Chapter 80
Chapter 80
Liu Shuang slapped the table and shot to his feet, doing his best to hide his ugly expression. “No, wait. The mountains are snowed in. Why are you charging us extra for the rooms? We should only have to pay the 200 for the first night!”
At that, more than half the room started making a fuss. Clearly, these were the people whose Merit Points were over 200 but still short of 1,400-or perhaps they simply weren’t willing to spend that many Merit Points.
Meanwhile, people like Xu You, who hadn’t even reached 200, were already trying to think of other options.
“No one else is going to stay here if we don’t, anyway. What’s wrong with letting us stay for free?!” Liu Shuang kept trying to stir up everyone’s emotions. As long as everyone kicked up a scene, he refused to believe they wouldn’t get a discount.
Everyone knew that living one more day meant one more sliver of hope for clearing the Instance. Besides, every Merit Point they had was something they’d risked their lives to earn. No one was willing to hand them over lightly.
For now, one path to clearing the Instance was already clear: survive seven days in this Instance and wait for that so-called bus to come pick them up and take them away.
But every Instance had more than one way to clear it. If they could find or trigger the Red Door’s arrival ahead of time, they could still clear the Instance, though the Merit Point reward would be much lower than a Perfect Clearance.
“System, can Merit Points be partially transferred to someone else?” Wei Sen asked in her mind.
///Yes! In the Eerie World, Merit Points can circulate like currency. However, Host, please note that Merit Points borrowed out and then returned to Host will not count toward accumulated Merit Points and cannot unlock Card Draw rewards!///
Hearing that answer, Wei Sen began calculating. If she wanted to make sure all of them survived seven nights, she would need 1,400 points, Xiaoxue still needed 800, the Daoist and Huang Xinze together needed 2,500, and Chen Lin needed 1,300.
Altogether, they needed 6,000 Merit Points, while she currently only had 5,100.
Still, the gap wasn’t too large. She could first renew everyone’s stay for tonight, then spend the next few days doing the Good Deed she hated most to make up the difference.
It was only a 900-point shortfall. How many Good Deed would she have to do over the next few days…
As Wei Sen was thinking, the electronic voice sounded in her mind again.
///Host is willing to lend Merit Points to teammates. This also counts as Good Deed. For every 100 Merit Points lent out, you can receive a System reward of +20 Merit Points!///
Spend 100 and get 20 back-wasn’t that basically a 20% discount?
Calculated that way, the 900-point gap would shrink quite a bit. It shouldn’t be a big problem.
“Sister Xu, Brother Jie, what do we do?! No one told me Merit Points could be used as currency in the Eerie World!” Xia Susu looked to He Xu and Zhou Jie for help.
“Brother Jie, let’s help Susu,” He Xu said gently to Zhou Jie.
Zhou Jie gave a helpless sigh and held out his hand. “Ah, of course I can’t just stand by and watch someone die. Merit Points are very precious, and I normally don’t lend them out, but for Xu’s sake, I can lend you some.”
Xia Susu’s eyes instantly lit up. “Merit Points can be borrowed?!”
That sentence drew the attention of everyone who didn’t have enough Merit Points.
Zhou Jie didn’t try to hide it either. He raised his voice and said, “That’s right. If you don’t have enough Merit Points, you can borrow them from others.”
“Whew~ Thank goodness. I thought I was done for.” Lin Xiaoxue let out a long breath.
“I want to borrow some! Brother Jie, thank you!” Xia Susu hurriedly said.
“No problem. Judging by everyone here today, a lot of you are newcomers. If I don’t step in, many of you probably won’t survive three days. As for me, my Merit Points are limited too, but I can take out a portion to help you,” Zhou Jie said.
“Brother Jie is so cool! Brother Jie really is a good person!” Xia Susu cheered.
“Now this is what it means to have a big shot’s vision!”
“This is great. Thank goodness we ran into such a kind big shot!”
Everyone began showering him with praise, grateful for their good luck.
Wei Sen stared silently at Zhou Jie. Could this man really be that kindhearted?
“Ahem!” Zhou Jie’s expression remained stern. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch. I’m only offering you a way to survive. Whether you take it is up to you. As for me, the interest is fivefold, paid off within three months. If you can accept that, come find me.”
The people who had just been cheering and praising him all froze on the spot.
“F-Fivefold?” Xia Susu was stunned too.
If she borrowed 1,400, then fivefold meant she would have to pay back 7,000!
How many Instance runs would she have to clear within three months to repay 7,000?
“What happens if we can’t pay it back?” someone asked.
The corner of Zhou Jie’s mouth lifted slightly. “Can’t pay it back? You should all know that many an Anomalous Artifact can be used not only against the Eerie Entity, but also against those with the Order Keeper identity.”
A chill ran down the spines of those who had been planning to borrow Merit Points from Zhou Jie.
Xia Susu lowered her head and thought for a moment. Then her gaze darkened. “Brother Jie, I’ll borrow.”
Zhou Jie didn’t hesitate. After a flurry of operations on his watch, Xia Susu saw the Merit Points on her watch jump up the next second, and a smile instantly spread across her face.
“Has Xia Susu lost her mind? How can she be that happy taking out a loan shark’s deal?” Lin Xiaoxue whispered to Xu You.
“Who knows what’s going on in her head? Let’s worry about what we’re gonna do first,” Xu You said seriously, looking at the others.
Lin Xiaoxue turned pleading eyes toward Guo Lan. As someone ranked 250th on the leaderboard, she definitely had no shortage of Merit Points.
Guo Lan looked conflicted, her tone extremely grave. “Xiaoxue, I can lend you the Merit Points you need, and I won’t charge you interest. But I can’t lend to the others.”
“Huh? Why not? Sister Lan, I can pay you extra! Just lend us some for now. Once we clear the Instance, we’ll definitely pay you back as soon as possible!” Lin Xiaoxue blinked her big, watery eyes.
“First of all, to a certain extent, Merit Points are the same as life points. When you face danger, killing the Eerie Entity is inevitable, and that means Merit Points will be deducted. But no one knows how many will be deducted, so the more Merit Points you have, the safer you are!”
Wei Sen listened to Guo Lan and had to admit she was right.
Earlier, she had only been thinking about splitting up her 5,100 points so that they could all survive until seven days later. But now, it seemed that if she gave away all her Merit Points, she would end up in an even more dangerous situation herself.
Guo Lan continued, “Second, this Instance has an eighty percent death rate. Anything I lend out may never come back. Do you understand?”
Lin Xiaoxue was left speechless. It was true…
That was why Zhou Jie had proposed fivefold interest. As long as one out of every five people who borrowed Merit Points from him survived, he wouldn’t lose money.
Lending out Merit Points really was a huge gamble, especially in an S-Rank Instance.
“But…” Lin Xiaoxue still wanted to argue. They were teammates, after all. How could Guo Lan only think of herself and ignore whether her teammates lived or died?
Xia Susu was the exception, of course.
“How about this.” Wei Sen cut Lin Xiaoxue off and looked at Guo Lan. “Transfer the Merit Points you were going to lend Xiaoxue to me, and I’ll cover everything they’re short.”
The others all looked at Wei Sen in surprise.
Guo Lan was astonished too. “You? You’ll cover the rest for all of them?!”
“Yes. Me.” Wei Sen’s expression remained as calm as ever.