Chapter 94 Player Mayor
Thursday, October 31st, Earth time.
This ordinary working day, however, concerns many players of "Another World" - today is also the settlement day for the competition for the mayor.
Among the popular anchor Vanilla Pudding, RMB player Lahongge, and Ji Tang who is admired by individual players, two of these three people will become the mayors of Exile Town or Westram in the game "Alien World" after today.
As it approached noon Earth time and midnight game time, online players stopped what they were doing and looked at the information panel.
With the majority of players watching the fun and a small number of players on edge... when it was twelve noon Earth time, a very eye-catching yellow message appeared on the information panel:
"【System Announcement】: Congratulations to players La Hongge and Ji Tang for winning the mayor election this month!"
The cry of “Holy shit——!!” appeared simultaneously over Desolate Stronghold, Exile Town, and Westram.
The "civilian NPCs" in the Desolate Stronghold and the Exile Town have become accustomed to these undead going crazy at midnight . The "civilian NPCs" who have just been incorporated into the Tarantan ruling system for less than three days (in the alien world time) are still in the adaptation period. Many of them are so scared that they peek out of their windows.
"Are you kidding me? How could it be Ji Tang?!" Qin Guan, who was doing his daily routine of moving bricks in Westom, was so angry that he jumped up and down, "Obviously, I should be about the same as La Hong! Even if I'm not the first, I should be the second! There must be something fishy going on! There must be something fishy going on!"
Warrior mentor Rex, knight mentor Jerome and three-walker mentor have all come to Westram. Players of these professions will naturally have to move to other places if they want to continue to improve their mentor reputations.
In fact, it is possible to accept the quest in Westram and then teleport back to Exile Town to continue working for the guild, but players are too lazy to wait for the teleport CD every half an hour... Anyway, the reputation quest in Westram is the same as working: remove all the useless decorative compartments inside the clubs, taverns, etc. on the original red-light district street, and transform them into functional buildings.
For example, Weapon Master Rex now assigns players a daily task of moving bricks, which is to convert a strip show into a supermarket - the original performance venue, audience seats, partitions and private rooms all have to be dismantled, and the dismantled wooden boards and bricks that can be reused to build shelves will be retained, and those that are not used will be pushed to the garbage station outside the town with a cart for centralized incineration or landfill.
The professional mentors contracted the construction of the entire street in sections. The red-light district at this moment naturally turned into a large construction site where players gathered - the truth may be absent, but the task of moving bricks will never be absent.
Qin Guan was so angry that he jumped on the spot for a while, then angrily pointed his hand at Ji Tang who was also working on the Warrior Instructor site: "Tell me! Did you, the uncle's party, get in through the back door? Don't object, I know you must be the uncle's party, your account is not the same as ours!"
In the dark supermarket waiting to be renovated, Ji Tang, who was smashing the cubicle door with a sledgehammer, suddenly squatted.
He really couldn't accept this...
Ji Tang was not in a position to defend himself. Tang Jia, who was working with Ji Tang to improve his reputation, did not care about this and said, "Calm down, Mr. Vanilla. We all understand that you are in a bad mood, but there is no need to say this. Ji Tang did not use any backdoors. We watched him improve his reputation bit by bit."
"Then how did Ji Tang's reputation surpass that of Vanilla Boss?" On the other side, a passerby player who was carrying garbage with a cart asked curiously, "As soon as the mayor election event came out, Vanilla Boss and Brother Lahong started collecting materials and paying for reputation a long time ago, but I didn't see how Ji Tang collected them?"
Originally, not many people were grinding for the warrior's reputation, but after the weekend activity dungeon was launched, some players saw the prospect of the warrior, a profession that was a real man with twelve seconds (the time it takes to cast a set of skills), and they also came to grind for it. Now, there are several players who have not changed their profession squatting on this construction site.
While others are working on gaining the reputation required for the second level, these players are still working on gaining the reputation for the first level. Don't say how insignificant they are...but insignificant players do have their advantages. They are strong because they have no desires. They don't cling to anyone and don't have to worry about their stance when speaking. As soon as this player raised his doubts, the others also looked over and became interested spectators.
"Hey! Now we have something to talk about!" Tang Jia perked up and jumped up, slapping her thigh. "Can we talk about it now, Ji Tang? Now that everything has been settled, there's no need to hide it, right?"
Ji Tang: “…”
He finally understood why En Bu Zeng pulled Tang Jia aside and told her for a long time yesterday to keep her mouth shut and her hands closed (and not post anything). This girl really can't keep things to herself.
Yang Ying went offline to cook. En Bu Zeng refused to continue skipping classes and hadn't started yet. Those who were online really couldn't control Tang Jia. The girl took Ji Tang's annoyed face as a default, gave a thumbs up, and said proudly: "That's right, Ji Tang's reputation was not as high as Vanilla Boss and La Hong Brother, but yesterday our Ji Tang completed three hidden tasks with super cool rewards! The territory's reputation has been raised to a high level!"
The person she was talking about was Ji Tang, and the one she was pointing her thumb at was... herself.
But this is not important. None of the players present cared about this. When they heard about the three hidden tasks, even the angry Qin Guan was shocked: "Holy crap?! Is this true?"
"Ahahaha! Of course it's true!" Tang Jia was so proud that she poked her thumb upwards like crazy, "Haven't you seen that there is an Environmental Sanitation Bureau in this town and a garbage station outside the town? Do you know who proposed the red-light district renovation plan, and who planned the brick-moving task we are doing now? It's all our Ji Tang!"
"Rex surrendered his knees on the spot! Old Yang scored 666 in a row!"
"Others are still looking for tasks to do on the street, but our Ji Tang only knows to find Rex to create tasks! You didn't expect it!"
"Last night, as soon as Old Yang showed up, he gave our Ji Tang three construction medals. One can be exchanged for 3,000 points of territory reputation. Oh hahahaha!"
All players: "……(゜ロ゜)"
The players who were watching the game expressed shock: "Can this game be played like this?!"
“Oh my god, is the degree of freedom so high? Can NPCs even follow players’ suggestions to arrange tasks?”
“I’m impressed by this operation!”
“Holy crap, do I really know how to play Different World??”
Before these players could finish expressing their feelings, the information panel was filled with yellow words again:
"【System Announcement】: After a random draw, player La Hongge has been awarded the position of Mayor of Exile Town, and player Ji Tang has been awarded the position of Mayor of Westerme Town."
"【System Announcement】: Please log off immediately and load the Mayor Management Panel."
“【System Announcement】: The Mayor Management Panel includes the following contents:
The mayor can plan the idle land inside and outside the town and allocate it to NPCs or players for building blood alliance strongholds, houses, workshops, shops, manors, farms, factories, etc.
NPCs or players applying for land must have sufficient qualifications (friendly or above territory reputation, intimate or above Undead Chamber of Commerce reputation), pay a land use fee equal to the approved land, and pay rent on a monthly basis.
If the lease is terminated or there is no development within half a month of leasing the land, the mayor has the right to reclaim the land.
The mayor can appoint NPCs or players as sheriffs and affairs officers.
The sheriff can recruit up to 100 security officers, and the affairs officer can recruit up to 20 administrative clerks and officers.
Regardless of whether the above positions are held by NPCs or players, their salaries are determined by the mayor.
Taxes and land use rights leasing and transfer fees generated by commercial activities in the town are included in the local finances and are at the disposal of the mayor. During his tenure, the mayor must ensure the orderly operation of local finances. If a fiscal deficit occurs, the mayor may be dismissed early.
……etc."
As soon as this announcement came out, all the players who were online or had just logged in were excited, regardless of whether they originally cared about the mayoral election or were not even interested in watching the show.
When the news was released that the mayor could appoint officials and that they all had the authority to issue daily tasks that could refresh small BOSSes, the players were relatively stable. After all, this game had everything from BOSSes to bosses. There were wild monsters running all over the ground outside the Desolate Stronghold whose levels could not even be identified. If you wanted to spawn monsters, you could just gather a group and go out to spawn them.
This time, the mayor's authority was fully released, and the spectators found that the newly added monopoly daily was nothing at all...
For a while, players from three places were talking about it.
Not satisfied with just chatting with friends and family, many people simply log off and go to the forum to engage in heated discussions with cloud players who have not yet logged on and do not have accounts under the simultaneously updated announcement posts.
The number of replies to the announcement post is visibly increasing...
"Is my dog planning causing trouble again? The mayor has so much power, and the Blood Alliance's stronghold still needs the mayor's approval. What if the Blood Alliance is hostile? They deserve to have no stronghold?"
"Why does this routine of selling land for development look so familiar to me? Can an ordinary person really play this mayor? Is he playing a game or is he an official in the game?"
"The authorities are planning to let players build the city?"
"Are you kidding me? The players are responsible for the fiscal deficit!"
"Don't be silly. It's impossible to make a loss just by selling the land. Maybe you can even put some money in your pocket."
"I have a question. Can a mayor be corrupt? If he is corrupt, will he be beheaded?"
"And then become the boss in the dungeon? Wouldn't that be exciting?"
"I can have it with this!"
"What if the person who enters the game is Ji Tang? There's no point in pushing down the boss there. It's probably better to just go in and get bullied."
"That's right, Ji Tang is awesome enough, if he gets another BOSS panel, he will be invincible."
"Don't go off topic. Don't you think the mayor's power is too much? It's fine if an NPC is the mayor, but if a player becomes the mayor, what else can others do?"
"Why does the sentence above sound like the barking of a defeated dog? If you are not convinced, why don't you also go and improve your territory reputation? Just defeat those two on the settlement day next month and you'll be done."
"Can you please stop provoking a fight and have a serious discussion? I know that Brother La Hong spent a lot of money to collect materials. How did Ji Tang get there? Is there any shady dealings?"
"Are you sure the people upstairs aren't trying to provoke a fight?"
"Who is provoking a fight? Everyone knows that Vanilla Boss has also spent a lot of money to build up his reputation. How many people in the online discussion have not sold their materials? Has any of you sold to Ji Tang?"
"A shady deal! A shady deal! Ji Tang is definitely an uncle's accomplice!"
"Can anyone with a big dick give me a full melon without hiding anything?"
"I'm a big bird, let me tell you the truth..."
Lahong, who won the title of Mayor of Exile Town, found out that the lottery results were out without participating in the lottery. He didn't get the chance to win the newly won town of Westram. He wanted to laugh out loud, but he also felt like he got curry-flavored SHI. He felt a little upset...
While waiting for the mayor panel to load, Lahong browsed the forum with a complicated mentality. When he went online again, he still felt something was wrong.
After the siege mission was settled, everyone updated their equipment. Qin Guan and La Hong were waiting for the peak online period to organize people to do the Blood Alliance Order mission. At noon, La Hong had already brought his die-hard fans to the Desolate Stronghold, preparing to clear the poisonous fog swamp and get some materials for backup before starting the Blood Alliance Order mission.
Mingfeng Chunpu, Shenmi Xuexi and Huanling were all waiting for him near the online point. When they saw Lahong online, they all came over and said, "What's up, Lahong? What does the mayor's management panel look like?"
"Don't be impatient." Brother Lahong pulled up his personal panel, looked down, and said, "There's a mayor button next to the personal panel. When I click it, it's the management panel with personnel appointments and a map of Exile Town... Let me take a look. The land that can be granted to players is marked with white dotted lines - what the hell?!"
"What's wrong?" He was so obsessed with studying that he wanted to snatch Brother Lahong's panel to take a look.
"Fuck, fuck!" Brother Lahong was so excited that his voice changed. "This, this map - the map of Exile Town is so huge! The land within a radius of dozens of miles outside that valley belongs to me!!"
Several die-hard fans also got excited: "Holy crap, this is so cool?! Awesome!!"
"Wait, can Mayor Westram also manage such a large area?" said Phantom.
Mingfeng Chunpu said immediately, "Of course not. The area outside Westham is not as empty as Exile Town. There are villages and farmlands everywhere. The notice clearly states that the player mayor can only manage the empty land."
"So it's still more cost-effective to go to Exile Town!" Shen Xi Xue Xi said happily, "Although there are not as many NPCs in Exile Town as in Westerme, it is a large place with a lot of open space, so there is a lot of room for creativity. Apart from anything else, it's difficult to build a Blood Alliance stronghold in Westerme, because there simply isn't that much open space. Only in Exile Town can you freely create your own."
"That's right!" Mingfeng Chunpu also nodded excitedly, "Manors and farms are difficult to operate in Westram, unless the player mayor goes to confiscate the land of local people. The game has such a high degree of freedom that confiscation is possible, but there must be a price. It is not as convenient as Exile Town. In the future, those players who want to gain reputation with the Undead Chamber of Commerce must go to Exile Town... Exile Town is the core of this game!"
Brother Lahong felt that the depression in his heart was swept away, and the ambition to build his own big town from the vast white land sprouted in his heart. He waved his bone claws with high spirits and said, "No more monster hunting, let's go back to Exile Town! Let's plan how to run our hometown!"
Several die-hard fans immediately called for help, called back their friends who were scattered all over the base, and teleported them back to Exile Town...
Yang Qiu, who was watching this group of players from the brand matrix, calmly shifted his gaze.
Both Lahong Ge's own self-perception and the criticism of the players on the forum are correct. There was indeed some shady manipulation in the allocation of the two player mayors.
Brother Lahong is a gamer after all, and he plays with a gaming mentality. Yang Qiu must not hand over Westram, where thousands of people live, to him...
After all, it is not a transfer of official positions in reality, and the town to which the player is assigned will not be serious enough to affect the rest of his life. Yang Qiu just painted the barren land outside the exile town as a pie in the sky, and Brother Lahong was satisfied.
But Ji Tang is different. He is not a pure player, but a patient who enters the game to "recuperate". He has plenty of time online, unlike the student girl like Enbuteng, who has to log off to attend classes at a certain time.
Secondly, Ji Tang has a background in the national team, so he will have experts to give him advice. What’s the point of a town of a few thousand people? When Yang Qiu takes over the Innadeli territory with a population of over a million, there will be no chaos even if he leaves it to Ji Tang.
To put it bluntly, if this mess was not still confined to the framework of the "game" and some things had to be covered up and not be too excessive, Yang Qiu would probably completely give up the power and let Ji Tang do it...
The town halls of both towns were cleaned up and left to the player mayors to "inherit". Yang Qiu and his follower Lowell moved into the house of the former mayor of Westram. After seeing the reaction from Brother Lahong, Yang Qiu turned to observe Ji Tang.
Then he found that Ji Tang was not online.
"Have you gone offline to get help?" Yang Qiu touched his chin and immediately turned his gaze to the two tool men of the Undead Chamber of Commerce in Exile Town... No, it was Three.
While the players were attacking Westram, "Director Lu" arranged for a tool player to go online.
It is night in the other world, and the three tools... are not online.
"Hmm... I guess 'Director Lu' is going to send me another email." Yang Qiu pondered for a moment, stood up, looked at the tightly closed door of the guest room, opened the space-time rift, and returned to Earth.
Not long after the magical fluctuations caused by the space-time rift disappeared, the tightly closed door of the guest room opened, and Supervisor Lowell walked out wearing only a bathrobe.
After staring at the empty high-back chair for a while, Supervisor Lowell rolled up his sleeves and began to rummage through the drawers.
The former mayor's own residence is a single-story villa with a low-key appearance and gorgeous interior. It has six rooms and a spacious courtyard. The bedroom is as spacious as all the rooms in an ordinary house combined, and the living room can even be used as a classroom.
Yang didn't need a bedroom, and he never used a bathroom. He only stayed in the living room and study. Rowell searched the living room and study, but apart from various snacks and refreshments, he didn't find anything special...
"Wouldn't he just leave the books he usually reads in his residence..." Supervisor Lowell frowned and thought, "No - does he really regard this place as his residence?"
"The place he used as his residence... is it really the plane connected by the rift in his space-time?"
This phenomenon puzzled Lowell. It was not uncommon for high-level magicians to travel between different planes through controllable and stable space-time rifts. The undead mounts that could occasionally be seen in the free markets of big cities were brought back by black magicians from the dimensional demon world.
In addition to the ten-layer dimensional demon world, there are countless other planes... Because stable space-time rifts will disappear upon the death of their holders, even the court wizards of the Kenyan Empire dare not say how many planes have come into contact with this plane so far.
But no matter what, one thing is certain: all unknown planes have unknown risks, and few owners of stable space-time rifts will trust the other plane more than their own.
A high-level black magician like Yang, who could be described as cunning and treacherous, actually trusted that alien dimension so much and even arranged a stable residence there... To Lowell, who had once come into contact with the owner of a stable space-time rift, it was indeed difficult to understand.
"He has more secrets... than I thought."
Supervisor Lowell couldn't figure out a clue, so he simply stopped thinking, walked to the window, and silently looked at the street outside.
The ownership of Westerham changed hands without the knowledge of the original lord, Baron Marcus, and one can imagine the anger of the original lord. Although the baron has not figured out what happened in Westerham Town as he cannot contact the original mayor and cannot find the sheriff or the captain of the militia (all of whom are in custody), it does not prevent the baron from taking revenge.
Baron Marcus' first act of revenge was to cut off Westram's power supply.
The power plant located on the outskirts of Innadri is willing to transmit electricity to Westerham, which is dozens of kilometers away. Baron Marcus's father has put in a lot of effort. Although Baron Marcus has been staying in Innadri over the years to enjoy the convenient big city life and is unwilling to come to the remote and backward Westerham, he has always maintained his friendship with the power plant. It is not difficult to ask the power plant to cut off supply for the Baron's face.
But this kind of sanctions is of no use...
All the red-light districts that required a large amount of electricity were closed down, and even the venues were being transformed into functional urban buildings. The original hosts who relit the lanterns (kerosene lamps) had no complaints at all.
As for the residents of the town... they couldn't afford electricity anyway, and their homes had never had high-end things like electrical wires.
Not to mention the townspeople, even the craftsmen in the town had never pulled electric wires.
It’s not that the workshop owners can’t afford electricity, but these small businesses don’t have the manpower to protect the wires - after all, wires are made of copper wrapped in rubber tubes, both of which can attract thieves.
In other words, Baron Marcus's vengeful fist was like hitting cotton, and it had no effect at all...
Supervisor Lowell stood at the window and could see vague figures moving around on the street. Those tireless undead did not need electricity and could come and go freely no matter how dark the night was...
Supervisor Lowell looked at it for a while, shook his head, and retreated to the bedroom in the dark.
He had to rest well, recuperate, and keep his eyes open to observe Yang and these strange Tarantan undead, and learn all the information about them that he could.
Tarantan borders the Kingdom of the Rhine and the Principality of Shiga. It is impossible for Inspector Lowell not to worry that what happened on the land of the Kingdom of the Rhine will happen in the Principality of Shiga... He must prepare for a rainy day!
After returning to Earth, Yang Qiu first called a nearby noodle shop to order some takeout, took off his cumbersome robe, and sat in front of his computer to check his emails.
"Director Lu" actually sent him another email, and the sending time was ten minutes ago... It was estimated that not long after Ji Tang went offline, those experts began to think about how to use Ji Tang's position in the player town to obtain information about the other world.
Yang Qiu opened the email and just glanced at the beginning, he was shocked.
This email from "Director Lu" was probably written in a hurry. He didn't even bother to find a decent excuse. He just said that a state-owned mine in Province G had bought a batch of 100KW mining generator sets. They were automated, efficient, low-consumption, stable, economical, durable, and green.
