—when you run your stall in the future, help me keep an eye out for someone."

"Who?"

"A female player in platinum armor." The old man's eyes suddenly became deep, "If she comes to your stall, no matter what she buys, give her the best price."

Chen Ergou was confused: "Huh? Why?"

The old man didn't answer and closed his eyes again, as if he had fallen asleep once more.

Chen Ergou held the clairaudience potion and stood there, stunned for quite a while.

A female player in platinum armor? How many people in this game could be wearing platinum armor?

He shook his head, put the potion into his inventory, and turned to walk back.

Forget it, it's more important to go back and display the new items to make money. As for what the mysterious old man said... let's take it one step at a time.

After all, in this world of "world descent", anything strange and bizarre could happen.