Survival Game: Call Me an Honest Businessman

From Saint Shadow City back to Never Forget the Danger.

It was already very late at night.

Bai Ge, Ou Huang, and others still had news from the day to report, and He Dong, managing the Bu Wang Wei Exchange alone for the first time, also needed to report.

After Li Zhi listened to everything and finished the summary meeting, it was already past midnight.

She didn't have time to savor the joy of her huge success; the game panel was overflowing with messages that still needed to be processed.

You have created a new business model. Experience points: +500

[Signing a share purchase agreement, experience points +10]

[Completed an innovative transaction, experience points +10]

[Completed a large transaction, experience points +10]

[Complete an online transaction, experience points +1]

[Signing up shareholding agreements...]

[Completed a transaction...]

There is no upper limit to the experience points of offline stores. Experience points are awarded for each completed transaction. The opening of the exchange caused her store's experience points to skyrocket from (963/10000) to (7981/10000).

In a single day, she completed four-fifths of the path to professional level 5, which she had previously thought was an unattainable goal.

In addition to store messages, system messages also popped up one after another:

[You have contributed to the improvement of the economic system of the Apocalypse Continent. World Reputation +100, Race Reputation +500, Region Reputation +1000]

Your exchange is now known to all races across the Apocalypse Continent. World Reputation +20, Race Reputation +40, Region Reputation +80

You have achieved the "Slightly Famous" achievement, gaining +10 World Reputation, +20 Racial Reputation, and +40 Regional Reputation.

The last time the rankings were released, the reputation rankings were launched at the same time, but no rankings were provided.

Li Zhi also checked the reputation rankings, and the pop-up message was:

The minimum requirement to enter the reputation rankings is 100 reputation points. Please keep trying!

At the time, she felt that compared to lists like the wealth list and the combat power list, which have clear directions for effort, the reputation list was the most difficult to climb.

The same is true.

Before today, Li Zhi had accumulated 11 points of world reputation, 12 points of racial reputation, and 18 points of regional reputation by opening the three major leaderboards for the first time, completing the "Small Gambles for Fun" quest, and taking first place in the seventh trial area of ​​the Emerald Mountains.

She is already ahead of 99.99% of humanity, yet she still cannot meet the minimum requirements to enter the reputation rankings.

This reminded her that the Dongqi chat area had discussed this matter when the three major lists were launched.

Ultimately, everyone concluded that the reputation ranking was too vague; the ranking would only be activated for the sake of a truly renowned human who could make a name for himself on the Tianqi Continent.

At the time, Li Zhi only glanced at it briefly and didn't take it to heart.

Unexpectedly, the new race reputation ranking will most likely be launched because of her.

At the same time, as the only human to break through the racial limit.

Possessing A-class mechs, B-class suits, S-class items...

If nothing unexpected happens, she won't just be number one on the lord list and the wealth list.

—She will become number one on all four lists.

Li Zhi rubbed his forehead.

But he couldn't suppress the upward curve of his lips.

Looks like I'll have to block all messages tomorrow, otherwise it'll be exhausting to see so many people envious.

She rolled around in bed several times, and the urgent messages she had accumulated all the time suddenly popped up:

[Player "Lin Zhiwei" sent you an urgent message]

Player "The Magician" has sent you an urgent message.

[Player...]

Cross them out one by one.

Li Zhi did not reply to any of the messages.

Filled with belated joy and anticipation for tomorrow, I drifted off to sleep.

The sun had just risen when the alarm clock woke her up.

The list of new race lords will be released at 12 o'clock, and she still has a lot to do before then.

Li Zhi washed his face with cold water, cooked himself a dumpling, ate it, and then teleported to the Green Market.

When she arrived at the trading hall, Ying rushed over.

She also had dark circles under her eyes.

"Why are you here so early? I was so excited yesterday I couldn't sleep. I thought you'd be late too. Don't you want to get some sleep?"

Li Zhi: "I'm asleep. I thought I was too excited to sleep, but I fell asleep as soon as I lay down. I slept pretty well. Has your betting opened yet?"

Speaking of this, Ying is no longer sleepy.

She led the way, and only when she entered her own Leaf Tower did she exclaim excitedly, "It's open! You're a genius! You actually thought of opening a betting pool for the new race's lord!"

"It's not just you humans betting; all races are betting. Right now, the most bets are on your official aerial territory being number one, with bets already reaching 138 million gold coins!"

"Secondly, the sea territory, 116 million gold coins. Your odds are the highest, only 60 gold coins, of which 10 gold coins were bet by that little tree man you know downstairs."

Li Zhi was not surprised.

Whether in the eyes of humans or other races, she is only associated with the racial wealth rankings, but she is almost nowhere to be found on the lord rankings.

This is also why Li Zhi had Ying secretly start a gambling game the night before last.

She must maximize the benefits brought by being at the top of the lord rankings in order to counter the troubles and crises that come with them.

Ying: "I'm just curious, since you were already certain of victory, why did you send someone to guide Yi to set up a gambling game on the black market, and even pay money to make yourself lose? What's the difference between that and giving money to Yi?"

Li Zhi: "At the gambling table, as long as the money hasn't been pocketed, there's always something going on. What I want isn't to win, but to be absolutely certain of victory. Besides, I also bet on others to lose, so I spend even more money."

She was unable to provide a detailed explanation of market manipulation, hedging, and risk transfer strategies to Ying in a short period of time.

She simply smiled and said, "Since I'm letting you act as my bookmaker on the surface, I can't let you risk going bankrupt. Yi's betting game is insurance I've bought for this game. Even if there's a major upset or an unexpected event, her money can compensate you for the losses you incurred as the bookmaker."

Ying stared at Li Zhi for several seconds before saying firmly, "You're lying."

Li Zhi was suspicious.

Ying pulled out a blue-gold magic stone engraved with a magic circle: "True Magic."

Li Zhi: "..."

I almost forgot, this is the Apocalypse Continent, not Earth.

There are countless ways to determine the truth or falsehood of something.

but--

"I'm telling the truth, this is definitely not real magic."

Everything she said was true; she was just hiding part of the truth.

Seeing her determined expression, Ying put away the magic stone: "Okay, I did trick you, but you're definitely not the kind of person who would give me money to buy insurance, especially since the wealth rankings are going to be revealed tomorrow. You almost went crazy trying to get first place on the wealth rankings, do you really think you'd give me money to buy insurance? I don't believe it."

Li Zhi: "...You're mistaken, that's just who I am."

Ying's expression was even more certain than Li Zhi's: "You're not."

Li Zhi: "...This is a financial manipulation tactic used on Blue Star. I can't explain it to you in detail right now, and you wouldn't understand anyway. Just think of it this way: I asked you to send your people to openly set up a gambling platform, allowing free betting on the top of the leaderboard, not to earn odds, but to earn commissions. I sent people to secretly encourage Yi to set up the gambling platform, partly to buy insurance for you and myself, but more importantly, to scam her."

"Did you understand?"

Ying: "I don't understand. I'm not a businessman, but this is something you would do, and I trust you."

Li Zhi glanced at the time. "There are only two hours left. How much money do we have in the pool now?"

Shadow: "253 million gold coins."

Li Zhi quickly began to calculate.

In this betting game, she and Ying, as the bookmakers, would receive a 10% cut.

At this moment, there are 253 gold coins in the pool. After deducting her guaranteed 10% commission, 25.3, she has 227.7 left.

With odds of 1 to 10, she would need to bet 22.77 to win everything.

Li Zhi directly transferred 22.77 yuan into the gambling pool, "betting on myself to win."

Shadow: "Okay, locked."

Li Zhi nodded. "I'll go to Yuling Avenue first."

Yi's gambling operation is located on Yuling Avenue.

She upgraded her cloak to level 6, put on the mask, and teleported to Feather Spirit Avenue.

Yi's betting pool is even bigger than hers, already reaching 300 million. The rankings are about to be revealed, and she should lock in her bets soon.

Currently, the amount wagered on her losses accounts for 61% of the betting pool, but Yi, in order to spite her, still hasn't lowered the odds; they remain at 20 times.

She had already spent 10 on betting that she would lose yesterday, and immediately added another 1.385 gold coins.

These 11.385 gold coins were an insurance policy she had put in for herself.

If something unexpected happens on the Lord Rankings, this 11.385 will earn her back 227.7.

This fully covers the money she and Yingkai need to pay out on their betting odds.

In addition, Li Zhi also spent 10 yuan to bet on the official land territory with the highest odds of 11.11 times in Yi's betting pool.

Li Zhi was certain she would win, but her consistent approach was to always leave herself an escape route until the outcome was revealed.

She's at the top of the list, so she and Ying can get all the money in their own pool, 253 million, and they'll also get 111.1 million from Yi.

If she loses, the 11.385 yuan she earned from Yi's pool will cover her losses, and she will have to pay the gamblers 227.7 yuan.

Even after including the 25.3 yuan handling fee they charged, she could still earn 13.915 yuan.

Even in the worst-case scenario, if she loses and the official land lord becomes the top-ranked player, her initial loss of 10 will still result in a profit of 3.915.

She chose to become a gambler.

But all gamblers should know one thing: the house always wins.

A true businessman knows how to diversify risk and hedge funds when he has the ability to manipulate the market.

Li Zhi was calculating the gains and losses when a dialog box suddenly popped up in front of him:

[Congratulations to player [Give Me Back My 3-Star 5-Fee!!!] for unlocking the Black Merchant advancement path: Gambler - Banker]

Low-level gamblers gamble on luck, mid-level gamblers gamble on information, and top-level bookmakers set the rules.

[You have exploited the rules to carry out a legal "robbery" of the gamblers, breaking free from the shackles of a gambler and successfully becoming the bookmaker.]

[The dealer: You are a believer in probability, a hunter of human nature, and the rule itself. When leverage coils around your neck like a venomous snake, and interest cuts like a dull knife, will you be trapped in the cage you've built yourself, or will you sit at the end of the table, becoming the most expensive sacrifice in this game?]

[Banker's Equipment Upgrade: Cheating Cloak - Rule Cloak]

[Rules Cloak: Everything is decided by the dealer. You can adjust your class level, race level, voice, and appearance (if your class level is below 12 or your race level is below SS), no one can see through your true appearance]

[Upgraded Equipment for the Dealer: The Black Scale at the Poker Table - A Special Weighing Scale for Measuring Chips]

[Special Chip Weighing Scale: You can change and edit your chips, and weigh all kinds of special items; it will tell you the answer.]

[Banker's Equipment Upgrade: Dice Backpack - Money Shop]

[Bank: Your merchant inventory slots have increased to 99. You can bind 2 additional space equipment slots. Exchanging resources or transferring 33 of these space slots to the bound space equipment will allow you to do so.]

[Congratulations on unlocking the exclusive quest path for the unscrupulous merchant (bookmaker): Harvesting]

[Harvesting: Gamblers pray for miracles, house reaps the rewards of prayers. Your task is not to win all the money on the table, but to get everyone who sits at the table to willingly surrender their faith.]

[Player, give me back my 3-star, 5-cost character!!! Promotion quest successfully triggered]

[Promotion Mission: Create a Controlled Miracle]

The dealer can freely fill in the tasks, and the game will judge the "controllability" and "miracle value" of the tasks to determine the rewards and penalties.

Li Zhimei directly wrote: Players, give me back my three-star, five-cost character!!! She won first place on the Lord Ranking, Wealth Ranking, Combat Power Ranking, and Reputation Ranking.

【晋升任务：玩家还我三星五费！！！获得领主榜第一、财富榜、战斗力榜、声望榜第一，可控度（99/100）,奇蹟值（1/100），玩家完成任务可获得100金币奖励，任务失败将失去100金币作为惩罚。】

Li Zhi was not surprised but rather pleased.

What's the difference between this and simply saying she's number one on all four lists?

Moreover, the dealer's job seems to allow her to see the probability of success for something, which is like having a cheat tool.

Li Zhi opened his career panel:

[Shop: Blacklisted Shop]

[Businessman: Li Zhi (Career Path: Gambler - Bookmaker -)]

Shop Level: 4 (8012/10000)

【店铺锚点：1.索玛鬼市；2.黑铁港；3.浓绿集市；4.圣影城；5.（+）】

[Shop Status: Fixed Stalls * 4 (Upgradeable)]

[Shop Equipment: Standard cloak, special scale for measuring chips, money exchange, Level 1 business license]

Sure enough, the information had changed, and with the opening of the exchange, her experience points increased significantly.

Li Zhi closed his class panel and was about to teleport back to Holy Shadow City when he saw Yi hurriedly emerge from the exchange on Feather Spirit Avenue, his face turning ashen with anger.

"What are you talking about? The council announced that the Saint Shadow City Exchange is now worth 7.5 million gold coins? How is that calculated? That's impossible!"

Xiao followed behind Yi with his head down: "It's true, and what I've heard is that, mainly humans, including most of the higher races on the Tianqi Continent, believe that the price will rise further..."

Yi stopped in his tracks. "Does the Feather Spirit Emperor know?"

Xiao: "I know."

As Yi's feathers, which had been flung out, slowly fell, she murmured, "It's alright. The reward for being number one on the wealth list isn't even a fraction of what's on the lord list. Li Zhi definitely won't get number one on the lord list. I can still make some money when the betting opens, so I won't lose anything. What time is it now?"

Xiao: "...It's twelve o'clock now."

A dialog box appeared in the sky, and everyone on Feather Spirit Avenue looked up.

The Ranking of New Race Lords is Now Open