“Yo, you’re quite familiar with this brother.” The people’s attention was attracted by this guy’s speech, and they looked at him. Then, they saw this guy’s ID—King Of Single Draw.
The surrounding players’ mouths twitched.
No wonder he made so much sense; he clearly was experienced, given that ID.
“That makes some sense, so how can we know?” someone asked.
The inventory in the heavy truck became lesser and lesser. King Of Single Draw’s eyes sparkled. He shouted across the crowd and asked, “How many more boxes are inside?”
Han Xiao waved his hand and said, “There is a total of 786 boxes, 530 left now.”
The players were stunned and surprised. They had thought that the boxes were unlimited, but that was not the case. Now, some spectating players could not wait anymore. They held onto their money and joined the queue.
King Of Single Draw changed his style. With one arm around his chest and one arm holding his chin, like a contemplating detective. “That’s right. Since it’s limited, it’s impossible for it to be an official function. Black Phantom really is clearing his backlog. However, he chose to pack it into boxes and sell them instead of just throwing them away. Hmm… also, there was even an undamaged rare purple equipment in the backlogs. This wouldn’t make sense for it to be waste utilization. Therefore, the only explanation for this would be that this isn’t really backlog clearing! Black Phantom is actually giving out benefits by doing this. That’s right, we ‘Inhumans’ helped him to build the sanctuary, so he wanted to reward us!”
King Of Single Draw concluded his thoughts quite loudly, and the players in the square heard and understood instantly.
It sounded logical and was quite believable.
“If it is an official loot box function, the chances would be announced for sure, but if it’s part of the storyline, then us players will have to experience it ourselves and conclude the hidden rarity chance…”
King Of Single Draw’s eyes kept sparkling.
“The game developer will make sure you never win anything too strong from a lucky draw for balance purposes, but Black Phantom’s rewarding lucky draw is a different case. There might really be something good, which means these machinery boxes might really have some god equipment that will make the entire world tremble!”
The crowd turned wild upon hearing that—they were extremely excited.
Han Xiao was stunned as he listened from the side, and he was very confused.
I don’t remember hiring an actor. Where did this guy come from?
Chapter 278 - Black Phantom's Machinery Box (3)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Some people drew once, some people drew ten consecutive times, but there was no difference. Han Xiao only controlled the overall cost of the boxes and did not bother when selling them off. It all depended on the players’ luck. There was no manipulation behind the scenes—he wanted the players to feel the warmth of being home.
If there was a guaranteed prize every ten consecutive draws, it indeed would attract more people to make consecutive draws, but he was using the limited selling mode. There were only so many boxes every time he sold them, so they would definitely be sold out. Not only would guaranteeing a prize every ten consecutive draws not give him a higher profit, but it would also increase his costs.
If there was a guaranteed prize every ten consecutive draws in combination with the limited purchases, there might be some rich guilds that would bulk purchase, suppressing the normal players with their resources, and that would not be good.
There was only one purple equipment in the first batch of boxes, the one Jade Green Sky got, and only this one had been given out purposely by Han Xiao to grab the players’ interest. The rest of the boxes had a few blue pieces of equipment, about a dozen green pieces of equipment, and some useful parts and materials.
This rarity chance was acceptable to the players for the most part.
The first batch had more than seven hundred boxes, but only a small group of the players out of tens of thousands of player bought one. The rest were watching on the sides.
“This batch of backlog is finished. There will be scheduled backlog cleaning in the future,” Han Xiao said.
“Ah, that’s it?”
Players had not gotten enough yet—they were still tempted for more.
However, they could not do anything about it no matter how much they wanted more; the players could only watch as Han Xiao drove away.
The players who benefitted from it were content. Half A Cigarette When Lonely was jealous, and he touched his wallet. 3,000 for one box, so expensive. I definitely can’t get anything good with my luck, should I buy it?
…
3,000 per box. I sold more than 700 boxes this time, so it’s roughly… a lot of money.Han Xiao calculated as he drove.
After deduction of cost, the net profit was tens of thousands. His funds formed a cycle, supporting his expenses in buying materials to build machinery with ease. It was even more stable than selling items and more profitable. He placed suitable high-quality items in the boxes that suited the player levels, not giving anything that was too strong.
The players in the sanctuary discussed a lot about the first loot box event; their interest was sparked. Han Xiao grabbed the opportunity and started the next loot box event a few days later.
After four times, finally, all the players in the sanctuary got used to this recurring event. At fixed intervals, the players would wait for Han Xiao in the square in advance, rubbing their hands in anticipation.
Every batch had hundreds of boxes. It took twenty minutes to be sold out at the start, and by the fourth time, it only took six minutes. This clearly reflected the player’s acceptance and passion for this event.
Han Xiao’s initial goal of hosting this event was achieved.
The message spread out from the Planet Aquamarine panel in the forums. The players had almost never seen a purple equipment before, and they did not know where to get them. At this time, Han Xiao’s loot box event appeared out of nowhere, being the only way to acquire purple equipment at the moment. It received well-deserved attention, and the influence was growing.
Han Xiao saw how rowdy the forums were. The few players who had won the purple equipment made posts to show off, with a lot of envious and jealous comments below.
“Here to see the purple equipment boss.”
“Suck…”
“Another round of ten draws! Don’t hold me back. I didn’t lose my mind! I will definitely see purple this time! My intuition is never wrong!”
“I thought this game is different from the other lustful sluts, but you betrayed me!”
“The content has made me uncomfortable, reported!”
“Music lyrics: we are different, different—”
“No guarantee in ten consecutive draws, a miracle in a single draw—I’ve learned something new.”
“Guild of Gods buying purple equipment, negotiable price, private message if interested.”
“Sky Territory buying purple equipment, a higher price than Guild of Gods, private message if interested.”
“Got trash for all nine draws, watching post owner show off.”
“Passing by with trash in all thirteen draws.”
“Trash in all eighteen draws. Damn, I’m going to rob Black Phantom’s warehouse tomorrow!”
“You have my admiration. I will take care of your wife and daughter. Rest in peace. Salute!”
“Salute +1! keep the formation.”
“Salute +2!”
“Salute +2333!”
All sorts of comments came from the players. They gave Han Xiao’s loot boxes a name.
Black Phantom’s Machinery Box!
Always leading the trends, never to be surpassed.
…
A large amount of funds had come into his pocket, so Han Xiao bulk purchased materials and parts without caring about the price at all. He spent most of
the time in the workshop and built machinery continuously, turning Aquamarine Dollars into valuable materials and machinery, at the same time acquiring quite a lot of EXP. Also, he built low-level purple equipment as prizes for the loot boxes. He was way ahead of the players, and the machinery that he did not need was rare equipment to the players. Finally, all the time that he had spent growing himself now was paying off.
The sanctuary was on the right path. Huang Yu took care of the cumbersome and small issues, and Han Xiao just had to sign the documents.
Hila was accompanying Aurora for her recovery exercises. Frenzied Sword, Maple Moon, Bun-hit-dog, and Hao Tian all received missions to play with Aurora with rather generous rewards. Han Xiao was currently giving them space to grow themselves.
At the same time, Han Xiao did not forget to look at the war’s situation. The Six Nations had the complete upper hand. The Germinal Organization was basically at the breaking point, and he estimated that the Germinal Organization would soon be defeated, ending the war completely and liberating the entire Planet Aquamarine from the shadows of war.
The last time that he had browsed intelligence on the Dark Net, the number of wanderers had reduced by thirty percent compared to before the war—they had joined organizations for protection. Han Xiao felt weird about this; it was like people gave up their freedom due to fear in exchange for safety.
The situation was getting better as time passed, but Han Xiao believed in Murphy’s Law. He did not want to pay too much attention to the battlefield before things were settled. In case, there might be an accident.
However, he had done whatever he needed to do. He had given the Six Nations all the intelligence and killed a few Germinal Organization’s Executive Officers. The Six Nations had the upper hand in military power, intelligence, and almost everything. If they could not even win, they might as well eat sh*t.
Thus, Han Xiao was temporarily focused on the players’ main city plan.
This day, Han Xiao drove another truck of boxes, and the players swarmed in.
Every [Black Phantom’s Machinery Box], King Of Single Draw didn’t buy anything. He was patient, and he observed like a hunter, recording the results of other players, calculating the rarity chance. Some players were influenced by him. They sat beside him and tried to do the same thing.
At this time, a voice full of confidence appeared within the crowd.
“Give me a hundred boxes!”
The people were shocked. They followed the voice and looked over as a player with the ID ‘So Poor I Only Have Money Left’ walked out swaggering.
‘So Poor I Only Have Money Left, is this a true rich person‽”
“A hundred boxes, that’s 300,000 Aquamarine Dollars. Good god!”
“He really is a truly rich person! Can we be friends?”
“Indeed, only the large guilds have done consecutive draws before, and the highest was only fifteen boxes at once. A hundred is way too much, I have never seen anything like this before!”
Han Xiao raised his eyebrows. Such a boastful ID… it was like a pile of large leeks walking in front of him.
Chapter 279 - Luck Is the Ultimate Path
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
One hundred boxes were stacked neatly like a hill. It was a rare scene, and the players paused from buying and watched curiously.
So Poor I Only Have Money Left took a deep breath and opened the boxes quickly. The surrounding spectators extended their necks, and their expression changed from anticipation to shock and finally to mockery.
All one hundred boxes had been opened, but the best was only a blue assault rifle. The waste parts stacked like a hill. So Poor I Only Have Money Left’s face turned green.
“One hundred boxes and got blue equipment, nice.”
“You have my admiration, chief.”
“Money can’t change your fate, bro.”
“New documentary: Galaxy—Fall of a Rich Man”.
“Why do I feel so… good?”
So Poor I Only Have Money Left grabbed his hair in frustration. As his ID suggested, he was rich indeed, and he was used to spending a lot of money, which brought him profit most of the time. He was rich, so he could do anything he wanted.
Lucky draw events were his favorite. He did not care about whether he profited or lost money—he just liked the moment of pleasure when he won something. However, he did not win with Han Xiao.
[Black Phantom’s Machinery Box] did not guarantee anything no matter how many one bought at once. Like the lottery, it was completely about luck and probability. So Poor I Only Have Money Left bought one hundred boxes because he thought there was a higher chance of winning something, but he had been very unlucky this time.
Although it was good to have a rich customer, Han Xiao did not give him any special treatment. No guarantee meant no guarantee, and he did not want to break the rules because of rich people. His target customers were all the players. He wanted to turn this into a main city specialty and have more people take part in the event, not turn it into an event just for the rich. The number of boxes was limited after all, and not having any guarantee for consecutive purchases was to avoid a single person buying too many boxes.
If there was a guarantee for consecutive purchases, the other rich people would also do the same. Every batch of limited boxes would be snatched away by a few rich people, and the chances for the other players to take part would be much lower. It would make the event less attractive—long term growth was more important.
Anyone would be somewhat affected by the majority, and as soon as this evolved into a mass hobby, demand, and habit, its influence on the entire player base would be different.
So Poor I Only Have Money Left wanted to buy again, but the other players were now unhappy about it. They took the previous one hundred boxes opening as a form of entertainment, but the number of boxes was limited; it would have crossed the line if he bought even more.
Seeing that the crowd was unhappy, So Poor I Only Have Money Left could only scratch his head awkwardly and step aside.
On the side, King Of Single Draw was full of disdain. He told the people around him, “See? Throwing money has no technicality at all. The best method is to calculate the rarity chance through a lot of observation and research.”
As he was speaking, he smiled confidentially, and light reflected off from both his teeth and glasses. “Now, watch my performance!”
Bringing a group of people, King Of Single Draw walked toward Han Xiao, he paid close attention and calculated in his heart, after a few players finished buying, he suddenly yelled very loudly and shocked the crowd, then squeezed into the front line of the queue and bought the next box.
“Hehehe, according to my experience, there’s definitely something good in this box.”
King Of Single Draw was full of confidence. He opened the box with looks of anticipation from the crowd.
_____________________
Congratulations, you have received [Waste Part] * 18
_____________________
The crowd suddenly turned silent and looked at him weirdly.
The atmosphere was very awkward. King Of Single Draw’s mouth twitched. He coughed and said, “You guys should know that this is a matter of probability. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. There’ll definitely be something good!”
However, his next single purchases were all trash. His followers looked at him with more and more doubts.
“Can you even do it?”
“Bullsh*t! Next time, purple will definitely appear next time!” King Of Single Draw’s eyes were red. Like a gambling addict, he bought one more box. He closed his eyes and mumbled, “God, please give me luck this time.”
After he repeated that more than a dozen times, he felt his palms heating up, like an unknown force had just descended into him.
Famous words of many people flashed through his mind.
“This time, surely!” King Of Single Draw opened his ey
es suddenly. With a gush of confidence, he yelled and flipped open the box!
A pile of trash.
King Of Single Draw froze in place, lost.
“Why… why is this happening? Are all the trends I’ve been researching fake? The loot boxes are fake; the world is fake; everything is fake!”
In the crowd, Half A Cigarette When Lonely touched his wallet. It was finally his turn. He hesitated and said, “I’ll have one.”
This was his first time buying [Black Phantom’s Machinery Box]. He had been spectating hesitantly until then. Although 3,000 Aquamarine Dollars was not really a lot, he was just a normal player, and his money had all been made through hard work of doing missions here and there, so he treasured his money a lot. However, seeing that many players had won good equipment in this event, he was a bit tempted.
Then, he finally decided to just buy one box.
Half A Cigarette When Lonely had very low expectations. He would be satisfied with just green equipment, and he did not even dare to think about blue or purple equipment.
After running to the side, Half A Cigarette When Lonely held his breath and opened the box.
Purple light surged into his eyes!
“P—Pur—Purple equipment‽”
Half A Cigarette When Lonely was stunned, trembling in excitement.
The players beside looked over with jealous.
“Another lucky one.”
“Tsk, I want purple equipment, too.”
There was someone who won a purple equipment every time. Although it was rare, the players had seen it happen a few times and were used to it. They stopped paying attention after being jealous for a while.
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