Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  Lin Sanjiu was so angry that her face turned from red to white and red again. She wanted to kick somebody's leg to just vent her anger. She understood now. The total volume of trade wasn't just 350 pounds. The notice board only showed the tradable amount. The remaining eggs were directly delivered to the large chain restaurants.

  This was why the large restaurants weren't even bothered by the egg prices!

  As she quietly blamed herself for not being thorough enough, she circled around the large hall. Mrs. Manas also started to be anxious. "It is a good thing you discovered it early. This is just the first day. Why don't you just take what you can earn today and slowly dump the eggs over the next two days? You need to deliver the goods to the small shop owners the day after. You definitely need to liquify that amount of Stamina Points. You might earn less if you sell to the smaller stores, but you would still make a profit," Mrs. Manas advised.

  Her advice seemed sensible. Doing that would reduce her risk to the minimum. If Lin Sanjiu was still in her usual thinking mode, she would definitely agree.

  However, Mrs. Manas was now dealing with "Scrooge McDuck".

  "If I add up all the eggs I will get tomorrow and the day after, I would have 3150 pounds of eggs," Lin Sanjiu said grimly. "If I take away the 200 pounds that some of the stores from Pumpkin Route already ordered, I still have to dump 2950 pounds of eggs. If you think about it. Before I came, they already have 2100 pounds of eggs… The small stores can't afford to buy all these eggs."

  If she wanted the small store to buy from her, she would need to buy all the eggs tomorrow and the day after. However, if she bought everything, the smaller stores and buyers wouldn't be able to buy everything at once.

  "What—what do you plan to do?"

  Lin Sanjiu pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes.

  "Fortune favors the bold. I'll just have to take a risk this time."

  Chapter 383 - The Morning Before Harvest

  On the third day that Lin Sanjiu entered the 'trading' segment of her route, she earned 21,055 Stamina Points through her unethical price manipulation like a wolf on wall street…

  —

  At this moment, she had only 48 hours left before she needed to deliver the goods she promised. However, she only had 19,248.5 Stamina Points and 2,450 pounds of eggs right now. In other words, she needed to needed to earn back the amount she needed to pay for the goods as well as the Stamina Points for her to move on to the final pitstop in the remaining 20 hours that the trading house would be operational.

  Just like the day before, Lin Sanjiu rushed into the tavern, kicking up wind, the moment it opened. Despite her previous plans to buy a set of new clothes, Lin Sanjiu naturally couldn't care less about the incident the day before. Just as before, she was wearing a bathrobe with the words 'Big Cats Hotel'.

  "How's the situation?" Lin Sanjiu asked urgently the moment she stepped through the door.

  "Just as you instructed, you managed to buy all 350 pounds of eggs in the market today at 1.9 Stamina Points per pound," the waiter replied while he rubbed his hands together. He said it with a sly expression as if he was Lin Sanjiu's accomplice in crime. "Our trading house seems alright, but I heard that the owners of the small businesses and shops queued up early around the trading houses on other routes… However, since you are a player, VIP customer and you ordered in advance, those owners couldn't do anything about it."

  Lin Sanjiu nodded with a serious face. She had already memorized Scrooge McDuck's plan yesterday. Even if something was to go awry, she was more than prepared to use her [Consciousness Mimicry] anytime. Due to the severe egg shortage, and Lin Sanjiu's false advertising of 3 Stamina Points, the egg prices slowly broke through the 2 Stamina Point resistant point. Looking at the notice board, the price climbed from 2.1 to 2.4.

  After Lin Sanjiu handed over the Stamina Points for the eggs as well as the processing fee, she spent another 680 Stamina Points. She now had 18,568.5 Stamina Points. Exhaling lightly, Lin Sanjiu knocked on the wooden counter and said, "I want to send another message."

  "Okay, who do you want to send this message to?"

  After thinking for a while, Lin Sanjiu gave the waiter a player's number, "I want to send the message to Player 23 first. I have already completed the preparations. He can sell the goods to me now."

  Player 23 was none other than Hei Zeji. Lin Sanjiu had to cajole him quite a lot before he agreed to help.

  "Have you sent the message?" The waiter nodded. "Next, I want to sell 50 pounds of eggs at 2.5 Stamina Points per pound," Lin Sanjiu requested thoughtfully.

  "Huh?" Mrs.Manas quipped.

  Beside Mrs. Manas, the waiter was a little surprise and looked up from the counter. Being an employee of the trading house, he naturally knew what Lin Sanjiu was trying to do and her current situation, "Are you trying to clear the eggs you have on hand? Why are you only selling so little? That not even a fraction of what you have. If you do this, the market price will fall."

  "It's okay, just sell them," Lin Sanjiu grinned at him, "I think I can sell it at 2.5."

  Just as she had forecasted under her Scrooge McDuck mindset, she managed to sell the 50 pounds of eggs within half an hour. Even though the price of 2.5 Stamina Points meant that the eggs were super overpriced as compared to their original price, the lack of eggs on the market over the past the two days had made the price acceptable. The buyer was a mid-size supermarket on 'Yeastken route'. After the transaction was completed, the buyer sent a message to Player 57, "You bought all the eggs these two days right? Little chap, you seem to be rather wealthy, maybe we could work together next time."

  'Little Chap' Lin Sanjiu didn't think too much about it, she wondered how Scrooge McDuck would reply before she responded with a 'sure'.

  After selling the 50 pounds of eggs, the price did not fall unlike what the waiter feared. Instead, the price shot up steadily to 2.5 and remained.

  "Strange. Why did the price go up when there are eggs available?" he asked curiously.

  "It's hunger marketing," Lin Sanjiu explained. Of course, Lin Sanjiu only knew this marketing strategy via her Scrooge McDuck's mindset. "On top of that, after everyone knows that Player 57 has been hogging all the eggs for two days and that I started selling at 2.5 Stamina Points per pound. They will assume that it is my target price. If I sell another 50 pounds, the price will fall slightly. Nevertheless, this demand from the small shops is insignificant compared to the stock I have."

  "Ahem, I've to admit I'm rather puzzled by what you're doing," the waiter chuckled, "By the way, Player 23 had responded. He wants to sell you...uh?"

  Lin Sanjiu took a sip of hot tea, nonchalantly.

  "He wants to sell you a piece of rock he picked on the street?" The waiter almost thought he made a mistake, "The price is 200 pounds of eggs?"

  "Give it to him," Lin Sanjiu replied decisively, cutting off the waiter's astounded utter, "Is it done? Give the rock to me."

  The waiter wanted to ask Lin Sanjiu how special the rock was that it cost 200 pounds of eggs; however, Lin Sanjiu tossed it on the floor after she took it from him. The rock fell on the floor with a thud and even bounced a few times.

  The rock was obviously only a proxy. LIn Sanjiu wanted to deliver the 200 pounds of eggs safely to Hei Zeji via the trading house. According to the current market price, Lin Sanjiu had to pay another 15 Stamina Points for the processing fee. With the additional 121 Stamina Points, she now had 18,674.5 Stamina Points.

  "Why are you doing these useless things? Let me tell you, if you don't sell your eggs and get at least some of your principal back, you might lose up to 3,000 Stamina Points," Mrs. Manas warned.

  "Tell me something I don't know next time," Once Lin Sanjiu made a decision, nothing else in the world could dissuade her. She turned to the waiter and made another request, "I want you to send a few more messages."

  "What is your message? Who do you want to send the message to?"

  After Lin Sanjiu read through their replies very carefully,
she smiled. Things were going well. In fact, the situation was better than she thought. As expected, there was always a way out.

  Lin Sanjiu had already prepared her replies and her negotiation tactic when she was in her Scrooge McDuck mode. After some careful deliberation over her choice of words, she sent some more messages. After exchanging messages to and fro with the three suppliers, Lin Sanjiu negotiated and wrangled a satisfying outcome.

  With the first step successful set in place, her plan proceeded smoothly.

  Lin Sanjiu targeted a total of four chain restaurants. Due to the simplified economy, the restaurants only sold a few menu items. These were listed on the notice board of the trading house. Each restaurant only had one item which needed eggs so it made things much easier for Lin Sanjiu.

  "I want to buy all the Strawberry Lips Cake today. There are only 50? Yes, okay. How long can I store it? Three days? I need a refrigerator. If I just get a future contract? Oh, okay. Yes, I want to buy them all. Let me see, what do the other restaurant sell? Ah, it isn't that much. I will take them all."

  The waiter was busy introducing the messaging services to another customer when he heard Lin Sanjiu. Startled, he turned to Lin Sanjiu.

  "You want everything? There is a total of four desserts/dishes. They produce between a few dozens and a few hundreds of these…" he inhaled sharply, "They aren't like raw ingredients. These are very expensive."

  The waiter wasn't lying when he said that. The Strawberry Lips cake was only slightly larger than a female's palm. Yet, it cost 25 Stamina Points. Of course, Lin Sanjiu knew that 50 of these cakes, along with the additional 430 desserts and dishes were going to be very expensive!

  Lin Sanjiu grimaced before she clenched her teeth and went through with her order. She could feel her temples pounding even when she spoke, "It is 9,850 Stamina Points, right? I want them all!"

  With this transaction and the corresponding processing fee, Lin Sanjiu only had 8,529 Stamina Points left.

  "This is risky," Lin Sanjiu looked quietly at the 'Buy' beside the Player 57 account on the notice board. As the 'Buy' flashed on the board, Lin Sanjiu felt a layer of cold sweat on her back even though she had been through many stressful situations. Her abilities, her combat skills, and experience wouldn't be of any help. If she couldn't earn enough Stamina Points, she'd...

  Lin Sanjiu did not even dare to ask what the penalty was for breaking any of the contracts. Based on the usual characteristics of this amus.e.m.e.nt park, she could guess even without asking.

  If a person did not have up to 10 Stamina Points for the night, they would lose a leg. And, if it was over 10,000 Stamina Points of debt?

  Lin Sanjiu had already finished all her preparations. Now, she could only hope that Hei Zeji would be successful. Based on the information from the egg suppliers, the four chain restaurants had something in common. The suppliers had to deliver eggs to the chain restaurant once a day. That is to say, the number of eggs they received every day was probably the amount they needed daily to make their products. Even if they didn't use all, they would probably use a majority.

  According to Lin Sanjiu's plan, after she bought all the specialty goods from these four chain restaurants, Hei Zeji would try to order more products from them. The amount that Hei Zeji would order from them wasn't going to be a small amount. It would be at least one day's worth of the products they made every day.

  As Lin Sanjiu had bought those items from the restaurant, Hei Zeji would definitely be unable to buy any of these items from them. Next, he would offer them a price much higher than the market price. This would entice the restaurants to take his order.

  Lin Sanjiu sat by the counter. She felt a little nervous. She listened carefully as she waited for the waiter to inform her that she had a message.

  Hei Zeji got back to her very quickly.

  "The restaurant owners are all very crafty." Lin Sanjiu couldn't tell what he was feeling from his message but her instincts told her that he wasn't happy. "They were evasive and hesitated. An outsider might even think that I am extorting them. One of them even asked me if I knew Player 57. Anyway, none of them were willing to specifically accept the contract, but they didn't reject me outright either."

  "The price of eggs are now exorbitantly high. They are getting orders of their egg-related products. These crafty businessmen would definitely be a little more cautious. It isn't a surprise that they would be hesitant to accept a deal that seems too good..." Lin Sanjiu thought.

  "Did you act as we discussed?" Lin Sanjiu quickly asked.

  "You're really annoying." This was the first thing Hei Zeji said in his reply, "I was just enjoying my cake. But, you had to drag me into this stupid mess… I told them I beat Player 57 up and forced her to give me 200 pounds of eggs! Then, I told them that I would sell them the eggs at 0.1 Stamina Points per pound. After that, they all agreed! Of course, I didn't sign a contract with them."

  From the exclamation marks Hei Zeji added to his message, it was as if he really wanted to give her a good pummeling. However, Lin Sanjiu laughed.

  "That's fantastic!" With a glint in her eyes, she laughed out loud showing her white teeth as she hit the counter.

  The waiter gave her a confused look.

  "Help me send a message to the three suppliers," Lin Sanjiu said chirpily as she continued chuckling. "Inform them that I have created the situation for them to break their contract. Tell them to act quickly."

  As the waiter sent the messages in a fl.u.s.ter, Mrs. Manas finally clicked her tongue in admiration in Lin Sanjiu's mind. After watching Lin Sanjiu soundlessly for half a day, she figured out what Lin Sanjiu was planning. "I say, that duck really knows how to con people out of their money."

  Lin Sanjiu couldn't help laughing.

  Even though she was relieved, before everything was settled, Lin Sanjiu did not dare to lose focus. After waiting for some time in Cloud Gathering Trading House, she finally received confirmation from all three egg suppliers.

  The second hour after she received their replies, a few new names appeared on the notice board. Starting with 'Strawberry Lips Cake", Lin Sanjiu had started selling the dishes and desserts she bought from the restaurants.

  However, this time, there were only very few available on the market.

  "I will continue with my buy order for the eggs. If that is the case, I will be the first person to get the eggs tomorrow, right?" Lin Sanjiu asked.

  When the waiter nodded, the woman finally let out a sigh.

  "I can sleep tonight," Lin Sanjiu's eyes glimmered as she looked at the notice board. Then, she walked out of the door and returned to her hotel lighthearted.

  Chapter 384 - Business Is War

  The third day was an exceptionally fine and sunny day. Sunlight poured down from the blue skies onto Lin Sanjiu's shoulders. When she walked out of the Big Cats Hotel, the owner of the pancake shop adjacent to the hotel immediately greeted her, "Are you heading out now?"

  "Yes," she nodded with a smile. Under her Scrooge McDuck mode, she appeared to be very friendly and personable, "How's business now?"

  "Pretty good! But the pancake stores on the other routes are struggling. Without any eggs, they basically can't operate," the pancake shop owner hit his pan with his spatula delightedly. "I heard that recently there is an egg shortage. The egg prices shot up drastically. To be honest, I was a little worried. I really didn't expect that you were so resourceful that you managed to reserve a batch of eggs for me. I'm really indebted to you."

  Lin Sanjiu smiled. Placing her hands into the pockets of her bathrobe, she strolled leisurely to Cloud Gathering Trading House.

  The pancake shop owner came looking for her the day before lamenting that his business would be affected if he didn't have eggs. It was obvious that he was afraid that Lin Sanjiu might be unable to provide him the eggs he needed and thus chose this roundabout way to express his worry. Without saying a word, Lin Sanjiu immediately gave him the 50 pounds of eggs he had ordered previously. "This is the b
atch of eggs I reserved for you beforehand," she explained. After that, the pancake owner thanked her profusely.

  Lin Sanjiu had given him the eggs earlier than required, but she certainly did not provide him the eggs he ordered because she wanted to help him. Lin Sanjiu bought all the available eggs not to deprive everyone of eggs. She wanted a small number of people to still have the chance to eat eggs so that eggs would become a rare commodity. This was the only way the price would continue to rise. If there was a complete lack of eggs, egg alternatives would definitely appear on the market. Just like the 50 pounds of eggs she had sold before, this particular move to sell another 50 pounds was to stimulate the demand.

  If the amus.e.m.e.nt park operated in a real-world open economy, Scrooge McDuck's plan wouldn't work. However, Starry Carnival Amus.e.m.e.nt Park had a closed economy which reduced its complexity while it operated on a high-level of realistic price mechanisms. As a result, Lin Sanjiu-Scrooge McDuck's plan seemed tailored for this particular set of circ.u.mstances.

  When Lin Sanjiu reached Cloud Gathering Trading House, the waiter had already opened the doors. After nearly being nearly knocked down by Lin Sanjiu for the past two days as she rushed in, he had learned his lesson and opened the tavern five minutes before, "Yo, you're punctual as always! Let me tell you a piece of good news, the egg prices have shot up again. I have already bought the batch of desserts you ordered yesterday so we are just waiting for your Stamina Points."

  The upward movement of egg prices was well within Lin Sanjiu's expectation. Grinning, she turned her focus to the notice board and observed that the egg prices had already reached 2.8 Stamina Points per pound. The trading house had just opened so Lin Sanjiu still had one day to manipulate the egg prices up to the price she negotiated with the three egg suppliers.