Chapter 229: The Station Auction
It was the second day after the news of the Sea King’s newly-built nation spread out.
The players welcomed another important moment. The Guild Station Auction that had been long anticipated was starting soon.
The players understood the purpose of Guild Stations.
Not only could it expand the scale of the guild, but there were also a lot of training facilities to help with the improvement of the players’ personal skills. They even had entertainment facilities to enhance the internal cohesiveness of the guild. It was a precious place that all of the guilds desired.
However, there were only 149 stations to be sold at the auction. It was utterly inadequate compared to the current number of guilds in Beiqi.
Regardless, all the guilds refused to give up and desired to give it a try, even the small ones.
The vast majority of the guilds started integrating the soul coins belonging to the members beforehand and planned to give it a try during the auction. After all, the auction was not a personal matter but something that could bring about the improvement of the entire guild. It would be beneficial to all members so it required all the members’ efforts.
The venue of the Station Auction was held at none other than the core area of Beiqi, the Mansion of the Dead.
The players started gathering there an hour before the auction.
The forum was full of excitement as the players were each advertising and rooting for their guilds respectively. They were also predicting the percentage of winning the auction of the guilds.
However, the vibe in the forum changed very soon:
Watermelon_Taro: “By the way, why are they using soul coins for the Station Auction? The amount of money used by Battle Online to maintain the servers and pay the workers’ salary must be tremendous, they are going to be bankrupt soon if this continues! I am slightly worried now!”
Invincible_Loneliness: “Based on what I know, the biggest source of income of Battle Online is the dividend from the gaming pods of the Black Sea Corporation. The salary of such an excellent gaming team must be high. Furthermore, they always release new graphics and other events like game expansions which incur high expenses. They are going to close down soon if they continue burning their money like this. Why don’t we donate some money to the boss of Battle Online so he can pay the employees’ accrued salary? (covering face emoji)”
Xueli_The_Strongest: “We can start a new donation. I will have a mental breakdown if the game closes down and ends its service. I cannot understand what the crew behind the game is thinking. They kept deceiving us players for soul coins instead of real money. I really want to knock them with a hammer so they can wake up!”
Peppa_Boar: “Even though Battle Online is a really good game developer, I really want to knock them out. There’s still no news about the reload system that I want the most (angry growl of the Sea King.jpg)!”
Crayon_Shinchan: “No need for that. I am an employee of Battle Online. Our boss said that we are operating the game out of love. Our employees do not want a salary, we are satisfied with love. We are a gaming company fueled with love. Do not insult us with your filthy money (laughing emoji)!”
Crayon_Shinchan2 replied to Crayon_Shinchan: “Everything big brother says is right!”
Crayon Shinchan replied to Crayon_Shinchan2: “Who the hell are you? (image of Tong Gua slapping his own face!)”
…
Lu Wu was shocked when he realized that the players really came up with a donation post.
[Save the Poor and Starving Boss of Battle Online. We Will Not Allow the Situation of Closing Down to Happen!]
The post went viral and was shared at the speed of ten thousand times per second. It garnered all the players’ likes and support.
Even the players from the European server who were unclear about the situation also thought Battle Online was going to close down and they were swarming onto the original server to participate in the crowdfunding. They were prepared to contribute financially to the production team of Battle Online.
Lu Wu was unsure whether to cry or laugh when he saw such a situation.
He was touched by the players’ actions but he really couldn’t take the money as the players had already helped him a lot, not to mention he didn’t need the extra money anyway.
Thus, he also made a post in his capacity as the game master:
[To All Players: In Regards to the Matter of Crowdfunding (Officially Pinned)] by Game Master
I appreciate everyone’s love for the game. I also understand why everyone thinks the game might close down if it continues operating in this way.
I would like to clarify that we produce games out of enthusiasm so we would like to provide the best gaming experience to everyone. To us, income is only secondary.
I hope everyone can understand that our boss is extremely wealthy, to the extent where he can never finish spending his money. Moreover, he is uninterested in money. Please abandon the crowdfunding plan. Our boss said money does not matter as long as everyone is happy (laughing emoji)!
Lastly, the production team of Battle Online assures you that the game will never close down even if the Earth explodes (sincere gaze!)~
…
When they saw the appearance of the game master who rarely showed up, the players swarmed into the post quickly:
Crayon_Shinchan: “I caught a game master. Do you want it braised or steamed? How would you like it done? (laughing emoji)”
The Game Master replied to Crayon_Shinchan: “Hey lad, please understand my authority. I block accounts easily when my hands are trembling (laughing emoji)!”
Crayon_Shinchan replied to the Game Master: “Big brother, please have some tea (kneeling down and delivering tea!)!”
A_Large_Wolfdog: “Crayon_Shinchan finally has no way to fight back, hahaha!”
Crayon_Shinchan replied to A_Large_Wolfdog: “I can still pet a dog’s head smilingly (laughing emoji)!”
Assassin_Creed: “The boldest game developer ever. Since they do not receive any money from the players, they can just block whoever they want. This is what a real boss does, haha (laughing emoji)!”
Xueli_The_Strongest: “Since you said you are being considerate toward our gaming experience, you should give out a new wave of soul coins. Why are you so stingy on soul coins? Are you planning to save them to get a wife? (laughing emoji) However, I do believe that the boss can marry many gorgeous wives in the game using 10,000 soul coins (mischievous smile)!”
Lost8kToOnlineDating: “The idea of getting a wife using soul coins is awesome. My family owns a supermarket. Maybe we can sell things for soul coins so that I can send my future father-in-law a betrothal gift after saving 10,000 soul coins (laughing emoji)!”
Peppa_Boar: “(covering face emoji) My father-in-law is also playing this game. He follows a small guild to rob around the neighborhood all day. He enjoys playing the game and always requests soul coins from me. I think this idea can work (covering face emoji)!”
Jedi_Knight: “Are there any housing developers here? Can I use soul coins to buy a house? (laughing emoji)”
SixNuclearBombs replied to Jedi_Knight: “I am one. I’ll do it if you can give out enough soul coins!”
Broke_Trash: “This server is an example while the European server is another. Soul coins will become a hard currency when the server expands to the whole world. I have posted a prediction post about this before (laughing emoji)!”
…
Lu Wu’s assurance calmed the players down.
After all, Battle Online had become an indispensable alternative world in the hearts of many players.
Here, they could experience super-strong stamina beyond a top athlete and superpowers that only existed in fiction and movies. Furthermore, they also made new friends that were completely different from their real-life friends.
They could just follow their instincts in doing everything. Everything was simple and brutal and they could pick a fight whenever they were unsatisfied or unhappy. Without being restricted by reality, they were truly happy in this world.
They would never accept the closing down of the game.
Now that the question received an official answer and assurance, the comment section beneath the official notice was filled with supportive comments.
The post received millions of replies and became the most popular post since the establishment of the game.
Seeing as how the players were so happy while oblivious to the fact that he was exploiting them, Lu Wu felt comforted.
…
Time soon reached 8pm while the discussion was still hot. The sound of the bell signifying the commencement of the auction was heard from the air above the Mansion of the Dead.
[Server Announcement: The Station Auction has begun. A total of 149 cities are to be sold in the span of one hour. Guilds with a priority right in station purchasing can win the bid by parity price.]
(Explanation of the priority purchase right: For example, Player A has the priority right in purchasing. After the auction starts, although Player B bids for the price of 10,000 soul coins, Player A can win the bid at 10,000 soul coins without bidding for a higher price. In this situation, Player B who does not have a priority right in purchasing can only obtain the station by increasing his bid or else Player A will win the bid at the same price. However, if both Player A and Player B have priority purchase rights, the bid has to be increased. No equal price auction is allowed.)
As the announcement was released, a huge screen appeared in the air above the Mansion of the Dead displaying the Guild Stations with starkly different styles.
There were a lot of varieties to the backgrounds of the stations, including snowy hills, seasides in the evening, mountain lakes and maple forests during autumn. The players’ eyes were occupied with the wide variations of the stations. It exacerbated their desire toward getting them.
A bidding menu appeared in front of all the players for them to start bidding for their favorite station.
[Game Notification: The winner of the Hundred Fortresses Hegemony Tournament, owner of City of Beiqi, Player Liu Chai can select a fortress in advance without the need to participate in the auction. He will obtain the fortress right away.]
The notification got the players envious of Liu Chai. All of them threw a jealous gaze at Liu Chai who was smiling proudly.
“Boss, the snowy hill! The scenery of the snowy hill is really nice. I want to build a snowman!”
“Build your ass! You’re too old for that. Boss, please don’t pick the snowy hill, pick the mountain lake instead. Not only does it have nice scenery, you can even take a bath in it!”
“Boss, choose the Sun and Moon Mountain Peak. From there we can overlook the mountains and hills. It really suits our guild!”
“The seaside, the seaside! I don’t care, choose the seaside!”
“Are you all pigs? Don’t listen to them, boss… we should definitely choose the City in the Sky. It is the only floating city. So posh, right?”
…
Liu Chai had a headache hearing the discussion among his guild members.
He liked all of the stations with each of their different backgrounds. However, the disagreement between the members was huge, they were almost fighting because of it. Liu Chai was helpless.
Eventually, Liu Chai had no choice but to open up the voting system in the guild menu for the members to decide which station they wanted.
When the guild members started voting, Liu Chai turned his gaze toward Gu Yu and the others and showed a helpless expression.
“Sigh!”
Gu Yu and other guild leaders showed their middle fingers toward him unhesitantly upon hearing that.
They disdained to associate with this type of person who took undeserving gain for granted. They were extremely jealous of him.
The results were out after two minutes of waiting. Eventually, Liu Chai chose the City in the Sky that obtained 895 votes.
Looking at Liu Chai’s choice, Ye Xue’er’s eyes bulged. Her heart was full of unpleasantness.
The City in the Sky was the only floating city among all the stations. She fell in love with it at first sight but it had been snatched away by Liu Chai.
Her heart immediately overflowed with resentment and she gave a deadly stare toward Liu Chai.
The players who witnessed their own guild winning the City in the Sky raised their hands and screamed in joy. Smiles and happiness worked their way across their faces.
[The owner of the City of Beiqi has finished selecting. The auction officially starts!]
The numbers beneath the stations being displayed on the screen above the Mansion of the Dead started changing crazily after the auction officially started.
Some small guilds didn’t even care whether or not a station had good scenery. They only chose to bid on the stations with the lowest bidding price. They would resort to another with the lowest price once their bid was challenged.
Even the price of a very spooky station called The Silent Forest had been hiked to 10,000 soul coins in a short span of time.
The small guilds knew they couldn’t get the popular stations so they could only choose from some small remote ones.
The price of some of the more popular stations had hiked to an extremely expensive level of over 50,000 soul coins.
Fortunately for them, the money was contributed by all of their guild members. If the money was solely by the guild leader, they would never be able to purchase the stations even after going bankrupt.
Of course, several people were exceptions to this.
The situation culminated five minutes after the Station Auction started. With reddened eyes and clenched fists, the players were rooting for their respective guilds as if they were preparing to fight to their deaths.
Lu Wu who was looking at all this from behind the scenes was feeling ecstatic.
This was because he could harvest a lot of profit from this.
This feeling is amazing!