After the movie, it was already late at night. Lin Jichen and the other three left the cinema and headed home.
Ren Lan and Gu Qiuxue walked together, chattering about how they liked the movie.
Lin Jichen carried Niu Naitang, who had fallen asleep in his arms.
The little one had no interest in the movie at all. She had fallen asleep just a few minutes after it started and hadn't woken up since.
Lin Jichen was amazed at how she could sleep so soundly in such a noisy environment.
When they got home, Lin Jichen placed Niu Naitang on Ren Lan's bed. Just as he covered her with a blanket, the little one woke up.
"Brother Lin, is the movie over?"
Lin Jichen chuckled, "We've already come home. What do you think?"
"Ah! I need to go play chess in the game!"
The little one flipped over, quickly got out of bed, and climbed into the gaming pod with her tiny feet.
Lin Jichen covered his face, speechless.
This girl is really addicted to chess...
But he didn't stop her. Even though Niu Naitang had school tomorrow, playing all night in the gaming pod was equivalent to a good night's sleep, so he wasn't worried about her being tired in class.
Lin Jichen washed up and also entered his gaming pod.
Ren Lan and Gu Qiuxue did the same.
Playing all night in the game and still getting a full night's sleep—why not take advantage of such an opportunity?
Before entering the game, Lin Jichen checked the surveillance of the house.
Xu Zikuai had already moved back to the upscale community. Compared to staying in the hospital, he preferred living in the high-end residence.
Moreover, there were plainclothes police officers hiding inside and outside the community. On one hand, they were trying to catch the culprits, and on the other, they were protecting Xu Zikuai from further harm.
After all, the police had not yet caught the group of assailants.
However, if they couldn't find any leads after a while, the police would withdraw their forces. They couldn't waste so much manpower on an ordinary person indefinitely.
Despite his misfortune—losing a foot and a finger—Xu Zikuai's quality of life hadn't decreased at all.
To be safe, he had hired a nanny with the "compensation" Lin Jichen gave him, to cook and take care of him. He stayed in his room, playing games like a lord.
Seeing this, Lin Jichen felt that Xu Zikuai shouldn't encounter any more trouble for the time being, allowing him to continue developing in the game peacefully.
After turning off the surveillance, Lin Jichen browsed the forum and checked his recruitment posts.
He had already selected a dozen alchemy masters and equipment masters. These individuals had good talents suitable for alchemy or equipment crafting.
They had signed contracts and were now busy in the pharmacy and equipment store, all conducted online.
Lin Jichen had only intended to use Xu Zikuai as a shield and never planned to have him join.
After reviewing the recruitment information, Lin Jichen posted a new recruitment notice, this time for beast tamers.
Beast tamers specialize in breeding and capturing pets.
In the future, beast tamers would be a very popular secondary profession.
Lin Jichen couldn't catch pets every day himself, nor could he rely solely on the sect's supplies.
So, he needed beast tamers. Once the Beast Forest was discovered, he would send them to catch pets for him or sign a few trustworthy ones to go ahead and increase the shop's sales.
After handling all this, Lin Jichen browsed the Tale of Immortal forum to see if there was any news.
He found many players discussing an event that happened this afternoon.
"Did you see it this afternoon? The sky suddenly went dark."
"What? I wasn't online this afternoon."
"I saw it, but it only lasted for less than half a minute. It must be a system error, with nighttime starting early."
"Impossible. I feel like something big happened."
"Right, many Inner Temple disciples from our sect were dispatched. Something's definitely up."
"Same here. I heard from an Outer Temple elder that some seal was broken, and many demonic creatures escaped. Now all the sects are sending elite disciples to investigate."
"Really? The system didn't announce anything. Last time, the war between good and evil was publicized."
Seeing these discussions, Lin Jichen realized he might have missed something and quickly searched for videos on the forum.
Sure enough, many videos captured the event in Tale of Immortal this afternoon.
It showed that around 3 PM, the sky over the four provinces suddenly darkened but quickly returned to normal.
Since Lin Jichen wasn't online in the afternoon, he had no idea this had happened.
Now, seeing this, he didn't think it was just a system error like other players did.
He knew that a system error was impossible.
But he didn't know what had happened either. Lin Jichen had only started playing the game a year after its public release.
Many major events in the first year were things he had only heard about from veteran players or seen on the forum, without experiencing them himself.
But this sudden darkening of the sky seemed like a major event related to the Land of Sealing Demons.
The Land of Sealing Demons is located at the center of the Tale of Immortal map, serving as the entrance to the Netherworld, sealed by the great powers of the four provinces.
When the seal weakened, demonic creatures from the Netherworld escaped and wreaked havoc.
If Lin Jichen guessed correctly, this was the event.
He closed the forum and quickly entered the game, reappearing in Fengqu City.
The night in Fengqu City was still bustling, with the pet shop crowded as usual.
Lin Jichen checked the shop's earnings. During his absence, the pet shop's profits had increased from 2 million to 3.8 million spirit stones.
After deducting costs and the share with Spirit Beast Mountain, Lin Jichen could pocket nearly 2 million spirit stones.
If Lin Jichen wanted to exchange them, these 2 million spirit stones could immediately be converted into 200 million Chinese Yuan.
But Lin Jichen had no such intention. As long as he had enough money in real life, it didn't matter. Once the game world merged with reality, money would become worthless.
Spirit stones would be the hard currency in the new world.
Of course, the pet shop wouldn't earn this much every day. Today was the grand opening, so the excitement was normal.
Moreover, 80% of the profits came from the lottery.
As time passed, people would realize the lottery was a scam with low odds, and fewer would spend spirit stones on it.
And the Beast Forest would eventually be discovered by other players.
Lin Jichen could only make a quick profit in the short term. Once the Beast Forest was exposed, the pet prices in his shop would plummet like the Corpse Poison Potions.
But Lin Jichen was satisfied. Being the first to seize the opportunity was already good enough.
With the pet shop running smoothly and many NPCs helping, Lin Jichen didn't have to worry anymore.
He left the city, feeling uneasy about the forum discussions, and quickly returned to the Tianyan Sword Sect.