Chapter 68: There's No Time, Get in the Car First!

Wen Nan was startled and looked the young man up and down—from the looks of him, he was about sixteen or seventeen, like a high school student. His skin was sickly pale, he wasn’t tall, and he was thin. With such a slight frame, he seemed as though a gust of wind could carry him away. His attribute values certainly couldn’t be high. That was probably why, in the earlier speed-clicking round, he had finished last and ended up with the “Wealthy Matron Seeking an Heir.” With a kid like this, he was likely to be completely at the mercy of the rich older woman…

As Wen Nan pondered, the boy could barely wait to pull up his stats panel and display it for Wen Nan—

[Name: Guo Xiaofu]
[Level: lv1]
[Strength: 12/100]
[Agility: 14/100]
[Armor: 9/100]
[Charisma: 3/100]

Huh. After clearing a trial map, he was still only level 1, and his stats were this low? Even meeting the bare minimum on each task should have netted him more experience than this. How had he managed it?

Seeing Wen Nan’s expression, Guo Xiaofu hastily tried to explain, “My stats really are a bit low, but I promise you, I’ll do my utmost to complete every map from now on and level up as quickly as possible!”

After making his rather feeble promise, knowing how unconvincing it sounded, he gritted his teeth, handed over his soul puppet with his left hand, and opened his equipment tab with his right. He added, “As long as you agree to let me join your guild, as long as you’ll accept my soul puppet, I’ll offer you all my current equipment, items, and coins—everything!”

Wen Nan frowned, pretending to consider it.

Oh? Was there really such a thing as a windfall like this?

A target for strategy—he wanted one, and someone volunteered. Guild members—he wanted to recruit, and they came forward of their own accord. Now even all their assets were being offered up?

Wen Nan was about to speak when Guo Xiaofu anxiously raised a hand to interrupt him.

“Wait! Please don’t rush to refuse! There’s more! I… I’m willing to sign a guild contract with you, guaranteeing that everything I earn from now on will be handed over to the guild!”

Wen Nan: (ಠ.̫.̫ಠ)

He hadn’t expected that, just because he’d hesitated a little, this tender seedling would cut itself down and present itself to him again. This young man—he had loyalty, and as for ability, well, there was certainly loyalty!

What more could he ask for?

Only one thing remained—

“You can join the guild, and I can safeguard your soul puppet for you, but there’s one condition.”

“Guild Master, please say it!” Guo Xiaofu was overjoyed and eagerly changed his form of address in advance.

“How did you clear the previous trial map?” Wen Nan asked.

Guo Xiaofu’s smile froze instantly. That was his greatest secret in this game world. Had this man seen through him at a glance?

This was…

Clenching his fists tight, Guo Xiaofu struggled inwardly for a long time. In the end, between surrendering his secret and facing a high-level female ghost’s soul puppet alone, he chose the former.

He forced a smile, leaned in close to Wen Nan, and whispered, “This isn’t something I can talk about here. The… thing can’t be brought in, and I can’t give it to you now.”

Wen Nan narrowed his eyes, giving Guo Xiaofu a meaningful look. So he really had used some special item? Wen Nan had just been fishing for information, but the kid had confessed.

Wen Nan’s thoughts were unreadable to Guo Xiaofu, who, seeing that inscrutable gaze, became even more uneasy. After a struggle, he finally said, “Guild Master, if you need, I… I can add this to the contract as well. Once we leave this map, I’ll give you the item without fail!”

Oh?

Was that possible too?

He’d asked only out of curiosity and hadn’t planned on taking the kid’s equipment. But since it was being handed over so willingly, there was no reason to refuse. Pretending to consider it, Wen Nan nodded. “No need to give it directly to me—just deposit it in the guild’s armory.” After all, the entire guild was his, so anything in the armory was his anyway.

Guo Xiaofu immediately nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes, of course.”

He’d been thinking too small. The Guild Master’s vision was far above his own.

Without another word, Guo Xiaofu signed the guild contract and joined at lightning speed.

Wen Nan watched as the [Guaranteed Victory] Guild’s member count jumped from 2 to 3. Satisfied, he raised his hand, palm up, in front of Guo Xiaofu.

Guo Xiaofu was momentarily confused. “Guild Master, I’ve given you everything I can—there’s nothing left.”

Wen Nan looked a little helpless. Did he really look so much like a racketeer?

“I mean your soul puppet. Hand it over.”

“Oh, oh!” Guo Xiaofu finally realized and hurried to shove the doll into Wen Nan’s palm, almost with enough force to break its neck.

In Wen Nan’s hand, the exquisitely dressed, beautiful young matron’s figure glimmered for a moment. In Wen Nan’s mind, the system prompt appeared:

9527: [Detected player Guo Xiaofu requesting to transfer soul puppet. Do you accept?]

After pressing [Confirm], a message scrolled across the public display overhead:

["Wealthy Matron Seeking an Heir" soul puppet has been successfully transferred to player Night Nine. The affection progress for this role has also been transferred.]
[Once the main quest begins, soul puppet transfers between players will be prohibited. Please be advised.]
[Main quest countdown begins—]
[100—]
[99—]

With only a hundred seconds of exchange time left, Huang Yan grew anxious. “Guild Master, we’re almost out of time! Tell me what to do—I’ll do it!”

Wen Nan shook his head with a wry smile and took the “Young Wife” from Huang Yan’s hands himself. “You’re already a member. As your guild master, I’ll handle this for you. As for your performance, we’ll talk about it next time there’s a mission.”

Huang Yan thanked him profusely, nearly moved to tears. He felt joining [Guaranteed Victory] Guild had been the best decision ever.

Wen Nan took Huang Yan’s soul puppet without hesitation. First, because the man was now his member, and Wen Nan didn’t want his precariously low membership numbers to suddenly drop by fifty percent. Second, he was putting on a show for the remaining three players in the room.

Sure enough, seeing the countdown overhead drop to the last thirty seconds, three player stat panels were thrown in front of him all at once.

Wen Nan raised an eyebrow, unhurried. “You can join the guild, but the contract terms are the same as Guo Xiaofu’s. Can you accept that?”

The three exchanged glances.

To be honest, for someone like Guo Xiaofu—a level 1 with such low stats—those contract terms were fair. But for the three of them, two at level 2 and one at level 3, receiving the same treatment felt a little humiliating.

But…

The countdown had only ten seconds left.

No time to hesitate—just get on board!

“Fine.”

“Agreed.”

“No problem.”

The three nodded at once.

Wen Nan snapped his fingers. “Deal! Welcome to the [Guaranteed Victory] Guild!”

As the three “sold-their-soul” contracts were signed and all the soul puppets landed in Wen Nan’s hands, the countdown hit zero.

[This beginner dungeon has officially begun! Good luck to all players!]
[You have new player quests—please check now!]
[Main Quest 1: Search for the Hidden G-Point]