Chapter 86: I'm Out, My Wallet Moved
Kaiser's appearance struck Morey and Yueshitu's already less-than-bright little minds like a thunderbolt, and memories of past experiences surged forth.
"H-How... compensation?"
Although Morey had no confidence, she still asked. Back then, no contract was signed, but she didn't intend to renege on losing the Sun Head Helm. It wasn't that Morey was particularly trustworthy or naive. As a Battle Angel, she often fought various Violators and was quite sharp. By now, she had figured out one thing: the reason she and Yueshitu hadn't been killed by a certain Hunter was that he was after their Soul Coins.
Not long ago, Yueshitu suggested that Morey change her outfit, act more ladylike, and try to get on good terms with Su Xiao—at least avoid being caught and robbed every few days. Morey firmly opposed this, saying her integrity wouldn't allow it. As a Battle Angel, she had her pride to uphold.
In reality, Morey's refusal had another reason. Back in the Czar World, as a Battle Angel of Apocalypse Paradise, she had worked with Su Xiao once to clean up Violators led by Feishi. The result? Morey coasted to victory. Though winning effortlessly was comfortable, she remembered seeing the cold, stunning Feishi get her head chopped off with a single slash from Su Xiao.
Now, Yueshitu's lousy idea was basically telling Morey to seduce him. Morey retorted, "Screw you, why don't you go? You're sending me to my death."
"Regarding compensation, we've fully entrusted it to Kaiser. Kaiser is now our financial manager. Kaiser, go!"
Baha's expression and tone were like someone letting a dog off the leash.
Kaiser gave Bubu Wang a look, and Bubu Wang flipped him off, leaving Morey and Yueshitu dumbfounded.
"Ladies, won't you invite us in?"
Kaiser grinned slyly, pointing at the door marked with Apocalypse Paradise's imprint. Yueshitu wanted to say something, but Morey patted her back, cutting her off.
"Come on in~"
Morey pushed open the door with a hint of reluctance. Yueshitu followed gloomily, instinctively protective of her safe haven. To her, all safe spots and retreats were things she couldn't share with anyone except Morey—a habit from her summoner playstyle.
Morey thought differently. Entering their safe room gave them home-field advantage. If negotiations broke down, at worst, she and Baha would trade insults. But if a disagreement happened in the shelter hall, she'd have to face Su Xiao's physical negotiations.
Su Xiao walked into the Apocalypse team's safe room. As soon as he entered, he noticed the style was different from his own. This wasn't the castle's original room; it seemed to be a space-expanded room built on the castle's foundation.
The room was about 300 square meters, fully equipped with a living room, bedroom, and bathroom. A massive ultra-thin LCD monitor covered the entire wall. A few meters in front was a semi-circular sofa and a crystal coffee table laden with fruits and snacks, plus two game controllers and a tablet for adjusting the room temperature.
Seeing this, Baha muttered, "Damn," but considering it was the wealthy Apocalypse Paradise, it all seemed fitting.
Morey and Yueshitu acted normal. They slipped into slippers, headed straight for the fridge, and grabbed various drinks and ice cream.
"The treatment this time is so-so."
"Yeah, so-so."
Both sat on the sofa, looking relaxed.
Su Xiao's safe room was the castle's original room. Was it bad? Not really. It lacked comfort and modern appliances, but it had the maid, Anas. Her lullaby ability greatly boosted sanity recovery speed.
The safe room provided by Apocalypse Paradise offered a slight sanity recovery boost, but compared to Anas's lullaby, it was far inferior. Different styles of perks—one made contractors feel cared for, the other was pure pragmatism.
Kaiser placed a stool across from the coffee table, holding something like a POS machine. After scanning Morey and Yueshitu, he said, "Ladies, let's discuss compensation. First, we lost two Sun Head Helms. Given the current situation, the chances of returning to the Sand World are slim. Don't you agree?"
"Uh... yeah, I guess."
Yueshitu also felt they couldn't re-enter the Sand World now and had no chance to retrieve the helms. She was too naive. Kaiser wanted her to admit that.
"Exactly. We can't go back to the Sand World, so the Sun Head Helms are now rare, limited-edition equipment."
"Huh?"
Yueshitu realized she'd slipped up. Anything tied to "limited edition" skyrocketed in price.
"Ladies, the Sun Church set is a five-piece set. Without the Sun Head Helm, the value of the other four pieces drops significantly. Do you want to compensate for that loss?"
"No."
Morey answered quickly, afraid her silly friend would mess up again. Yueshitu often kept to herself and didn't know the world's dangers.
Unfortunately, Morey didn't know the world's dangers either. The Apocalypse Paradise contractors she'd dealt with before were all too straightforward compared to Su Xiao and Kaiser.
"Don't want to compensate for the loss of the other four pieces? Alright, we'll compromise."
"Nice."
Morey cheered inwardly, thinking she'd saved a lot.
"But property loss is one thing; mental damage is harder to bear. You need to compensate for emotional distress."
"(⊙_⊙)"
Morey and Yueshitu were speechless. It was a trap. Right after saying they didn't need to pay for the four pieces, he hit them with emotional distress. Refuse? Morey guessed that would lead to even worse demands.
"I'll tally it up for you ladies. Listen up," Kaiser said, pressing buttons on the POS-like Immortal-rank equipment. "First, we lost two Sun Head Helms. The equipment's base value, let's say 100 Soul Coins."
Kaiser looked at Morey and Yueshitu for approval. For these two little rich girls, it was pocket change. They nodded, thinking the emotional distress fee wouldn't be much either.
"For emotional distress, I'm asking 150 Soul Coins. Your thoughts?"
"At most 100 Soul Coins. Can't exceed the item's value."
"Yeah, yeah, makes sense."
Kaiser agreed and pressed more buttons.
"Total 200 Soul Coins. Yueshitu, pay up."
Morey almost laughed. After all this, that's it? That's it??
"Wait, hold on," Kaiser raised a finger, his expression turning serious. "200 Soul Coins is just the direct loss from losing the Sun Head Helms. There are indirect losses too. As I recall, the Sun Head Helm boosts sanity by 50%. You must have known this when wearing it."
Morey and Yueshitu stayed silent, a sense of dread creeping in.
"Friends, in this world, sanity is life, wealth, and the measure of profit. Some places can't be entered with low sanity. For an average Eighth Rank contractor earning 1,000 Soul Coins per world, and we're going through four painting worlds, halve that, and it's 500 Soul Coins.
Losing the Sun Head Helm means at least 500 Soul Coins in lost profit. With good luck, it's around 1,300. For a Hunter's combat power, that number triples to 3,900. If missing the top five because of this, the loss is even greater. So 3,900 quadruples to 15,600.
Finally, using my 2-in, 14.59-out algorithm, your total compensation is 113,802. Let's round it to 120,000 Soul Coins. For that amount, I'll waive the previous 200. Here's the bill."
Kaiser tore off a nearly eight-meter-long receipt and handed it to Morey, who took it blankly.
"Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands... yeah, 120,000. Yueshitu, see that? 120,000, right?"
Morey felt oddly convinced, as if under some equipment's influence. Kaiser's words seemed logical, but seeing the 120,000 Soul Coins, she sensed something was wrong. The math must be off.
Yet she thought, with the Beast Heart they'd gotten, paying 120,000 Soul Coins wasn't a big deal. But why didn't she have 120,000 Soul Coins? It wasn't that much money.
Morey was puzzled. She felt 120,000 wasn't much, yet she couldn't produce it.
Suddenly! Morey snapped awake. How could 120,000 Soul Coins not be much?! 10,000 was already a huge sum. A normal Immortal-rank item cost around 3,000. She must have been affected by something, blurring her value judgment.
She eyed Kaiser's POS machine warily. That equipment had distorted her perception of value, making nothing seem expensive.
"I know you ladies don't have that much cash. Let me recommend 'Goblin Credit'—15 installments with low interest, so low it's criminal. Cough, this damn machine is messing with me."
Kaiser tapped the POS on the table, almost signing them up for a loan.
Yueshitu stayed silent, having given up thinking. Morey looked like she was having a hard time.
"How can it be 120,000 Soul Coins?! Are you demons?! At most 3,000."
"Deal!"
"?"
Morey didn't react in time. The gap was too big. She'd meant to say 300, but it felt too far from 120,000, and she might get hit.
Just then, Morey received a prompt from Apocalypse Paradise.
[Prompt: You are trading with Nicholas Kaiser.]
[You have transferred 3,000 Soul Coins to Hunter Kukulin Bai Ye via Nicholas Kaiser as intermediary.]
[For this transaction, Kaiser will deduct an additional 3.76% fee from your assets (3,000 × 3.76%), totaling 112.8 Soul Coins to be paid to Nicholas Kaiser.]
[112.8 Soul Coins is a non-integer amount, triggering Kaiser's unique ability: Round Down. You have paid 120 Soul Coins.]
...
Morey leaned back on the sofa, looking even more like a salted fish, but she felt relieved inside. To her, any problem solvable with Soul Coins wasn't a problem.
She checked the mine's fund pool, which held 51,953 Soul Coins—her share from miners. By the end of this world, it would be at least 60,000. Back in Apocalypse Paradise, she could withdraw it. Having a mine made her carefree.
Yueshitu sat up, glanced at Kaiser, then at Su Xiao, thinking this couldn't end like this. She wanted revenge!
She couldn't win in a fight or an argument, so she decided to let Apocalypse Daddy handle it. She'd report them. It wasn't cowardice; it was caution.
[Prompt: You have successfully reported Arbitrator Nicholas Kaiser.]
[Prompt: You have successfully reported Hunter Kukulin Bai Ye.]
[1,729 Apocalypse Paradise contractors have reported Kukulin Bai Ye. Comments include: "Suspected violation," "This guy enters worlds one rank below his own, crushing them—must be cheating," "During world war, he summoned foreign creatures (bugs, lots of them)," "He tried to cut my head off," "This bastard is definitely hacking," "He kidnapped a healer, Apocalypse Daddy, avenge me," "His charm is negative, definitely a Violator"...]
[1,953 Apocalypse Paradise contractors have reported Nicholas Kaiser. Comments include: "Illegal trading," "Fraud," "Fake quartermaster," "Unfair arbitration," "Shameless abilities," "He threw his sock at me (I almost died)," "Why can this jerk set up a stall in Apocalypse Paradise's trade market?! Damn it!" "This thief altered equipment attributes without Paradise certification"...]
[Your report has been accepted. Reward: Special Title: Reporting Expert.]