Online: I Can See Health Bars Chapter 1839 - 832: No Room for Negotiation (2)

With that kind of looped feedback, the character’s fame keeps snowballing, the income keeps rising, and you can use real-world cash to buy in-game stuff, beef up your character, and form a nonstop positive cycle.

Of course, there are failed cases too. Sects are full of scheming; you get backstabbed and your character dies, or you get killed by a demon while out on a mission—then all that carefully built-up groundwork goes straight down the drain.

And then there’s an even more extreme raising method: starting from absolute zero.

Players like Jiang Yong, who got into the game late, can take this route, because the older Players can’t bear trashing all the progress they’ve grinded out and don’t have the guts to reset from scratch. Unless they die by accident, who’d be stupid enough to suicide and reopen a new account after cultivating for so long, just to walk this track?

It’s not like Jiang Yong never thought about going down this route; it’s just that he was born in the Capital, lacking basically everything, and also didn’t want to suffer through Martial Arts Training. Naturally his popularity was way behind all those threads like "From Village Brat to Number One Under Heaven, My Road Lies Beneath My Feet."

But whatever the case, the forum had turned into a disaster zone of personal IP building. Everyone was developing new gimmicks, dreaming of becoming a mega influencer and going crazy harvesting fans.

Lots of people’s net worth shot up accordingly, but at the same time, it also gave them more credibility guarantees.

When you’re taking commissions, a Player who’s built up a personal IP, constantly posts threads, and is recognized by the people around them is simply more trustworthy to random passersby.

Same for Jiang Yong.

The job he posted was to pass messages to the Qian Family and the Suo Family, so he only looked for People from the Capital, and among the Capital Players he only picked the relatively famous ones, those more likely to actually pull the job off.

In the end, he locked onto two people to carry out this mission, and the payment he offered wasn’t low—an entire thousand bucks.

Just using your character’s fame to spread some intel, practically zero effort.

Jiang Yong felt that was already quite generous, but during negotiations the price still got pushed up to three thousand before the deal was locked.

Jiang Yong did the math with the gold exchange rate and the rewards Qian Wu and Suo Ru had promised him, and felt he was still making bank, so he didn’t nitpick over this small change.

"Mr. Jiu—Jiu Fen, entered the Capital three months ago, became famous for being able to drink like a bottomless pit, can booze with people three days and three nights straight without getting drunk. Seems to have some special Cultivation Technique, or he’s a mysterious Lucky Gift Package Player."

"Qu Shuangxin, uses music to buff herself, complements it with exquisite Swordsmanship. She’s from an ordinary family, but because she’s very active in the Capital, she’s got a bit of a name."

The two of them are fairly well-known among Players, harvesting fans by the truckload. Especially Qu Shuangxin—being a female Player gives her a huge edge in attracting fans; some fans are even willing to make a trip to the Capital just to meet their in-game idol in person.

"Three thousand per person, six thousand for two—bleeding me dry..."

Jiang Yong was in physical pain; he’d just made that money and now a big chunk was already gone.

Luckily this time it was money making more money. Once the message gets through and people come to pick them up, his character survives, he still gets a reward, and he builds a relationship with the Qian Family—future prospects limitless, the road ahead looking bright.

With the important intel transmission mission posted, the next step was to find a few good hands to test if there’s any chance of rescuing himself.

After all, being locked up by the Bo Mansion, who knows if the Bo Family people might suddenly decide to kill them. If the Qian Family and Suo Family’s background doesn’t come through, and they don’t send anyone in time, and the Bo Mansion acts first, wouldn’t the few of them just be left crying without tears?

So, a second set of preparations still needed to be made.

It’s not like they’d rush in for a rescue right away; just gathering a group and putting them on standby would be enough.

Jiang Yong’s plan sounded beautiful in his head, but he overlooked one thing, namely... whether there were any Experts among the Players willing to risk offending the Bo Mansion to come rescue them.

"Wood Realm Expert? OP, have you even taken a look at what you wrote in your thread title! Five thousand per person, looking for Wood Realm Experts? I’ll Wood your damned mother!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, have the days when Wood Realm Experts are as common as stray dogs finally arrived? What Spiritual Energy Revival? I also wanna instantly become a Wood Realm Expert, I also wanna be the cheap labor in OP’s eyes. Can you give me a chance—turn me into a Wood Realm Expert first, then I’ll help you out?"

"Wow! First glance, big commission! Second glance, five thousand! Third glance, Wood Realm Expert! Fourth glance, rescue mission! OP, your whole family’s gone!"

"Disperse, disperse, it’s just some clown acting for attention."

Not only did nobody want the job, nobody even wanted to talk to him. The number of replies was pitifully low, and every person who did reply just left mocking comments.

That left Jiang Yong confused.

So the average level out there is this low?

But... but even a Wood Realm Expert like Suo Ru didn’t have the confidence to escape the Bo Mansion. If they didn’t gather a batch of Wood Realm powerhouses to guard and cover their breakout, how were they supposed to have any confidence in escaping the Bo Mansion?

Thinking it over, Jiang Yong got it.

The issue was the price.

He was offering too little. Five thousand just wasn’t enough to move an Expert.

Experts definitely exist.

The Capital is full of hidden tigers and crouching dragons.

Just like the top servers in other games, the Capital’s such a special location that it should act like a giant siphon, constantly pulling in surrounding Players.

So strong Players definitely exist; the problem is that the pay doesn’t match the level.

But... raise the price?

Jiang Yong felt a stab of pain and couldn’t bear it.

Because the benefits that Suo Ru and Qian Wu promised can’t be cashed out immediately, while the money he’d be paying would be a real, tangible loss—once it’s spent, it’s gone.

By then, with the money going out and nothing much coming back, he’d even lose the profit he made helping people find Jue Sect Disciples. Totally not worth it.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Yong quietly removed the Wood Realm requirement and... even lowered the price.

From five thousand per person, he cut it straight down to five hundred per person.

Now that did it—people actually started signing up below. Some of the replies looked super noob, like they barely understood how to operate in the game, but as soon as they saw a paying commission, they still knew enough to reply.

Obviously, just like him, they were here in-game to farm gold and make money.

But Jiang Yong didn’t care. Five hundred per person—what more demands could he have? And anyway, the Bo Mansion’s that kind of place: charging in is basically suicide. It’s five hundred bucks to buy out a character’s entire life; pretty damn cost-effective.

On the spot, Jiang Yong recruited a full twenty people, burning ten thousand in costs to have them assemble first inside the Bo Mansion in-game.

If the quality’s not enough, then win by quantity.

Still unfamiliar with the game, Jiang Yong naively believed that as long as the headcount was big enough, they could create chaos and buy them a chance to escape.

He had no clue that a single big realm difference is like an unbridgeable chasm! Without specific formations and coordinated buffs, sheer numbers don’t actually do much.

So that ten thousand was doomed to be flushed down the toilet, and Jiang Yong remained blissfully ignorant.

Without a deep enough understanding of the game, Jiang Yong ended up making this frivolous decision, wasting money for nothing.

After waiting roughly half an hour, a message came from Qu Shuangxin’s side—she had successfully passed the intel to the Qian Family.

"What did the Qian Family say?"

Jiang Yong asked excitedly; this was directly tied to whether he could safely leave the Bo Mansion together with those two young masters and miss.

However...

"The Qian Family didn’t show any reaction. The person who received me seemed to be an Instructor from the Qian Family, so his status shouldn’t be low. But he didn’t reveal any plans or intent to rescue anyone. Instead, another girl in the room at the time was extremely agitated, saying she’d definitely send people to save her sisters and even told me to lead the way. But that girl was addressed as Miss Ji by the Instructor, so she doesn’t seem to be someone from the Qian Family... Oh, and let’s be clear up front: I’m not leading the way. Even if you pay me, I’m not going. If I offend the Bo Family, I won’t be able to survive in the Capital."

By the time things reached this point, Qu Shuangxin had basically done all she reasonably could, and could take that five thousand with a clear conscience.

Jiang Yong actually wanted to keep this kind of Expert on as the Captain of his rescue team, but she didn’t even respond.

At her level, she already had a pretty good grasp of the situation in the Capital. Quietly passing a message is fine; directly going head-on with a big clan like the Bo Family, isn’t that just asking to die? Her character account is still very valuable, like a hen that lays golden eggs—why would she cut off her own future?

So this matter was simply non-negotiable.