33: Are territorial benefits no longer benefits?

“It’s done!”

Lin Ye had come precisely to test this function.

First clear of the dungeon was just a bonus.

The Forgotten Land.

It was his territory.

So, the question was.

Would the income gained from his territory also be considered his own income, and would it be doubled?

The answer, of course, was yes.

However.

There was still one more question.

Lin Ye took out 1000 star coins from his pocket.

“Little Doudou, come here, choose treatment.”

“Big Brother, Doudou’s body is very good, no need for treatment…”

Lin Ye gently stroked her head twice: “Be good, Doudou, listen, go choose.”

Mm-hmm~

Little Doudou then walked in front of the Star Tower and chose treatment.

It was just this operation.

Tu Xiusi, standing nearby, watched with a huff and a glare: “Little Doudou, it’s one thing for those outsiders not to understand the rules, but do you not understand them either?!”

Huh~

Uncle scolded her!

Little Doudou immediately knelt down obediently, twisting her eyebrows and mimicking Tu Xiusi, stumbling through the praise of the Emperor’s majesty.

Fortunately.

This was just a formality; the Eternal Emperor didn’t care.

The beam of healing light descended.

Little Doudou was immediately covered in starlight.

Her body originally had no problems, so the treatment was mostly a waste.

But.

This time, the healing light was not as abundant as Tu Xiusi’s before; it seemed to have been weakened.

Tu Xiusi saw this and immediately burst into anger: “See, Little Doudou? Any disloyalty, even just a hint of laziness in your heart, cannot be hidden from the Emperor above the stars! If you continue to fall like this, don’t expect to receive the Emperor’s protection in the future!!”

“Wuwuwu~”

Little Doudou seemed frightened too, constantly shedding tears: “Uncle, Little Doudou knows she was wrong, I’ll definitely change in the future, please don’t be angry, okay…”

Uh?

Lin Ye was utterly embarrassed.

Because just now, he had withheld half of the star coins, which led to the weakening of the healing light.

Territory.

Wasn’t the tax rate up to him?

1000 star coins, I deduct 500, isn’t that reasonable?

What does that have to do with loyalty?

As the governor of the Forgotten Land.

Lin Ye believed.

Only by paying enough tax could loyalty be demonstrated.

However.

Little Doudou was truly wronged.

Lin Ye immediately pulled her over, reaching out to wipe away her tears: “It’s okay, don’t cry, the Emperor isn’t that petty, and he wouldn’t quibble with a child like you.”

“Really… really?” Little Doudou opened her eyes wide and asked, half-believing, half-doubting.

“Really, I swear on Strobes’s honor!” Lin Ye wasn’t Strobes’s person anyway, so their honor probably had nothing to do with him, right?

Ai~

Seeing this, Tu Xiusi sighed helplessly and shook his head, saying: “Your Excellency, you… you shouldn’t spoil her too much. She only looks well-behaved; in reality, she’s mischievous and very bold!”

Hahaha~

Lin Ye burst into laughter, immediately hoisting Little Doudou onto his shoulder: “Being bold is fine, as long as she’s careful. Didn’t she let me in just now?”

Wu?

Doudou’s little face flushed, and she immediately became shy, haphazardly covering Lin Ye’s mouth with her hands: “Big Brother, don’t say it, Little Doudou definitely won’t wrong good people next time~”

Lin Ye had made a fortune today, and his territory was settled, so he was in a great mood.

As long as it could be doubled.

Then the progress of upgrading the Star Tower would be very fast.

He turned to look at Bai Shuya.

“Aren’t you going to work? There are so many spoils outside, don’t you want them?”

“Yes!”

Bai Shuya turned around and pulled Xia Mo and Su Wanting out.

Eh?

Su Wanting looked back: “Sister Yan isn’t here~”

“She’s no longer your old Sister Yan!”

Bai Shuya said angrily.

“She’s changed!”

“Now her eyes are only on men; there’s no longer any sisterly affection we shared through thick and thin!!”

Oh?

Yan Yan, who had caught up, heard this as soon as she arrived.

“Alright, so my reputation is this good? Then you can do this work yourself, I won’t fight you for it…”

No way~!!

Bai Shuya instantly regretted it, immediately turned back, and hugged Yan Yan.

“Sister~”

Bai Shuya called out so intimately, then immediately put on a mournful expression, sorrowful and on the verge of tears:

“Little sister knows she was wrong, truly.”

“Please be kind, for the sake of our twenty-plus years of friendship, help little sister this once.”

“It’s not that little sister doesn’t have money, it’s just that SS-rank talents are too rare, and people won’t sell them.”

“I really have no choice, that’s why I came to you for help.”

“As long as you can help me acquire this talent, from now on, whatever you want, it’s yours~”

Giggle giggle~

Yan Yan couldn’t help but smile, covering her mouth and laughing triumphantly.

“Since you are so sincere, perhaps, for the sake of our twenty-plus years of friendship, I’ll help you one last time~”

Bai Shuya was so moved she was about to cry, immediately wrapped her arms around Yan Yan’s slender waist, and gave her a deep kiss: “I knew it, you’ll always love me in your heart~!”

…

[Ding~]

[Constructing a teleportation array requires 500,000 star coins and 5 time-space crystals.]

Lin Ye looked at his backpack.

Not enough money!

Even if they collected all the spoils, they couldn’t gather 500,000.

Moreover, time-space crystals were the main cost.

Although not many were needed, just five.

But this kind of material didn’t drop from demons; it could only be obtained by killing Star-dust beetles and jellyfish, collecting fragments, and slowly synthesizing them.

“But Star-dust beetles are easy to kill, jellyfish are hard to deal with.”

Lin Ye’s brows were tightly furrowed.

After thinking for a moment.

He temporarily gave up on the teleportation array and instead opened the resurrection list.

[Successfully resurrected ‘Heun Liddell’, consumed 38,000 star coins.]

Boom!

A dazzling starlight rose from the tower, instantly descending into a stone house in the distance.

“Liddell?!”

Tu Xiusi saw this situation and knew that Lin Ye had used the resurrection function, immediately kneeling at Lin Ye’s feet with tears streaming down his face.

“Thank you for the Emperor’s benevolence, and thank you for Your Excellency’s generosity.”

Little Doudou on his shoulder was anxious.

“Big Brother, look, that’s Auntie’s house, is she awake?”

“She should be.”

“That’s great, I want to go learn from Auntie, I want to go collect star dew for Big Brother~”

Little Doudou clamored to get down, and Lin Ye let her go.

Tu Xiusi bid farewell to Lin Ye and also went over.

Not long after.

Little Doudou pulled a young woman with dark green curly hair over.

Without a word.

She knelt before Lin Ye.

“Pharmacist, Heun Liddell, greets Your Excellency Strobes, please accept my unreserved loyalty.”

Oh?

Lin Ye’s eyes lit up.

This one was the cheapest, and Little Doudou said she only knew how to gather, but he didn’t expect her to be a pharmacist?!

“I didn’t expect there to be medicinal ingredients in this place?”

Lin Ye told her to get up and asked curiously.

“I apologize, Your Excellency, nothing can be planted within space-time fragments,” Liddell sighed helplessly.

“Not true!”

Tu Xiusi stepped forward and interjected: “It wasn’t possible before, but now we have the Star Tower, the Emperor’s protection, and Your Excellency is here, anything is possible!”

Hmm?

Liddell paused slightly, then reacted: “That’s right, if Your Excellency can expand the range of the light curtain to bring more areas under the Emperor’s protection, then with some star coins and time-space crystals, I think I can cultivate a flourishing planting area here.”

Lin Ye tried it.

[Ding~]

[Expanding the guardian light curtain requires a higher quality Star Tower.]

End!

Lin Ye pretended he hadn’t heard anything.

But.

A flash of inspiration struck Lin Ye at this moment.

“Tu Xiusi, introduce me to the members of the village. I want to see how we can help everyone recover as quickly as possible.”

…

After Tu Xiusi finished speaking.

Lin Ye’s understanding of the Forgotten Land became clear.

This place.

It was a standard Newbie Village setup.

But not an ordinary Newbie Village.

Because the NPC’s skill levels were very high, it should belong to a hidden Newbie Village.

[Blacksmith: Heen Tu Xiusi]

[Pharmacist: Heun Liddell]

[Tailor: Sevena]

[Mechanic: Heen Kaxiusi]

[Beast Tamer: Scola]

[Hunter of Shadows: Alistia]

[Adventurer: Villox]

…

Judging solely by the resurrection cost, Pharmacist Liddell was the cheapest, and the cost increased progressively afterward.

The combat profession Alistia required 1 million star coins.

The final adventurer, Villox, required a staggering 30 million star coins.

If Lin Ye had to farm so many star coins all by himself, he truly didn’t know how long it would take.

Even if he could clear the dungeon twice a day, with the time flow doubled, giving him 4 clears a day, the total income would only be a few hundred thousand star coins at most.

Just resurrecting all the NPCs would delay things by at least several months, right?

Then there was the Star Tower upgrade, the construction and upgrade costs of various related buildings, all of which were money, and they couldn’t be paid with gold coins, only with star coins from here.

Lin Ye’s idea was very simple.

First point.

To get rich, build roads first.

“The teleportation array must be built, the sooner the better.”

Lin Ye would go farm for it right away.

Then the second point.

Attract investment and talent!

Development.

Cannot be closed off.

Must be open.

Lin Ye still needed to consider foreign investment, but attracting talent and having players work for him here was a must to put on the agenda.

Within this.

Only some minor details needed to be handled.

For example.

What would be the reward for players coming here to farm materials?

Blacksmith Tu Xiusi could buy equipment; players provide materials, he crafts them. Isn’t that a huge profit?

Then he could also issue quests, having players farm space-time fragments, and then give them some ordinary equipment.

Coincidentally.

Lin Ye had so many legendary pieces of equipment in his hands that he could sell them for a great price.

Gold coins.

Lin Ye wasn’t short of them now; what he truly lacked were star coins.

A legendary weapon.

Listed for 100 time-space crystals.

At this price, a player wouldn’t be able to farm it in years, but Lin Ye didn’t restrict material trading, did he? Some people farm and sell for money, others collect and buy equipment to complete quests.

Perfect cycle!

Just waiting for all the equipment to be sold.

Would the materials and star coins be enough then, and would he be able to upgrade the Star Tower?

Haha!

I’m simply a genius!

Territory development.

So simple.

As long as the number of NPCs increases and the number of players increases, he will earn more and more, and the later it gets, the faster the upgrades might become, thereby gaining more cross-realm abilities.

Although it was said.

This model couldn’t trigger a hundredfold profit, but Lin Ye could make players contribute!

They use the teleportation array.

They fight monsters here.

I collect a small head tax from them every day, isn’t that reasonable?

It’s reasonable!

Lin Ye thought of this and immediately tried to adjust the Star Tower’s panel, then set the permissions for administrators, NPCs, and ordinary players separately.

This way.

Only the teleportation array needed to be opened.

As for players?

Lin Ye didn’t need to worry.

Currently, Newbie Village players couldn’t defeat the Star-dust beetles, but tomorrow, when the Newbie Village is embedded into the Eternal Continent, high-level players would be able to enter.

“As soon as possible, open the teleportation array within a day.”

Lin Ye greeted Tu Xiusi and left, while Little Doudou went with her aunt to collect star dew.

Outside.

Seeing Yan Yan and the others.

Lin Ye thought that this matter wasn’t urgent for the time being.

He stopped again.

And helped them collect all the spoils.

Returning to the village.

“Tu Xiusi, can you forge space rings?”

“Yes, I can, but…”

Tu Xiusi looked a bit troubled:

“Your Excellency, as you can see, due to the spatial turbulence here, we don’t even have space rings to store our own things. Ordinary space rings simply can’t hold up and get damaged too quickly.”

“If you want good quality ones, you’d need at least 100 time-space crystals, and they would also require extremely good materials.”

Lin Ye’s eyes darted.

“No, I want poor quality, cheap ones, even if they can only last a few months, or even a few weeks, that’s fine.”