The small group chat was buzzing with activity.
But then, a Player who had been lurking suddenly sent a message, silencing everyone for a good while.
Can't See the Bright Moon: "Quick question, are there any Players in this group who haven't joined the Countermeasures Bureau yet?"
"If so, I have a lot of channels. Right now on the Human Alliance's dark web, many corporations are willing to hire Players at prices far higher than what the Countermeasures Bureau is offering."
"Hmm... let's put it this way: starting salary is a million a year. If you get any extra items from the game later on, most of these corporations are willing to offer additional compensation, provided you agree."
"Of course, if you're all worried about your personal safety and don't want to be hired by those corporations, then please 'keep me in mind.'"
"If you need anything later on, feel free to private message me. Let's just say I'm planning to be a broker, a middleman between Players and the corporations."
'A broker? A middleman?'
'So this kind of thing is really happening?!'
The group chat went quiet for a moment, but someone quickly reacted and replied:
Brother Cheng Takes Off: "Holy crap, man? Woman? You've got guts. A broker, a middleman... are you sure the Human Alliance Countermeasures Bureau won't crack down on people like you? And are all these corporations getting restless already? Would the Human Alliance even allow this to happen?"
Can't See the Bright Moon: "I'm not sure if the Human Alliance will crack down on the broker industry, but where there's demand, there's a market."
"Besides, the Human Alliance is made up of people too. While corporations, powerful families, and large enterprises can't be too high-profile about hiring Players right now, it is allowed within the rules. Otherwise, why do you think people like me are appearing now? So, rest assured, what I'm doing isn't illegal. It's a gray-area industry at most."
Not the Tea Monarch: "Damn, 666. The power of capital is truly immense."
Insomnia and Rain: "Gray-area industries benefit the corporations and even the higher-ups in the Human Alliance, so they naturally have their value. At the same time, this is also pretty good for some lone-wolf Players. But I'd advise everyone, before the future of the True Game becomes clear, even if you don't want to join the Countermeasures Bureau right now, you absolutely should not be so quick to work for capital. Anyway, this is just my objective advice. Whether you listen or not is up to you."
"Also, I suggest everyone avoid revealing any real-life information, or even character information, when chatting. This will help you avoid unnecessary trouble."
Wada Xiwa: "Sister Yu is right. I agree!"
Not the Tea Monarch: "+1. And, to say something I've been wanting to say for a while, if possible, we could actually share information in this group without revealing our real identities. Of course, if any brothers and sisters are close to each other in the game, we could even form an alliance to progress together. After all, I don't think any of our characters have any reason for a conflict of interest at the moment."
"..."
Lince lurked the whole time, reading the screen. He felt that this business with brokers and middlemen definitely had nothing to do with him right now.
After all, at this stage, Lince definitely wouldn't join the Countermeasures Bureau, and he certainly wouldn't be hired by any corporation.
Even if the True Game produced extra, tradable items in the future, Lince had no plans to sell them.
The reason was simple: Lince didn't have a strong desire for money.
He wasn't a big spender, and he disliked a life of hedonism and luxury.
Therefore, even though Lince had been unemployed for a while, he could still support himself for a long time.
After all, his two-bedroom apartment was quite valuable in Dawn City.
Not to mention, he was renting out one of the secondary bedrooms.
The rent for the secondary bedroom was two thousand two hundred a month—not expensive, but not cheap either.
As for his roommate, the tenant of that bedroom, he had been out for several days now.
The tenant was a young streamer who focused on outdoor content and loved to pull stunts. Just four days ago, the guy said he was going group camping in an unpopulated area, and he hadn't returned yet.
So, with his roommate "dropping Gold Coins" for him, as long as Lince was frugal, he wouldn't be short on cash anytime soon.
As for what Brother Green Tea had said about Players sharing information within the Game World, Lince had considered it.
After all, some posts on the game forums had already mentioned this kind of thing.
The elimination rate from the Players' second day of simulations had really scared the other Players, so sharing information was naturally for the best.
Besides, at the moment, there shouldn't be any major conflicts between Players, regardless of their Race.
Therefore, Players sharing information with each other would definitely benefit all Players.
As for taking it a step further and forming alliances, that would depend on whether there were conflicts between factions and personal interests.
Also, the most important point was that allied Players couldn't be too far apart from each other, or it would be meaningless.
At least, it wouldn't mean much while everyone was still a Low Tier Player.
Sharing information was one thing, but when it came to alliances, Lince wasn't considering it for the time being.
After all, he had his own territory, and a Tier Three one at that.
Ultimately, the chances of other Players being able to help him were too low. On the contrary, he was the one capable of protecting more Low Tier Players.
But Lince hadn't thought about doing something like that for now.
Doing good deeds wasn't so easy; one careless move could attract a whole lot of unwanted trouble.
He knew his own limits. In other words, at this stage, Lince couldn't even say he could completely protect himself. The location of his territory alone guaranteed that it wouldn't be peaceful forever.
So, after thinking about this for a while, Lince logged out of the Player forums upon returning to his apartment.
By now, it was already 11:30 in the morning.
Lince had returned to his bedroom and immediately opened the custom-made pet carrier.
He then casually took out some mealworms and fed them to the two little hamsters he had just bought yesterday.
The two small hamsters, one white and one gray, were each only the size of a child's fist.
Just then, Lince casually picked up the white hamster, placed it on the floor, and then stood up.
The little White Rat had no idea what Lince was about to do and was still happily munching on a mealworm.
But in the next moment, with a mere thought from Lince,
A speck of white light, invisible to outsiders, shot out from Lince's chest and into the little hamster's body on the floor.
And so, right before Lince's eyes, the previously harmless and even cute little White Rat's body suddenly froze. The half-eaten mealworm it was holding in its tiny paws fell to the ground.
At the same time, in the very next instant, it was as if a massive amount of flesh and blood began to surge outward from the little White Rat's body.
Its entire body swelled rapidly, like a large ball of meat.
Then, in the span of a single breath, the little white hamster seemed to finish its transformation, its appearance completely changed.
Now, its body was the size of an adult orange cat, and its snow-white fur stood on end like silver needles.
It looked just like an albino hedgehog.
At the same time, the two large incisors on its upper and lower jaws had become extremely prominent and well-developed.
"SQUEAK SQUEAK???"
Now imbued with Power and completely transformed by the Giant-toothed Rat King Character Card, the little White Rat's big eyes were filled with a Spiritual, dazed confusion.
It looked at Lince and let out two squeaks.
Lince, looking thoughtful, slowly squatted down.
"Come here, little guy."
"SQUEAK SQUEAK???"
The hamster stared blankly at Lince. Then, its Spiritual eyes quickly seemed to fill with joy, and it cooperatively scurried over to him.
Lince reached out and petted the little guy's head.
The little creature even closed its eyes in comfort, letting out soft, continuous squeaks and grunts.
The fur was a bit prickly to the touch, almost like steel wire.
"Hmm... little guy, retract your fur."
Lince only said it tentatively, but the little creature actually seemed to understand. In the next instant, all the fur on its body softened.
Now, the fur of this plus-sized hamster looked fluffy, even a little fuzzy.
Reaching out to pet it again, Lince found that it felt surprisingly good.
So he relaxed and gave it a good petting.
After that, Lince began to run various tests on the little hamster inside his room.
An iron spoon shattered with a single bite from the little hamster.
Its jumping ability, the sharpness of its claws—Lince tested them one by one.
Finally, satisfied, he unequipped the Giant-toothed Rat King Character Card from the White Rat.
"Not bad, not bad at all."
"As expected, products from the game never disappoint!"
"Now then, it's time to get down to business."
As noon approached, Lince finally sat down at his computer desk again.
In the next moment, he turned on his computer and, with practiced ease, once again clicked the 'True Game' launch icon.