Chapter 51: The protection fee package system goes live, causing server-wide frenzy and crashing the servers.

The day after Qin Wentian smashed twenty gaming pods, he appeared at the entrance of the Commoner Supermarket with a pair of panda eyes. Fatty Wang was opening the door and was startled by his appearance: "Guild Leader Qin, did you go coal mining last night?"

Qin Wentian ignored him, walked straight to the counter, and placed a cup of milk tea on the table: "Brought this for you."

Fatty Wang froze for a moment, picked up the milk tea, and saw that—hey, it was his favorite brand, and it was still hot. "You... how did you know I drink this?"

"You dangle that cup of milk tea in front of the supermarket every day; I'm not blind." Qin Wentian turned and walked to his corner, sat down, and began polishing his white-grade iron sword.

Fatty Wang held the milk tea, feeling a warmth in his heart. This man had changed; he really had changed.

Lin Ye walked downstairs and saw Qin Wentian polishing his sword, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth: "Guild Leader Qin, not going to the Novice Village today?"

"I'm going. Once Fatty opens up, I'll go." Qin Wentian didn't even look up. "I promised a few newbies yesterday that I'd take them to farm elite mobs today."

Lin Ye nodded, walked behind the counter, and checked the back-end system for the Commoner Supermarket's revenue data over the past few days. The materials business was growing steadily, and equipment sales were decent, but compared to the period when the Heavenly Temple held a monopoly, the profit was still a long way off. He frowned, thinking about how to expand the business, when Fatty Wang leaned over.

"Brother, I have an idea." Fatty Wang rubbed his hands together, his eyes sparkling.

"Speak."

"Let's set up a protection fee package. Didn't we try it before? The results were pretty good. It was just too scattered and hadn't formed a system yet." Fatty Wang grew more excited as he spoke. "Look, what are casual players most afraid of right now? They're afraid of kill-stealing, scams, and being bullied by big guilds. We can provide all-around protection services—monthly cards, quarterly cards, annual cards, and even custom guild packages. Players who pay will enjoy privileges like anti-kill-stealing, anti-scamming, and Enemy Liquidation."

Lin Ye leaned back in his chair, staring at Fatty Wang for a few seconds. This kid was usually all smiles and jokes; he hadn't expected him to be quite brainy.

"Tell me the details."

Fatty Wang pulled a piece of paper from under the counter, covered in dense handwriting. He had clearly been mulling this over for a long time, just waiting for this opportunity. "Monthly card is 100 gold, basic anti-kill-stealing and anti-scam debuffs; quarterly card is 280 gold, adds a 20% discount on material purchasing services; annual card is 1,000 gold, includes a one-time 'Enemy Liquidation' service personally performed by you, Brother; custom guild cards start at 10,000 gold, with annual fees for large guilds starting at ten million, enjoying exclusive anti-ambush and resource protection privileges."

Qin Wentian listened from the side, stopping his sword polishing. He looked up at Fatty Wang with a complex gaze. This kid was even better at business than he had been back in the day. Back then, he only knew how to monopolize, hike prices, and suppress others; Fatty Wang was dealing in service, reputation, and winning people over. The difference was night and day.

Lin Ye picked up the paper and read through it, the curve of his mouth widening. "It works. Do it according to this plan. You'll be responsible for the posters, announcements, and slogans. Su Qinghan will handle order verification and after-sales. Qin Wentian—" He turned toward the corner.

Qin Wentian blinked: "Me? What can I do?"

"You'll be in charge of interfacing for the custom guild packages. You were the Guild Leader of the Heavenly Temple, so you know many people and are familiar with the situation of the major guilds. You'll know who needs protection and who's likely to cause trouble."

Qin Wentian was silent for a few seconds, then nodded: "Fine. Leave it to me."

That afternoon, Fatty Wang finished the posters. He spent a hundred gold to hire an art major player to design a set of cool promotional images—monthly, quarterly, annual, and custom guild cards were all clear at a glance, with prices and benefits explicitly stated. At the top of the poster was a line of large text: 'Commoner Supermarket · Wicked protection fee package—Specifically Targeting Scumbags, Protecting Casuals. Pay for Peace, Don't Regret if You Don't.'

The posters were released simultaneously at the Main City Square, the Trading House entrance, and on the forums. Fatty Wang even paid out of his own pocket for a server-wide pinned announcement. Less than ten minutes after the news broke, a long queue formed in front of the Commoner Supermarket.

[world channel]

[Player 'Brick-Moving Expert': Holy crap! A monthly card is only 100 gold? A year is only 1,000? And it comes with a personal Enemy Liquidation from Brother Ye? This is such a steal!]

[Player 'Invincible Sword God': I'm buying the annual card! Nobody fight me for it! I still haven't gotten revenge for that time my mob was stolen!]

[Player 'Milk Tea Without Sugar': Give me a quarterly card! 20% off material purchasing—this discount is way better than when the Heavenly Temple had their monopoly!]

[Player 'Yes Little Follower': Charge, brothers! There are already hundreds of people lining up at the Commoner Supermarket!]

The queue grew longer and longer, stretching from the supermarket entrance all the way to the Teleportation Square, winding around several times. Casual players, small guilds, and even the leaders of several medium-sized guilds came in person. Fatty Wang stood behind the counter, busy beyond belief. He was collecting money and registering names simultaneously, his mouth unable to stop grinning.

"One monthly card! Three quarterly cards! Annual cards, who wants an annual card? Queue up for annual cards!"

Su Qinghan was maintaining order nearby, but her eyes were constantly fixed on the crowd. She noticed a few players in black robes in the line; their IDs were hidden, and their faces couldn't be seen clearly. They weren't queuing, just standing at a distance, staring toward the supermarket.

"Ye," she called out softly.

Lin Ye walked over and followed her gaze. Those few black-robed players immediately turned and left, vanishing into the crowd.

"People from the Black Market Guild?" Su Qinghan asked.

Lin Ye shook his head: "Doesn't look like it. The Black Market Guild was already wiped out by me; the survivors wouldn't have the guts. It might be someone else."

"Who?"

Lin Ye thought for a moment, a wicked smile appearing on his face: "No matter who it is, anyone who comes is a guest. We're open for business; we don't turn anyone away."

He turned and walked back into the supermarket, continuing to watch Fatty Wang collect money. In just one short hour, over a thousand protection fee packages were sold. Monthly cards made up the majority, but there were plenty of quarterly cards, over fifty annual cards, and more than a dozen small guilds had placed orders for custom cards. Most surprising of all, an anonymous guild actually ordered the highest-level custom card with an annual fee of ten million gold, enjoying exclusive anti-ambush and resource protection privileges.

Fatty Wang's hands were shaking as he looked at that order: "Brother, ten million! Ten million in a single order!"

Lin Ye took the order and glanced at it. The payment account was a newly registered one with an ID consisting of a string of gibberish code; no information could be found. However, the payment method showed 'Official Direct Top-up,' meaning the recharge channel for this account was different from that of ordinary players.

"Someone from the officials?" Su Qinghan's expression changed.

Lin Ye stared at the order for a few seconds, then laughed: "Interesting. No matter who they are, if the money is received, the service must be provided. Have someone keep a close eye on this account and tell me immediately if there's any movement."

Su Qinghan nodded and turned to make the arrangements.

The hype for the protection fee packages continued to ferment. By evening, the purchasing system suddenly jammed. It wasn't that no one was buying, but that too many people were. The simple purchase page Fatty Wang had designed saw the number of concurrent online users exceed fifty thousand, and the server simply couldn't handle it.

[world channel]

[Player 'Brick-Moving Expert': Why can't I buy it? Clicking pay does nothing!]

[Player 'Invincible Sword God': Me too! I'm stuck on the payment page!]

[Player 'Milk Tea Without Sugar': Brother Ye, your server exploded! Fix it quick!]

Fatty Wang was sweating profusely in his anxiety: "Brother, the system crashed! We can't take payments anymore!"

Lin Ye checked the back-end; the number of people paying concurrently exceeded fifty thousand, and the server CPU was at 100%. It really couldn't hold up. He thought for a moment and sent a private message to GM Xiao Zhou on his phone.

[Private Message] Ye: Xiao Zhou, our supermarket's protection fee purchase system crashed. Help us expand the server capacity.

The other side replied instantly, their tone bordering on a breakdown.

[Private Message] GM001: Brother Ye, that purchase system of yours has over fifty thousand people online at once; it's more popular than our official events! I'm already expanding the capacity, but it takes time! Tell the players to stop crowding it for now!

Lin Ye smiled and replied.

[Private Message] Ye: Alright. Thanks for the hard work. I'll buy you milk tea some other day.

[Private Message] GM001: ...No need. If you just cause less trouble, I'll be thanking the heavens.

Lin Ye closed the private message and said to Fatty Wang, "Don't worry, the GM is expanding the capacity. Tell everyone to wait a moment."

Ten minutes later, the system was restored. The queuing crowd erupted in a burst of cheers. Fatty Wang continued collecting money, Su Qinghan continued maintaining order, and Qin Wentian even came down to help. He stood at the door, responsible for verifying order information; with his loud voice and high efficiency, he truly lived up to having been a guild leader.

By ten o'clock at night, Fatty Wang finally processed the last order. He slumped in his chair, too exhausted to speak, but his eyes were as bright as lightbulbs. Su Qinghan walked over with the ledger and reported a figure.

"Total sales for the protection fee packages today: 8,300 monthly cards, 2,100 quarterly cards, 320 annual cards, and 57 custom guild cards. Combined with sales of materials and equipment, the total daily revenue is 12.3 million gold."

Fatty Wang practically bounced out of his chair: "Twelve million?! Brother, did you hear that? Twelve million!"

Lin Ye nodded, his expression calm: "Not bad. Continue tomorrow."

Qin Wentian stood at the door, listening to this number with mixed emotions. When he had monopolized materials, he earned at most a few million gold a day and would be cursed by the entire server's players. Lin Ye set up a protection fee package, earned twelve million in a day, and players across the server were scrambling to give him money. This was the gap between them.

He sighed and turned to walk out of the supermarket. The night was deep, and the lights of the main city were turning on one by one. He walked down the street toward the Novice Village, his steps much lighter than before.

Meanwhile, in a corner of the main city, the account that had anonymously ordered the ten-million-level custom card was logging in. The dark figure in front of the screen looked at the order confirmation page, a cold smile appearing on their lips.

"Ye the Wicked? Interesting. I'd like to see if your protection fee package can protect yourself."

He closed the page and vanished into the darkness.

Lin Ye stood on the top floor of the Commoner Supermarket, looking at the distant night scene with a wicked smile on his face. Su Qinghan walked up and stood beside him.

"That anonymous order—did you find anything?" she asked.

Lin Ye shook his head: "No. The payment account used an Official Direct Top-up channel, but no bound player information can be found. It's either someone inside the official team or a hacker."

"Then what do you plan to do?"

Lin Ye smiled: "Wait. Since they bought a custom card, they will definitely come looking for me. Then, we'll know who it is."

He turned to go downstairs, leaving behind one sentence: "Keep an eye on that account. Tell me immediately if there's any movement."

Su Qinghan looked at his back and nodded. The night was heavy, and the starlight was dim. The lights of the main city swayed in the wind like a golden ocean. And in the deepest depths of that ocean, undercurrents were surging.