Chapter 66: The Lord Hands Over the Divine Artifact; Abyss Protection Packages Selling Well

The second Abyss City was a size larger than the first. When Lin Ye walked in, the Abyss Monsters in the city had already lined up. They weren't there to fight; they were waiting to sign contracts. The Abyss Minions stood on the far left, the Abyss Elites in the middle, and the Abyss Commanders on the right. They were neat and orderly, as if they had undergone military training.

Fatty Wang stared with wide eyes: "Brother, what are they..."

Lin Ye was also a bit surprised and turned to look at the Lord of Destruction who was leading the way. The Lord of Destruction whispered: "I notified them. To save you from having to find them one by one and wasting time."

The corner of Lin Ye's mouth twitched. The dignified Lord of Destruction, one of the three chairmen of the Abyss Council and a level 99 entity, was now acting like a diligent administrative assistant. But Lin Ye didn't say anything; he pulled a thick stack of labor contracts from his backpack. He had asked Fatty Wang to print these last night, five hundred copies in total. Fatty Wang had asked him why he needed to print so many, and now he knew.

"Sign."

The contracts for the Abyss Minions were the simplest: hand over ten Abyss Crystals every week in exchange for the right not to be fleeced bald. The contracts for the Abyss Elites were slightly more complex: hand over fifty Abyss Crystals plus one Epic piece of equipment every week. The contracts for the Abyss Commanders were the most complex: hand over one hundred Epic Abyss Crystals plus five pieces of Epic equipment every week. All contracts included a breach of contract clause: once breached, it would trigger a permanent Decay Debuff with no stack limit, effective forever.

The Abyss Monsters took the contracts and pressed their marks one by one. Not a single one hesitated, not a single one resisted. Lin Ye stood to the side, watching, feeling like a foreman on an assembly line.

Fatty Wang leaned over: "Brother, the Abyss Minions pay ten crystals a week, and there are tens of thousands of minions in this city. That's over a hundred thousand crystals a week. Our warehouse can't hold it."

Lin Ye thought for a moment: "Then expand. Turn the second Abyss City into a warehouse."

Fatty Wang was stunned: "Turn an Abyss City into a warehouse?"

"Can't I? This place doesn't cost money, and it's just sitting empty."

Fatty Wang gave a thumbs up. After the Abyss Monsters finished signing the contracts, they automatically dispersed and returned to their respective posts. Lin Ye continued walking forward, passing through the second Abyss City and entering the third. Then the fourth, the fifth, the sixth. In one afternoon, he walked through all forty-seven cities in the lower depths of the Abyss. All forty-seven mid-level Abyssal Lords signed the labor contracts. More than three hundred lower-level Abyssal Lords also signed them all.

Not a single one resisted.

The world channel had already exploded.

"Wocao Wuqing: Did Ye the Wicked just incorporate the entire Abyss Council? Forty-seven mid-level Abyssal Lords and over three hundred lower-level Abyssal Lords all signed labor contracts?"

"Brick-Moving Expert: It's not just the Abyssal Lords. The Abyss Minions, Abyss Elites, and Abyss Commanders all signed. My cousin is a porter at the Unscrupulous Business Center, and he said the Abyss Crystals in the warehouse are already piling up, and Fatty Wang is applying to expand the warehouse."

"Invincible Sword God: Abyss Monsters working for players? If this gets out, the overseas servers will explode."

"Data Emperor: No need for it to get out. The overseas servers have already exploded. Kim Hyun-tae from the Korean Server's Goryeo War God Temple just posted a message on the cross-server channel saying that Chinese Server players are cheating. Then he got muted by the GM."

"Yes Little Follower: Hahaha, is Kim Hyun-tae still jumping around? Did he forget about the last time Ye the Wicked humiliated him cross-server?"

"Milk Tea Without Sugar: He didn't forget. He's scared. Ye the Wicked can even incorporate the Abyss Council, so what's the point of fighting in the cross-server battlefield? Kim Hyun-tae is probably panicking right now."

Lin Ye didn't look at the world channel. He was at the forty-eighth Abyss City, which was the lair of the Lord of Corrosion. The Lord of Corrosion was sprawled in front of its throne, the debuff on its body not yet fully cleared. Lin Ye squatted in front of it.

"Where is your treasury?"

The Lord of Corrosion raised a claw and pointed to the back of the palace. Lin Ye walked over and pushed open the door to the treasury. The light inside was even more blinding than the Lord of Destruction's treasury. Divine artifacts were piled into mountains, Epic Abyss Crystals were piled into mountains, and Legendary Abyss Cores were piled into mountains. And in the deepest part of the treasury, a black box sat alone.

Lin Ye walked over and opened the box. Inside lay a sword. It was pitch black, with dark red patterns coiled around the blade, like congealed blood. A deep purple gem was embedded in the pommel, with a flame burning inside it. The moment Lin Ye picked up the sword, the system popped up a notification.

"Congratulations on obtaining the SSS-grade divine artifact 'Abyssal Corrosion Sword'."

"Abyssal Corrosion Sword: Attack +9999, Corrosion effect +100%, damage against Abyss targets doubled. Comes with the skill 'Corrosion Domain': When activated, deals 5% of maximum HP in corrosion damage per second to all targets within 50 meters. When stacked with the Decay Talent, corrosion damage is doubled."

Lin Ye looked at this sword, and the corners of his mouth curled up.

Fatty Wang leaned over to take a look at the attributes, and his legs went weak again: "Brother, this sword is a perfect match for your Talent. Decay Debuff plus Corrosion Domain, double percentage damage. Who can withstand that?"

Lin Ye put the Abyssal Corrosion Sword into his backpack and turned to walk out of the treasury. The Lord of Corrosion was still sprawled on the ground. Lin Ye squatted down and patted its shoulder: "I'm taking this sword. Consider it your divine artifact quota for this week."

The purple flames in the Lord of Corrosion's eyes flickered, but it didn't dare to speak.

Lin Ye stood up and looked at the Lord of Destruction: "Where is your divine artifact?"

The Lord of Destruction was silent for a few seconds before taking a shield out of its own treasury. It was pitch black, with seven purple gems embedded in the shield face. The system notification popped up again.

"Abyssal Bulwark: SSS-grade divine artifact shield. Defense +15000, damage reduction +50%. Comes with the skill 'Absolute Defense': When activated, immune to all damage for 10 seconds, cooldown 1 hour."

Lin Ye took the shield and tossed it to Pojun.

Pojun caught the shield and was stunned: "For me?"

"You're the tank of the team, if not you, then who? Can Fatty handle it?"

Fatty Wang was unconvinced: "Brother, I can tank too."

"You complain about being tired just carrying materials, and you want to carry a shield? Forget it."

Fatty Wang shut up. Pojun equipped the Abyssal Bulwark, and his defense tripled instantly. He glanced at his attribute panel and said thank you expressionlessly.

Lin Ye waved his hand and continued walking towards the next Abyss City. When he reached the fiftieth Abyss City, the system suddenly popped up three golden announcements.

"Server-wide Announcement: Player 'Ye the Wicked' has subdued the 'Lord of Destruction', one of the three chairmen of the Abyss Council. Abyss invasion progress reduced by 30%."

"Server-wide Announcement: Player 'Ye the Wicked' has subdued the 'Lord of Corrosion', one of the three chairmen of the Abyss Council. Abyss invasion progress reduced by 60%."

"Server-wide Announcement: Player 'Ye the Wicked' has subdued all Abyssal Lords of the Abyss Council. The Abyss invasion version has ended early. The Dawn City safe zone has been expanded to the entire map. All players who participated in the Abyss defense receive the 'Abyss Resister' title and corresponding rewards."

The entire server was silent for a full ten seconds. Then it exploded.

"Wocao Wuqing: The version ended? Ye the Wicked ended the Abyss version all by himself?"

"Brick-Moving Expert: It wasn't ended, it was incorporated. The Abyss Monsters are all working for Ye the Wicked now."

"Invincible Sword God: I just went to the wild to check. Abyss Minions are mining, Abyss Elites are moving materials, and Abyss Commanders are patrolling. They are really working."

"Yes Little Follower: What does patrolling mean?"

"Invincible Sword God: It means exactly what it says. The Abyss Commanders are patrolling the wild, driving away players who steal monsters, and beating up unscrupulous merchants. They are more responsible than the system guards now."

"Milk Tea Without Sugar: My god, the Abyss Monsters have turned into a wild guard team?"

"Data Emperor: Not just a guard team. The Unscrupulous Business Center just issued an announcement: Abyss Protection Packages are officially online. Basic package is 500 gold coins per week, allowing you to grind monsters safely on the outskirts of the Abyss. Advanced package is 5,000 gold coins per week, including immunity to the Corrosion Debuff. Top-tier package is 50,000 gold coins per week, with an Abyss Commander personally providing escort."

The world channel was quiet for a few seconds again. Then it was flooded with one sentence.

"Save one for me!"

Fatty Wang's private messages exploded instantly. Hundreds of players sent messages at the same time, all asking about the Abyss Protection Packages. The 500 basic packages were snapped up in thirty seconds. The 100 advanced packages were snapped up in ten seconds. The 20 top-tier packages were snapped up in one second. Fatty Wang looked at the backend data, his hands shaking.

"Brother, in one minute, revenue of thirty million gold coins."

Lin Ye sat on the throne of the Abyss City, crossing his legs: "Not bad."

"Not bad? Thirty million in one minute, and you tell me it's not bad?"

"What's the rush? This is just the beginning. Players on overseas servers haven't bought them yet."

Fatty Wang was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up. Right, the Abyss invasion is a global version. The Abyss Council of the Chinese Server was incorporated by Lin Ye, but the Abyss Councils of the overseas servers are still there. Overseas players are currently being tortured to death by Abyss Monsters. If they knew the Chinese Server had Abyss Protection Packages, wouldn't they go crazy trying to buy them?

Sure enough, in less than ten minutes, the cross-server channel exploded.

"Korean Server player Park Jung-tae: Can the Chinese Server's Abyss Protection Packages be bought cross-server? I'll pay double!"

"Japanese Server player Yamada Kenta: Triple! I'll pay triple! The Abyssal Lord of our server has already breached our main city!"

"US Server player Johnson: Five times! Please! Our guild has been wiped out by Abyss Minions three times, and all our equipment is broken!"

"European Server player Schmidt: Ye the Wicked! Save the European Server! The Abyssal Lord is leading the siege personally, we can't hold it!"

Lin Ye looked at the messages on the cross-server channel, and the corners of his mouth curled into a wicked smile. He opened the cross-server channel and sent a message.

"Cross-server Channel Ye: The overseas version of the Abyss Protection Packages will be online soon. Basic package is 50,000 gold coins per week, advanced package is 500,000 gold coins per week, top-tier package is 5,000,000 gold coins per week. Buy while supplies last."

The cross-server channel went silent instantly. Then it exploded.

"Korean Server player Park Jung-tae: 50,000? Wasn't the Chinese Server's 500? That's ten times higher?"

"Cross-server Channel Ye: The Chinese Server price is local, overseas is export price. Take it or leave it."

The Korean Server players were silent. The Japanese Server players were silent. The US Server players were silent. Then they started placing orders frantically. Because they had to buy it. The Abyss Monsters wouldn't wait for them to haggle. The Chinese Server's Abyss version had ended, but the Abyss invasion on overseas servers had only just begun. Without Lin Ye, they couldn't even beat Abyss Minions. They had to buy it even at ten times the price.

Fatty Wang looked at the backend overseas orders, his mouth open wide enough to fit two eggs. Ten minutes, overseas orders broke ten thousand. Revenue broke five hundred million gold coins.

"Brother, we're rich."

Lin Ye leaned back on the throne, toying with the Abyssal Corrosion Sword in his hand: "This is just the beginning. Once I incorporate the overseas Abyss Councils too, the protection fees can double tenfold again."

Su Qinghan stood to the side, looking at him, and couldn't help but laugh: "Do you plan to turn all the Abyss Councils into laborers?"

"Can't I? They invaded the game world, so they should pay the price. Collecting protection fees is light, signing labor contracts is a kindness. If they don't sign, I'll fleece them to death."

He stood up and put the Abyssal Corrosion Sword back into his backpack. Then he walked towards the direction of the Abyss Rift.

Fatty Wang was stunned: "Brother, where are you going?"

"Korean Server. The Abyss Council there hasn't signed the contract yet. I'm going to talk to them."

He took a step, and his figure disappeared into the Abyss Rift. Su Qinghan followed, Pojun followed. Fatty Wang stood in place, stunned for three seconds, then followed as well. Behind them, the Lord of Destruction and the Lord of Corrosion looked at each other and lowered their heads at the same time. They knew that the good days for the overseas Abyss Councils were over.