121: Chapter 121 Monopolistic Deal? Banned to the point of quitting the game.

The gilded palace lanterns of Holy Light City shone with all-night light. The lingering warmth of the Prince Regent's investiture had not yet dissipated. The streets were filled with players wearing Lin Zhe's exclusive avatar frame, and the sound of them shouting to form parties for dungeon runs could be heard from half a street away. The entire Imperial Capital was as lively as the Lunar New Year.

Only the Trading Street in the west of the city was gloomy and bleak recently. Players gathered in front of the herbal stalls with furrowed brows, cursing one after another.

"What the hell? Why did the price of high-quality moonlight grass go up again? It was 12 copper coins each last week, and today it's directly skyrocketed to 40 copper coins? Are you trying to rob us!" Little Zhou, wearing an enchanter's robe, gripped the copper coins in his hand, his face turning green. He had just saved enough money to craft a +7 enchantment staff, and he was only short twenty moonlight grass as materials. With this price hike, the money he had saved for half a month was suddenly not enough.

The stall owner rolled his eyes and pointed to the "Holy Light Chamber of Commerce" with the gold-stamped sign across the street: "Do you think I want to raise the price? Now the supply of all Elf Race herbs is monopolized by the Holy Light Chamber of Commerce. Their purchase price is 35 copper coins, so I don't even make a profit selling them at 40 copper coins! If you want to curse, go curse them!"

Little Zhou looked in the direction he pointed. There was a long line at the entrance of the Holy Light Chamber of Commerce. Several thugs in brocade clothes were guarding the door, holding weapons. Anyone who dared to question the price was immediately pushed out. On the bulletin board at the entrance, there was also a crooked notice, which read: "By order of the Prince Regent, starting from today, a special tax of 28 copper coins will be levied on Elf Race materials. All income will be used to subsidize the construction of Luofeng Village. Please be informed."

"What the hell? The Prince Regent ordered the tax hike? Can that be true? Before, Big Brother Lin Zhe gave us so many benefits, how could he suddenly raise taxes?" A solo player nearby frowned and questioned.

"Hey, who knows. Now all the Elf Race materials in Holy Light City are monopolized by them. If you don't buy them, there's nowhere else to buy them. You can't just give up on leveling up, right?" The player in line sighed, feeling heartbroken while clutching the copper coins, but still gritted his teeth and bought two stalks.

Many life-profession players were forced into a corner and had no choice but to buy materials at high prices. The equipment they crafted also increased in price, which ordinary players simply couldn't afford. The prices on the entire Trading Street had tripled in three days, and there were complaints everywhere. Some people were so angry that they went to the official customer service to complain, but the officials just played dead and didn't even reply—the Holy Light Chamber of Commerce was backed by the remnants of the old-school nobles who had been cleaned up before. They had long since bribed the inspectors with tens of thousands of copper coins, and no one wanted to deal with this matter.

What was even more infuriating was that the people from the Holy Light Chamber of Commerce were also stirring up trouble on the world channel, saying, "The Prince Regent just took office and wants to subsidize Luofeng Village, so what if he raises taxes? If you don't want to buy, don't use Elf Race materials." They dumped all the blame on Lin Zhe. Many players who didn't know the truth were led astray, running to the comment section to post, "Why is the Prince Regent also harvesting leeks?" making things chaotic and foul-smelling.

The news soon reached Luofeng Village, thousands of miles away. On the dirt slope, Lin Chen was biting on half a piece of osmanthus spirit honey cake, swinging his short legs while scrolling through the server-wide complaint records. Beside him, Lin Yueyao was holding the high priests scepter, squatting on the ground and poking a Millennium Fire Dragon Egg, making the eggshell go thump-thump.

"Ding! Ding! Ding!"

The light screen suddenly popped up dozens of red pinned complaints, jumping three times higher than other complaints. They were all reports from Holy Light City players about the monopoly of materials and skyrocketing prices, and also attached screenshots of the rumors posted by the Holy Light Chamber of Commerce.

Lin Chen's little brow furrowed instantly. With a "slap," he patted the unfinished spirit honey cake on the stone table, his milky voice carrying obvious anger: "Dare to dump the blame on my dad? And gouging players by driving up prices? You're tired of living!"

His soft little claws tapped on the light screen, and the pale golden Power of Rules instantly swept across the server-wide trading backend. All the data floated up clearly: the six core shareholders of the Holy Light Chamber of Commerce were all remnants of the War Soul Alliance whose dungeon access had been sealed by Lin Chen before. They had pooled two million gold coins to hoard tens of thousands of stalks of high-quality moonlight grass and tens of thousands of nature crystal nucleus, monopolizing all the procurement channels for Elf Race materials in Holy Light City. They had deliberately tripled the prices and had records of hundreds of thousands of copper coins in bribes to the old-school nobles, and even chat logs in their guild channel discussing how to fabricate rumors to shift the blame onto Lin Zhe. The evidence was as solid as it could be.

"So it's the remnants of the War Soul Alliance, still daring to jump around." Lin Chen wrinkled his little nose and turned to look at Lin Yueyao beside him, "Little sister, how should we punish them?"

Lin Yueyao shook the high priests scepter in her hand, her light brown deer eyes full of seriousness, and spoke in a milky voice: "Seal their server-wide trading permissions! Don't let them use maple coin! Don't let them enter the Elf Secret Realm! Make it so they can't sell goods or buy anything!"

"Right! And make the solid evidence public, so everyone knows they are spreading rumors!" Lin Chen nodded, waving his soft little claws. Pale golden rule threads instantly rushed into the server-wide announcement backend, without any hesitation.

Hum—!

The next second, a bright red pinned announcement popped up in the vision of all online players across the server. It shone for a full fifteen seconds before disappearing. The scarlet characters were so bright that everyone's eyes were dazzled:

[Server-wide Announcement: Upon investigation, the core members of the Holy Light Chamber of Commerce are remnants of the War Soul Alliance. They colluded with old-school nobles, monopolized the procurement channels for Elf Race materials, drove up prices by 3 times, and maliciously spread rumors about the Prince Regent levying material taxes. The evidence is conclusive. The following penalties are hereby imposed:

1. The 6 core members of the Holy Light Chamber of Commerce and 12 related personnel involved in price gouging are permanently banned from server-wide trading permissions, maple coin usage rights, and Elf Secret Realm entry qualifications. All illicit gains will be confiscated and deposited into the server-wide Novice Area public welfare account;

2. All involved old-school nobles will have three months of fief taxes confiscated and deposited into the Luofeng Village public account;

3. The price of Elf Race materials in Holy Light City will be restored to the previous normal level starting today. All players can use records of purchasing materials at high prices recently to collect the difference subsidy from the public warehouse.

The final interpretation of this announcement belongs to the Archon of Luofeng Village, Lin Chen!]

Below the announcement, complete transfer records, inventory lists, and the solid evidence of rumor-mongering chat logs were attached, and even the bribery vouchers for the old-school nobles were clearly marked. There was no way to fake any of it.

The entire server was silent for three seconds, and then it completely exploded!

"What the hell? So it was the remnants of the War Soul Alliance causing trouble! And they dared to blame the Prince Regent? They deserve to die!"

"I just spent 40 copper coins to buy ten stalks of moonlight grass! And I cursed the Prince Regent twice. My face is swollen now! I'm sorry, Big Brother! I was wrong!"

"Damn, these profiteers treated us like suckers! Let's go! Smash their lousy Chamber of Commerce!"

After reading the announcement, the players in Holy Light City had their anger instantly ignited. Players who had been ripped off before grabbed their weapons and rushed towards the Holy Light Chamber of Commerce. In less than five minutes, they had surrounded the Chamber of Commerce tightly. A few thugs guarding the door tried to act tough, but were immediately smashed back to the resurrection point by the angry players. The heavy solid wood door was smashed to pieces with a "clatter."

The hundreds of thousands of stalks of moonlight grass, tens of thousands of nature crystal nucleus, and a pile of Elf Race enchantment scrolls hoarded in the warehouse were all moved out. Players spontaneously sold them at the original price of 12 copper coins. In less than an hour, they were snatched up. Players who had bought materials at high prices took their consumption records to the public warehouse to collect the difference subsidy, and each one of them was grinning from ear to ear.

At this moment, the few remnants of the War Soul Alliance from the Holy Light Chamber of Commerce were hiding in a tavern, drinking and counting money, fantasizing about taking the money and having a good time after selling the hoarded goods. Suddenly, a blinding red ban notification popped up in front of them. All trading permissions were grayed out, and even the copper coins on them were forcibly confiscated and turned over to the state. The faces of several people turned as white as paper. They couldn't even use teleportation talismans to run. As soon as they stepped out of the tavern door, they were surrounded by players who recognized them. They were beaten until their noses were bruised and faces swollen. They couldn't even find the button to delete their accounts and quit the game. Finally, they could only sneakily disappear from the Aethera Continent, without even making a splash.

The messages on the world channel refreshed so fast that the server lagged for three seconds. They were all content of players applauding. Many people specially posted topics like "Big Brother Lin Chen is awesome" and "Thank you, Prince Regent." The players who had been led astray to question Lin Zhe apologized one after another, saying they would never believe rumors again.

In the side hall, Lin Zhe had just pinched the list of congratulatory gifts sent from all over the world delivered by the palace servants, and a cold system prompt sounded in his mind: [Ding! The punishment of the War Soul Alliance remnants is complete. The server-wide trading order is stable, and the player awe value has increased significantly. Host's Power of Rules +0.5%, current progress 98.5%!]

He raised his eyes and swept across the window. On the official road leading to the palace, teams sent from all over to congratulate on the investiture were lining up and coming slowly, and the emblems of various forces were shining in the sun. Lin Zhe gently tapped the table with his fingertips, and the corners of his mouth curled into an extremely faint arc.

The clowns have been cleaned up, and the benefits that should come should also be knocking on the door.