The PTW Shop
Chapter 16 – The PTW Shop
11 PM, the first day of January.
The day ended in an anti-dramatic manner. Tong and Hua Shi agreed to form an alliance, with Hua Shi staying in Zhang's resident under the guise of Tong's fiancé as they were still too young to get married.
In turns, Hua Shi had to provide medical aids and use her skill if Tong requested her in the future.
Secondly, she had to help him in dealing with his soap business, accounting, stocking, and warehousing. She also had to write down all her medical knowledge she got from the skill and Hua Tuo's teaching so Tong could pass it to his men in the future.
However, once the Yellow Turban Uprising started, she had the right to divorce Tong and leave him if she was confident enough to survive this era alone. Or she could remain on board on this "pirate ship" and challenge the course of the history together.
Lastly, Hua Shi made an odd request. She asked for a few drops of Tong's blood once a week so she could make a sauce for her food. Her face, when she made the request, was perverted and unsightly, which caused Tong to have black lines on his face.
Hua Tuo and his wife left Zhang family in a merry mood. He succeeded in getting rid of the troublesome daughter and got more soaps as a wedding gift in advance. They promised to come back to attend their daughter's wedding when both Tong and Hua Shi's became an adult.
Zhang Jiao profited a bit from this engagement. He would receive treatment from Hua Shi until he was cured of the stomach ulcer. And he also got his hands on Hua Tuo's medical journal notes which would expand his medical knowledge further.
In the end, the entire farce concluded into a win-win deal to everybody. So everyone walked away in a merry mood.
In contrast to the joyous mood of everyone, Tong cooped in his room with his solemn face, waiting for the mission timer to be officially over.
The main reason Tong stayed up late today was that Tong looked forward to the result of his performance in this mission. The mysterious prize that the system mentioned made him curious.
There were just a hundred of otherworlders here in this world. What was the chance that several reincarnators could gather in a single small town or a village? One in a thousand? One in a million? Nobody knew.
However, this unusual odd happened in this village. Seven otherworlders gathered here crashed into each other, and two made it out alive.
Tong believed that this incident should only happen in this place but not anywhere else. Therefore, he had confidence that the three kills he had gotten should score him the reward.
…
Tong played around with the HUD map for killing times. He tried to zoom out and check other areas outside of his village. But the map only showed the areas within the range of one kilometer. The further beyond the distance was all clouded by fog.
He was disappointed. Tong wanted to scout the entire map of China to see where the other reincarnators were.
[*Ding* *Ding* The time limit for the mission is now over! *Ding* *Ding*]
The system obnoxious voice rang inside of Tong's head without warning, causing him to feel dizzy.
[Ladies and gentlemen, we shall now punish those that didn't meet the quota for today.]
[…]
[And it's done!]
[Congratulations to everyone that is still breathing. Did you have fun? Yes?]
'Fun? I got an arrow in the knee, you son of a …' Tong cursed in his mind.
[I knew all of you had fun. I, too, had so much fun watching you idiots running around like a goldfish in heat dancing around in the boiling water.]
[One of you even got an arrow in the knee! MUAHAHAHA!]
[Oh, excuse me. The arrow in the knee meme gets me every time.]
"…"
Tong rolled his eyes. He had enough of this trolling system. He laid on the bed and was about to go to sleep.
[Okay! Time for the reward distribution!]
[Everyone that is still alive shall get 10,000 years of lifespan.]
[And the extra reward today shall be …]
[A permanent upgradable level one radar map! Given to the arrow in the knee dude!]
[He had the best performance today. He got three kills in the bag while the rest of you suckers got only one or two.]
[Now, be jealous and clap your sorry butt to the winner! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.]
[*Claps* *Claps* Claps*]
"I really win!?"
Tong sprang up on the bed, checking his status menu. The HUD map had changed. It became more detailed than before.
In the previous version, his map showed color dots and rough geography. But it did not contain any readable detail that could pinpoint what was in the map.
However, this version had more information. Each dot on the map now had a name and each building also had detail and description on it.
Although the new map had the same range as the former, Tong was still delighted. He had a dream if he had this kind of map, he could use this as scouter in a war or a battlefield and utilize many tactics or maneuvers faster than using relay information from human scouts. Now his dream had come true. Tong felt more hopeful in the future war.
[Whoops, I almost forgot to tell you. You won't be able to detect any reincarnator like yesterday anymore. So you will have to figure it out yourself in the future! Having just a radar map alone is already too HAX, you know?]
"..."
[Ow! Oi-yoi-yoi! I've almost forgotten a very important info. Don't go to sleep yet.]
"Huh?"
[I've told all of you before that the tutorials are no more and the next thing will be the real deal, right?]
[I meant exactly what I said.]
[From today onward, your life will be more intense!]
[Instead of living day by day with your boring slow life, you will voluntarily ask me for more missions!]
"Horseshit. Why should I?"
Tong was confused. The past missions were comparable to an endless nightmare. Why should he volunteer to take on those ridiculous quests?
[As of today, a new feature will be added to Y'all … it's the ... PAY TO WIN SHOP!!]
[Welp, it's PTW Shop for short … Heheheh!]
"..."
A menu popped up in front of Tong without him doing anything. There was a long list of items, materials, medicines, weapons, and armors, with a price tagged on each of the goods.
[Before any single of you got over-excited and buy anything, you should check the price tag carefully.]
[We don't accept gold or cash here. We only accept LIFE!]
[In other words, the shop only accepts your lifespan.]
A bad feeling crept through Tong's mind. The shop would sell items and took back lifespans as a price. But how would someone get the lifespans to trade with this shop? Completed the mission!
"Oh god, no …"
[We have pretty much all items you can find in the 21st century or all the way back to Stone Age.]
[But … If we let you buy whatever you want then it will be unfair to the local natives in this world.]
[So we're going to nerf you a bit.]
[This shop will only sell you one item per one shopping ticket you have, starting from today.]
[That means if you want to buy more items, you will need to complete more missions!]
Tong skimmed through the item listing. Everything was too tempting. It sold everything even a freaking battleship, with a whopping price of 100,000,000 years of lifespan.
The weapon and armor section had various kinds of items made by different materials, such as steel sword, guns and ammunition, Kevlar Vest, carbon fiber full plate armor and etc.
Seeing so many things that could give him an edge in this era, it would be a lie if Tong said he wouldn't be tempted. However, there was a dilemma that all otherworlders, including Tong, needed to face.
If someone wanted to get ahead of the other reincarnators, he could buy a single item and be invincible in this era. But he would need to risk his life completing at least one mission or more to collect enough lifespan and obtaining the right to use the shop.
If a player chose not to struggle and not buying anything so he could live in peace. In the future, he would fall behind and might risk getting himself killed by otherworlders or the future forced missions screwed him up.
A chill ran down Tong's spine. This was the multi-layer-trap system! This vicious honey-trap was definitely designed to kill everyone using the greed and fear of the otherworlders.
Tong held his head with both of his hands in disbelief. The "Mission Rush" was indeed as terrifying as Friday and Medusa had told him. Even after the rules were changed, the degree of difficulty wasn't lowered the slightest bit, but even more difficult.
[Oh, by the way, you can buy the skills that the dead players had created too.]
[But it's going to be a limited merchandise.]
[So … first come first serve! Only the decisive pay-to-win players can grab it.]
In a panic, Tong switched the shop tab from weapon and armor into the skill tab, only to see several skills listed as 'SOLD OUT'. He checked this page too late.
Tong hurriedly scrolled down the listing menu without stopping, then he finally saw a few skills that hadn't been sold yet.
He skimmed through the remaining list and stopped his eyes on one of the skill.
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{Firearms Creation LV.1} – price 10,000 years of Lifespan
- Create any firearm or bullet of your choice.
- Only handguns and handgun bullets can be created
Skill Cost:
1 year of the host lifespan per a handgun bullet
50 years of the host lifespan per a new handgun of your choice
Skill Restriction: Can only create one gun a day or one bullet a day. Skill resets at midnight.
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