Genshin Impact: Watch me turn the tables and kill my servants at the start!

Fanes leaned back in the old sofa on the top floor of the Goethe Hotel, his fingers still hovering above the terminal panel.

Fanes read the message again, then looked up at the little boy opposite him: "The Wind Dragon Ruins are officially open to the public."

The little girl looked up from her notebook: "How much is the ticket?"

Fanes glanced down at the line of numbers highlighted in bold red on the panel: "One million Mora. One person. And that's just the basic entrance fee, not including guided tours or equipment rentals."

Little Milk also looked at the panel: "One million... This price exceeds the total ticket price of all public attractions on the Teyvat continent."

Fanes leaned back on the sofa, looking up at the ceiling: "This pricing is really ripping people off. Luckily we went yesterday, otherwise we'd have to pay this price list next time we want to go in. One million per person, three million for a family of three, and that's just the base ticket price."

The little girl closed her laptop and placed it on her lap: "This pricing strategy is quite different from ordinary business logic."

Fanes still tilted his head back: "Alice never said she was developing tourism to earn repeat customers. She probably just wants to make a big profit while the hype is still going strong and then leave."

Little Milk Tablet thought for a moment: "However, one million is indeed a bit high. Some adventurers' total annual income may not even reach that amount, and that's just for a single entry. If we add guided tours and facility rentals, the total expenditure could be even higher. From a market acceptance perspective, this price may have exceeded the upper limit of most potential tourists' expectations."

The little girl turned her head towards Fanes and said, "According to the current tourism market, attractions generally set different price tiers based on tourists' spending power. If there's only a single high-priced ticket, it might shut out most potential tourists."

Fanes sat up from the sofa and placed the terminal panel on the coffee table: "The fact that Alice could do something like this means she's already set up other supporting facilities nearby—restaurants, souvenir shops, even a service to rent aircraft for a bird's-eye view of the ruins. The entrance fee is just the first hurdle. Once you're in, you'll need to eat, right? And after eating, you'll need to buy something, right? And when you're buying things, you'll definitely see guided tours, right?"

The little milk tablet thought for a moment and said, "It's a nested structure. In order to see the core exhibit, you have to go through a series of paid checkpoints, and the cost of each checkpoint is added on top of the cost of the previous one."

Fanes paced back and forth in the living room: "The million-dollar ticket price might not be for selling, but rather for creating a psychological gap—making you feel that the subsequent expenses aren't so expensive in comparison. If you calculate it that way, just the conceivable add-ons alone will already exceed one and a half million."

The author of the article, "Besides that, there's another obvious problem—the one million ticket price is written at the top, and below it is usually a price list with smaller print indicating 'special offers' or 'limited-time discounts.' If you pay according to that discount, you might feel like you've gotten a good deal."

Fanes stopped in his tracks: "Then that QR code we saw when we went there, the one that gave a 90% discount when scanned—100,000, right?"

Little Milk Tablet: "Yes. 100,000 Mora is enough to get in, which is much more reasonable than the original price of one million. But if 100,000 is the real ticket price, then one million is just an anchor point used to create an illusion."

Fanes stood by the coffee table, looking down at the checkout section of the ticket order page on the terminal panel. The section displayed a discounted price that read "Limited Time Offer - 90% Off Experience Coupon," with a diagonal line crossing out the original price.

Fanes was silent for a moment: "...If that's what you say, then I'd like to take a look. After all, at a price of 100,000, it's about the same price as a regular tourist attraction. Before, we just thought it was outrageously expensive, but now that we see this discounted price, it seems reasonable."

The little milk tablet also looked at the page: "This is exactly the effect Alice expected. When you see a million, you think it's too expensive, but when you find out it only costs 100,000, you tend to think you got a bargain, thus ignoring whether the price itself is worth it."

Fanes looked at the discount figures on the terminal panel again, then put it back on the coffee table: "I almost fell for it. Is this the witch's marketing strategy? Create an extremely high price as a reference, then give you a seemingly reasonable discount, making you think you're saving money, when in reality you're still spending money you shouldn't."

The little girl flipped the notebook to the last page, wrote a line in the blank space, and then closed the notebook: "Moreover, this kind of pricing strategy usually comes with some hidden terms and conditions. For example, a percentage penalty for canceling a reservation."

Fanes picked up the panel again and found a line of text at the bottom of the ticketing page, printed in slightly smaller font. He read it aloud: "Refund fee... three percent. Lower than my standard fee."

The little girl placed her notebook and pen on her lap: "A 3% cancellation fee is indeed lower than your standard. But what if you actually bought this 100,000 mora ticket and then suddenly decided not to go?"

As Fanes scrolled through the terms and conditions at the bottom of the page, his voice came from behind the panel: "If I want a refund, three thousand Mora will be deducted. The remaining ninety-seven thousand will be refunded."

The little milk tablet shifted its position on the sofa: "Alice set a price of one million, then a discount price of one hundred thousand, and now she's added a three percent cancellation fee. If you actually buy a ticket and then cancel it, she'll make a net profit of three thousand moras."

Fanes looked at the line of text on the page about the refund period, placed the panel on his lap, and stared at the slowly moving shadow on the edge of the coffee table.

"Three thousand moanas may not seem like much, but what if many people buy tickets and then cancel them? What if ten thousand people buy tickets and then cancel them? That's thirty million moanas of pure profit, without having to provide any service. Charging a three percent cancellation fee seems considerate and reasonable; you wouldn't think there's a problem if you didn't think about it carefully."

The little milk tablet said, "And she'll get good reviews for 'setting such a low refund fee'—tourists will think she's very generous and considerate of users. In reality, she hasn't done anything; she's just collecting a fee that doesn't cost her anything. It's a very economical profit model."

Fanes put the panel back on the coffee table, picked up the cup of tea that had gone mostly cold, and looked down at the green plant on the windowsill that was slowly unfurling its leaves.

"Alright, alright, there's a second hurdle, huh? One million, a 90% discount, and a refund fee—three layers of this system. Whether you go in or back out, she can still squeeze money out of you. When exactly did Alice design this whole system?"

The young woman said, "These structures were already planned in advance when she decided to take over the development of this ruin. Tourism development is just the surface; the real operation began before tourists even stepped into the ruins."

Fanes put down his teacup, leaned back on the sofa, and looked at the slowly moving shadow of light on the ceiling: "So tell me, if I bought a ticket and actually went, would there be a third or fourth level inside?"

The little milk tablet thought for a moment: "Based on the style Alice has shown so far, it's very likely that something like this will happen. For example, entering the main tower area will require purchasing an additional 'deep exploration permission,' or taking photos from specific angles will require paying a 'photography license fee.'"

Fanes remained silent for a long while before asking, "...Should I still go?"

The little milk tablet looked at him and said, "It depends on whether you want to see how many layers of obstacles she has set up, or whether you want to save that 100,000 Mora."

Fanes leaned back on the sofa, watching the twilight slowly sink along the edge of the city wall outside the window. The windmill blades continued to turn in the darkening sky. "Let's leave it for now. We'll consider whether to try out her 'deep guided tour privileges' when we have some free time."