72: Chapter 72: The Huge Pitfall of Influence Values

Inside the secret lunar base, because the base was so vast, Su Fan flew the kunpeng no. 1 around in the air within the base to tour it.

The entire base had residential and research areas in the center, which contained a variety of buildings and complete living facilities, covering an area of about 1 square kilometer.

Surrounding the residential and research areas were large swathes of open space, along with various industrial workshops and soilless agricultural production workshops.

Su Fan paid no mind to the rest and instead arrived at an empty industrial workshop.

"System, materialize the production line for high-end virtual reality helmets and Virtual cabin."

"Respected host, the total cost is 14.4 million influence points. Would you like to pay and materialize it?" The system's mechanical voice was cold and emotionless.

"Can't you make it cheaper? I'm a loyal customer, a dedicated loyal customer at that. Give me a discount."

"If you give me a discount, I'll buy more things in a bit." Su Fan started bargaining. Don't be fooled by the 10 billion influence points; in reality, if he wanted to develop technology rapidly, he had to materialize a lot of black technology.

The materialization cost for a Level 2 Civilization black technology was several million influence points, while a Level 3 Civilization cost tens of millions. The cost for a Level 4 Civilization skipped two orders of magnitude entirely, reaching a terrifying several billion influence points!

Thinking about the future influence points, Su Fan got a headache. Most people in the Xia Kingdom were still unwilling to have children, and the birth rate was getting lower and lower.

Relying solely on the Xia Kingdom's population of over a billion, the maximum yield would be one trillion influence points, which was a drop in the bucket compared to later expenses.

Note to prevent forgetting: Rave reviews: 1 Influence Point; Worship and admiration: 10 influence points; Die-hard fan: 100 influence points; Loyal fan: 1000 influence points.

Moreover, this was only a theoretical scenario. Human hearts are complex; how could everyone be a loyal fan?

It would be hard even for everyone to be a die-hard fan!

The current 10 billion influence points meant that, on average, each person had provided nearly 10 influence points. Providing another few tens of billions would be the limit.

In the end, it all came back to one fundamental problem: population!

Su Fan knew this was the system indirectly forcing him to increase the civilization's population reserves.

After all, for a civilization to develop, it was impossible to sustain long-term growth with only a small population.

"14.4 million influence points. Take it or leave it!" The system was very aloof.

"Fine! You win, I'll buy it!" Su Fan gritted his teeth and paid the "money" with a pained heart.

In just this short while, he had already spent over 20 million influence points!

Later, he wanted to redeem and materialize mechas, and he also wanted a large E-class spaceship.

These all required influence points!

Su Fan realized he had been too naive. Back when he first obtained the system, he had lamented that he would never run out of influence points.

He hadn't expected that pits were waiting for him to jump into later on, and he was jumping into them willingly!

It was the same in life: first they give you a little sweetness, then you are grateful, and once you get used to it, they suddenly demand an exorbitant price. By then, you've formed a habit; even if it hurts, you can only pay willingly.

"System, when did you learn such a bad habit!" Su Fan complained. "You don't learn the good stuff, but you have to learn this!"

"Respected host, the production line is ready to be materialized. Please indicate the location for materialization." The system did not answer Su Fan's question.

"Just materialize it here; there's plenty of space."

After the production line was materialized, Su Fan tried producing some virtual reality helmets and Virtual cabin.

Then he selected a helmet and a Virtual cabin to try entering the star wars world game and found that it was indeed very easy to use, and the realism had improved quite a bit.

However, it hadn't reached its peak because the virtual reality engine for the star wars world game hadn't been upgraded or updated yet.

"System, I have already redeemed the high-end virtual reality technology. Now I want to upgrade the engine for the star wars world game. How many influence points will it cost?" Su Fan asked tentatively.

"Respected host, it only costs 1 million influence points to upgrade the engine for you directly."

"Upgrade it! Sigh—" Su Fan sighed. Once he had experienced the feeling of rapidly materializing black technology, he didn't want to research it slowly by himself at all.

It was just like playing a game; once you used cheats, you always felt that upgrading without them was too slow.

"Materializing..."

"Wait!" Su Fan suddenly interrupted the system. "I'll upgrade it myself. I'll keep this 1 million influence points."

He had decided. Since he had the technology, at worst he would just grit his teeth and spend a few days researching it himself.

Ever since the system gained the materialization function, he had become increasingly lazy. This was something he had to be wary of!

"Oh, very well." The system answered mechanically.

Although 1 million influence points wasn't a huge amount, it wasn't small either. Even if he stimulated the people of the Xia Kingdom to have children like crazy now, it was impossible for the children to suddenly grow up and provide Su Fan with influence points.

Therefore, without new channels for influence points, Su Fan felt he should spend sparingly.

"Sigh—"

"It seems I need to utilize the foreign market well, but... sigh—"

Su Fan didn't want to bring foreigners into the fold; those not of his race were bound to have different hearts.

Unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want those foreigners to use any products from the Super God Group!

"System, pull up the purchase page for mecha technology."

Take a look, he was going to spend money again.

There were many E-class mechas, but without exception, they were all insanely expensive.

In the end, after much picking and choosing, Su Fan chose the most expensive one.

In a while, he planned to explore the mysterious area on the moon. This place was like a thorn stuck in his heart, making him uncomfortable!

According to the system's nature, the most expensive one was definitely the best. For things like exploration, safety came first.

"E-class mecha, Predator Type-1 Mecha technology, value 990,000 influence points. Do you want to redeem it?"

"Redeem!"

"Redemption complete. Do you want to extract and materialize it?"

Su Fan considered for a moment and asked, "If I want to materialize a production line, how many influence points for the Predator Type-1 Mecha production line?"

"Respected host, it only costs 99 million influence points to own a production line with a monthly output of 10 mechas." The system's mechanical voice seemed emotionless but actually carried a strong sense of temptation.

"99 million influence points!" Su Fan exclaimed.

"Why don't you just take my life!"

Although, if he thought about it carefully, redeeming the production line was more cost-effective, 99 million influence points was nearly 100 million!

"Make it cheaper! If you make it cheaper, I'll buy it! I'll pay right now!"

"If you don't make it cheaper, I'm walking away!" Su Fan bargained.

Regarding Su Fan's bargaining, the system only replied with four words.

"Take it or leave it!"

Su Fan was absolutely furious.

After carefully considering the current situation, he gritted his teeth and ultimately chose to "pay to get stronger."

The mysterious area on the moon, as well as the Bermuda Triangle on Blue Star, the mysterious sound waves, the hidden unknowns—it was all too agonizing for him.

He had to resolve this matter as soon as possible.

What exactly were those mysterious sound waves?

Suddenly, Su Fan slapped his forehead!

"Damn, I'm such an idiot. The system now has the Universal Encyclopedia function; why not just ask the system!"

"System, I'm going to play two sound waves now. Check what is emitting these sound waves."

Su Fan had Red Queen play the two sound waves from the moon and the Bermuda Triangle on Blue Star respectively.

"Respected host, sound wave detection complete. A matching result has been found. Would you like to pay 10,000 influence points to view it?"

"Pay, pay! Show me the results quickly!"