Chapter 21: After ripping off a ruthless businessman, Fatty Wang immediately kowtows to him.

"Brother, aren't we going to farm the Wolf Kings Lair?" Fatty Wang followed behind Lin Ye, looking puzzled. "Why are we heading toward the Trading House?"

Lin Ye didn't turn his head. "Taking care of something first."

"What is it?"

"Helping you collect a debt."

Fatty Wang was stunned for a moment, then his eyes turned red again. He hadn't expected Lin Ye to actually remember the incident where he was scammed by the Heartless Merchant.

The three of them walked to the entrance of the Trading House, and that unscrupulous merchant with the ID "Heartless Merchant" was still there. He was squatting on the steps, his face deathly pale, his eyes unfocused, muttering to himself: "It's over... it's all over... all my money is gone..."

The "Mandatory Transaction Penalty" debuff that Lin Ye had placed on him last time was still active. As long as he conducted any transaction, the system would automatically deduct 200% of the transaction amount as a penalty. He had tried three times and had been deducted over five thousand gold coins; now, only a few copper coins remained in his account.

"Yo, still here?" Lin Ye walked over and squatted in front of him. "How's business?"

The Heartless Merchant raised his head. Seeing Lin Ye's face, he shuddered all over. "You... you motherfucker, you still have the nerve to come here?! It was you who put that debuff on me!"

Lin Ye smiled. "I put it on you? Do you have proof?"

"I... I..." The Heartless Merchant was speechless. He really didn't have any evidence. The system only showed that he had a debuff applied to him, but it was impossible to find out who had applied it.

"Don't spout nonsense without evidence." Lin Ye stood up and brushed the dust off his knees. "But I'm not here today to bicker with you. I'm here to settle accounts."

The Heartless Merchant's expression changed. "Settle what accounts?"

Lin Ye waved to the person behind him, and Fatty Wang hurriedly ran over.

"Do you recognize him?" Lin Ye pointed at Fatty Wang.

The Heartless Merchant glanced at Fatty Wang, his eyes flickering. "I... I don't recognize him."

"Don't recognize him?" Lin Ye smiled. "Then let me help you remember. Yesterday, at the mine east of the Novice Village, you used fake gold coins to scam a newbie player out of rare materials—a total of twelve Mithril Ores, three rubies, and a Wolf King's Fur. The total value is at least five thousand gold coins. That newbie player is him."

The Heartless Merchant's face turned completely white. He wanted to run, but his legs were too weak to even stand up.

"You... you're spouting nonsense! I didn't scam anyone! It was a normal transaction!"

"A normal transaction?" Lin Ye opened the transaction history and pulled up yesterday's records—the Heartless Merchant had bought materials worth five thousand gold coins from Fatty Wang for 100 gold coins, and those 100 gold coins were fake. The system had already flagged it as an illegal transaction.

"See that?" Lin Ye shoved the record in his face. "Fake gold coins, illegal transaction, the system has it all recorded. Do you want me to take a screenshot and post it on the forum so everyone on the server can see?"

The Heartless Merchant completely broke down, collapsing on the ground, his voice trembling. "You... what do you want?"

Lin Ye squatted down and patted his face. "It's simple. Return the scammed materials tenfold. And apologize to him. Then this matter will be settled."

"Tenfold?!" The Heartless Merchant shrieked. "Ten times five thousand gold coins is fifty thousand gold coins!! Where would I get that much money?!"

"Then use equipment to compensate." Lin Ye glanced at his backpack. "That purple item you're wearing, plus that blue weapon, should be worth about fifty thousand."

"No way! That's my endgame gear!! If I give it to you, what will I use to fight monsters??"

"That's your problem." Lin Ye stood up. "Either pay up, or I'll post the transaction record on the forum and let the whole server know you're a scammer. When that happens, don't even think about surviving in this game."

The Heartless Merchant gritted his teeth, his face livid. He thought for a long time, but in the end, he caved. He opened the trade interface and transferred fifty thousand gold coins, as well as the purple item and blue weapon he was wearing, to Fatty Wang.

[System Notification: You have received 50,000 gold coins from player [Heartless Merchant], obtained [Shadow Breastplate] (Purple), and obtained [Shadow Dagger] (Blue).]

Fatty Wang stared at the items in his backpack, completely dumbfounded. Fifty thousand gold coins? Purple gear? He had never seen this much money in his entire life!

"Brother... this... this is too much, right?" Fatty Wang stammered.

Lin Ye smiled. "Take it. It's what you deserve."

The Heartless Merchant gritted his teeth and apologized to Fatty Wang—though his tone sounded like he wanted to eat someone: "Sor... sorry."

Lin Ye nodded in satisfaction and raised his hand to clear the "Mandatory Transaction Penalty" debuff from the Heartless Merchant.

"Alright, get lost. Don't let me catch you scamming people in the Novice Village again. Otherwise—" he paused, "next time it won't be tenfold, it'll be a hundredfold."

The Heartless Merchant scrambled away, and even after running far off, he turned back to curse: "You just wait!! This isn't over!!"

Lin Ye ignored him and turned to look at Fatty Wang. Fatty Wang was staring at the gold coins and equipment in his backpack, his eyes wide and fixed.

"Brother... you're too awesome!!" Fatty Wang jumped up in excitement. "I'll follow you from now on!! I'll do whatever you tell me to do!!"

Lin Ye smiled. "Alright. Then I'll arrange a task for you first."

"What task?"

"Go and sweep through all the material merchants in the Novice Village to see if there are any other unscrupulous merchants scamming people. If there are, write them down, and we'll deal with them together later."

Fatty Wang's eyes lit up. "Got it!! Leave it to me!!"

He ran off excitedly.

Su Qinghan watched Fatty Wang's retreating back and couldn't help but smile. "You really know how to use people. Although Fatty's combat power isn't great, his 'Lucky Emperor' constitution combined with his honesty and willingness to work hard really makes him suitable for logistics."

Lin Ye nodded. "That's what I thought too. In the future, when we run the material business, Fatty will be responsible for receiving and shipping goods, you'll handle support, and I'll be responsible for causing trouble. Clear division of labor, tacit cooperation."

Su Qinghan glanced at him. "You actually want to run a material business?"

"Of course." Lin Ye's mouth curled into a wicked smile. "Doesn't the Heavenly Temple monopolize materials? Then I'll smash their monopoly and open a fair-price material supermarket. Let all the casual players on the server be able to buy cheap materials."

Su Qinghan was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "You, although you're wicked, your heart isn't bad."

Lin Ye shrugged. "It's not that my heart isn't bad, it's that I have a bottom line. Scamming only the rotten people, protecting the ordinary people. That's the rule of our team."

Su Qinghan looked at him, a trace of appreciation in her eyes. "Alright. Then I'll work with you from now on."

As the two were talking, Fatty Wang came running back, panting. "Brother!! I found them!! There are three material merchants in the Novice Village playing tricks. One sells iron ore, one sells herbs, and another sells leather. They are colluding to drive up prices, raising material costs by several times!!"

Lin Ye's eyes turned cold. "Which three?"

Fatty Wang pointed in the direction. "Old Chen at the blacksmith shop, Grandma Sun at the herb shop, and Big Sister Zhao at the leather goods shop."

Without another word, Lin Ye took Su Qinghan and Fatty Wang straight to the blacksmith shop.

Old Chen was squatting at the shop entrance, haggling with a few newbie players. "Iron ore is 10 gold coins each, take it or leave it!! That's the price for the whole server now!!"

Those few newbie players looked troubled. "But we need iron ore for our quest, we can't afford it..."

"If you can't afford it, don't do the quest!! Poor wretches!!"

Lin Ye walked over and patted Old Chen's shoulder. "Boss, how much is the iron ore?"

Old Chen turned around and saw it was Lin Ye; his expression changed instantly. He still had fresh memories of the time Lin Ye put a debuff on him.

"10... 10 gold coins." Old Chen stammered.

Lin Ye smiled. "Wasn't it 1 gold coin last time? Why did it rise tenfold?"

Old Chen wiped the sweat from his forehead. "The... the market price went up. I can't help it."

"Market price?" Lin Ye opened the Trading House to take a look—the market price of iron ore was indeed 10 gold coins. But this price had been artificially inflated by several large guilds; it wasn't a normal price at all.

"Alright. Then let me ask you, who are you colluding with to drive up the price?"

Old Chen's expression changed. "I... I don't know what you're talking about."

Lin Ye didn't waste any words; he raised his hand and placed a debuff on Old Chen—"Mandatory Transaction Penalty". The effect was the same as the Heartless Merchant's; whoever traded with him would have money deducted.

[System Notification: Target [Old Chen] has been inflicted with [Mandatory Transaction Penalty]. Effect Description: When conducting any transaction, the system will automatically deduct 200% of the transaction amount as a penalty, which will be returned to the other party of the transaction.]

Old Chen's health bar instantly dropped by 10%, startling him so much he jumped up. "You... you're here again?!"

Lin Ye smiled. "If you don't want to trigger the Mandatory Transaction Penalty, change the prices back to their original rates. Otherwise, your shop can just wait to go out of business."

Old Chen gritted his teeth, his face livid. He wanted to resist, but remembering the miserable state of being afflicted with a debuff last time, he chickened out. Trembling, he adjusted the price back to 1 Gold Coin.

"Al... alright. It's changed back."

Lin Ye nodded in satisfaction and then made a round to the herb shop and the leather goods shop. Granny Sun and Sister Zhao initially wanted to act tough, but seeing Old Chen's miserable state, they all chickened out and obediently changed the prices back to the original rates.

After the three material merchants adjusted their prices back, the material prices in the Trading House also dropped accordingly. The iron ore, herbs, and leather that had been inflated to 10 Gold Coins all dropped back to 1 Gold Coin.

[World Channel]

[Player "Brick-Moving Expert": Holy crap! Material prices dropped! Iron ore is back to 1 Gold Coin!]

[Player "Milk Tea Without Sugar": Really? Let me check... Holy crap, it really dropped!]

[Player "Invincible Sword God": It must be Brother Ye's doing! I just saw him over at the blacksmith shop!]

[Player "Yes Little Follower": Brother Ye is awesome! He cleaned up all the profiteers!]

Fatty Wang watched the messages on the World Channel, his hands trembling with excitement. "Brother, you're too awesome! Now all the casual players on the server are praising you!"

Lin Ye smiled. "Small matter. Let's go, it's time to run the dungeon."

The three of them formed a party and headed toward the Wolf Kings Lair.

When they reached the entrance of the dungeon, Fatty Wang suddenly stopped, staring at a rock on the side of the road with a blank expression.

"What's wrong?" Lin Ye asked.

Fatty Wang squatted down and pushed aside the bushes next to the rock. A treasure chest was actually hidden inside!

"Holy crap! How is there a treasure chest here?" Fatty Wang's voice changed from excitement. "I felt that this rock was suspicious when I passed by just now..."

He opened the treasure chest, and a golden light flashed—

[System Notification: Congratulations to player [Fatty Wang] for opening a hidden treasure chest and obtaining [Wolf Kings Eye] (Purple Necklace)! Stats: Strength +20, Critical Hit Rate +10%, deals an additional 15% damage to beast-type monsters.]

Su Qinghan stared at the notification, stunned. "A purple necklace? This treasure chest spawns randomly; tens of thousands of players on the server can't find it, yet Fatty found it at a single glance?"

Lin Ye smiled. "I told you, he's the god of luck."

Fatty Wang chuckled and handed the necklace to Lin Ye. "Brother, here you go! I don't have a use for it."

Lin Ye didn't take it. "Keep it yourself. You found it."

"But..."

"No buts." Lin Ye patted his shoulder. "In our party, whoever finds an item gets to keep it. That's the rule."

Fatty Wang's eyes turned red again. He put on the necklace and chuckled foolishly.

The three of them stepped into the Wolf Kings Lair, and the system popped up a notification—

[System Notification: You have entered [Wolf Kings Lair] (Highest Difficulty). Good luck.]

It was pitch black inside the dungeon, with white bones and bloodstains everywhere, and gusts of eerie wind blowing. Wolf howls could be heard from afar, shaking the walls.

Fatty Wang cowered behind Lin Ye, his voice trembling. "Brother... this place is so scary..."

Lin Ye smiled. "What are you afraid of? I'm here."

He raised his hand and applied a debuff to several elite wolves in the corridor. Fifty stacks, instant kill. Experience points and equipment dropped everywhere.

Fatty Wang's eyes lit up, and he quickly ran over to pick up the equipment—a blue dagger, a blue chest piece, and several rare materials.

"Brother! Blue equipment dropped!" Fatty Wang shouted excitedly.

Lin Ye nodded. "Continue."

The three of them walked deeper inside, with Lin Ye clearing the way in front, Su Qinghan casting shields in the back, and Fatty Wang picking up equipment in the middle. Their coordination became increasingly seamless.

Ten minutes later, they reached the deepest part of the dungeon—a massive cave. In the center of the cave lay a giant wolf five times the size of a normal Wolf King, covered in silver-white scales, with blood-red eyes, emitting a suffocating aura of pressure.

[BOSS: Silver-Armored Wolf King (Elite)]

Level: 20 Health: 80000 Skills: Silver Armor Protection, Rending Charge, Wolf King Roar, Berserk Burst, Summon Wolf Pack.

Su Qinghan looked at the BOSS panel and gasped. "Eighty thousand health? And five skills? This is more than twenty times stronger than the Wolf King outside!"

Fatty Wang's legs went weak. "Brother... can we beat this?"

Lin Ye curled the corner of his mouth into a devious smile. "Can't beat it? That doesn't exist."

He raised his hand and applied 100 stacks of debuff to the Silver-Armored Wolf King. The Wolf King's health bar instantly dropped by one-eighth. It let out an angry roar, sprang up from the ground, and pounced toward Lin Ye.

"Holy Shield!" Su Qinghan quickly cast a shield on Lin Ye.

The Wolf King's claws swiped at the shield, shattering it, but Lin Ye's health only dropped by one-third. He took the opportunity to stack another 100 layers of debuff.

200 stacks. The Wolf King's health bar dropped by one-fourth, and its speed slowed down significantly.

"Keep stacking!" Su Qinghan shouted.

Lin Ye was unhurried and stacked another 100 layers.

300 stacks. The Wolf King's health bar dropped by half, and all its attributes were reduced by half. It panicked and activated "Summon Wolf Pack"—over a dozen elite wolves instantly swarmed out of the cave, howling and charging toward Lin Ye.

Fatty Wang screamed in fear. "Brother! So many wolves!"

Lin Ye smiled and raised his hand to apply debuffs to all those elite wolves. Fifty stacks, instant kill. The dozen or so wolves all died before even reaching them, and equipment dropped all over the ground.

Fatty Wang stared at the equipment covering the ground, his eyes wide, but he didn't dare move—afraid of being killed by the Wolf King.

"Fatty, pick up the equipment!" Lin Ye shouted.

Fatty Wang hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and rushed forward. He picked up items while running, moving as fast as the wind. Strangely, all of the Wolf King's skills missed; even though they were clearly aimed at Fatty Wang, they all slammed into the rocks nearby.

Su Qinghan watched this scene, stunned. "This... this is too ridiculous, right? He can even dodge the BOSS's skills?"

Lin Ye smiled. "I told you, he's the god of luck."

400 stacks. 500 stacks. The Wolf King's health bar dropped to only 10%, its attributes were reduced by 90%, and it lay on the ground unable to even move.

Lin Ye walked up to it, squatted down, and patted its head. "Do you submit?"

The Wolf King let out a pitiful whimper and nodded frantically.

[System Notification: The target [Silver-Armored Wolf King] has entered a "Submission" state. Do you wish to accept its submission?]

Lin Ye clicked "Yes". The debuffs on the Wolf King were instantly cleared. It lay on the ground, wagging its tail like a dog.

Su Qinghan watched this scene, completely impressed. "You beat the BOSS into submission?"

Lin Ye shrugged. "What else? Killing it would just drop a few pieces of equipment. Taming it means it can work for us in the future."

Fatty Wang scrambled up from the ground, holding a pile of equipment in his arms, and chuckled foolishly. "Brother, I picked up so many things! There's purple gear! And a golden item!"

"Golden?" Lin Ye took it and looked—it was a golden ring.

[Wolf King Contract] (SS-Rank · Hidden Artifact)

Effect: Can summon the Silver-Armored Wolf King as a combat partner for 30 minutes. Cooldown: 24 hours.

Lin Ye's eyes lit up. "An SS-Rank artifact? And it can summon a BOSS?"

Su Qinghan leaned over to take a look and gasped. "This equipment is too heaven-defying! There aren't many like it on the entire server!"

Lin Ye put on the ring and curled the corner of his mouth into a devious smile. "Let's go, it's time to head to the main city. Let Qin Wentian see what real strength is."

The three of them walked out of the dungeon. The sunset of the Novice Village shone on them, casting long shadows.

Fatty Wang followed behind Lin Ye, his arms full of equipment, chuckling foolishly. He felt that the most correct decision he had ever made in his life was clinging to Lin Ye for support.

As for Lin Ye, he looked toward the direction of the main city in the distance, a flicker of anticipation in his eyes. Qin Wentian, the Heavenly Temple, the number one guild on the server—

Just wait, I'm coming.