Artifact Report

Chapter 219 Mai Minghe's Nest Thirty Sections and Overpackaging

"...How much can you expect to earn from this kind of paid knowledge?"

Megan is not polite at all when she speaks.

A few minutes ago, when she opened the bar door and saw Mai Minghe, the first words she used to greet him were - "You again!"

It wasn't even bar opening time yet, so she was cleaning up and getting ready for the night.

The bar was dark and quiet, and the air seemed to have been trampled by countless people, with a wrinkled and tired feeling - the place Mai Minghe visited yesterday was not the same place he was in now.

Mai Minghe originally thought that his proposal would surprise Megan and prompt her to release the news immediately - she was indeed surprised; but what she picked up was not a mobile phone, but a mop.

"There are thousands of messages from the lair, and everyone who returns brings some information. And most of this information is already exchanged among hunters over drinks, chatting, and summarizing experiences... People need to communicate, but you can't always ask for money. No one would want to play with you if you did. There are only two types of people who want to exchange money."

She asked two people with injured feet to sit in the booth, threw the mop into the bucket and stirred it vigorously a few times.

It was like a weird little speech.

Megan, a retired hunter who works in a bar, has seen countless things happen in the world. It seems that as long as she grabs the thread and pulls it gently, she can pull out a large ball of wool from her mouth. Her thoughts and observations may be a bit messy, but they are very solid.

"One type is news that's fabricated, exaggerated, or embellished for various reasons. Whether true or false, it's generally very sensational, just to pique people's curiosity and make a few bucks. The other type is truly valuable—but this value often has an upper limit, generally no more than $500."

"Only five hundred?" Mai Minghe was surprised.

"A certain road in the nest is difficult to navigate, and there's a new resident somewhere... This kind of news won't even fetch 500, it'll sell for 200 or 300. And it has to be the latest one, anything over a month old won't fetch the same price."

"How could this be?" Mai Minghe said, feeling indignant, even if it wasn't for himself. "Isn't knowledge the most valuable thing?"

Megan raised her chin and looked at the ceiling for a moment. "That's really old-fashioned. I haven't heard it much since I graduated from elementary school."

Hai Luwei coughed and whispered, "Times have changed. Now is the age of information explosion... There's a huge amount of information mixed with good and bad, do you think it can be valuable? Even in the hunter community, it seems that after the advent of the internet, information has exploded exponentially."

Mai Minghe remembered that when she searched for "mayor" just now, more than 10,000 results popped up - it only took a few tenths of a second.

"Information that is truly of high value will never be sold."

Megan slammed the mop to the ground and said, "For example, who would sell information that could be exchanged for a fake image? Or, for example, a complete guide to clearing a trap. There are some for sale, but not many, and it's hard to tell if it's real unless you risk your life trying it yourself—so this kind of information is usually kept by the home faction."

She scraped the mop across the floor as she spoke, "Oh, there's another possibility: someone just happens to have this need. No matter how useless something is, as long as someone wants to know about it, it immediately becomes valuable... Value is given by people. We had an example in our bar before, where someone sold information about the Vulture residents' mutation to the Kai family, and I heard they made quite a few."

What they said was all right; but in this case, does Mai Minghe have no choice but to wait until someone happens to need the information she has?

She only has until December 12st to act...

"Of course, I'm not saying I can't spread the news for you. I'm just giving you a heads-up. You suddenly claim to be a 'Nest Encyclopedia'—"

"It's not an encyclopedia, but if I had to say, maybe thirty or forty," Mai Minghe interjected. "After all, we hadn't been residents there very long."

"Okay, 'Thirty Nests,'" Megan said. "Like I said, it's sensational enough, but the number of people who are actually willing to spend a lot of money to buy it and then have to judge its authenticity and reliability themselves afterwards is probably much smaller than you think."

It seems that no matter what era it is, making money is frighteningly hard.

"If it weren't for your injured foot, I would have suggested you go into the lair again," Sea Reed sighed. "The chances of getting another artifact seem greater than this."

If she went into the nest again, the risk would not be limited to her foot injury.

Mai Minghe could easily imagine that as soon as she entered the nest, the news would spread among the residents immediately; countless residents who wanted to remove her from the "nest domination game" would rush towards her like a tide.

It's strange. She clearly doesn't want to win the "rule game", so why do the residents have to put so much pressure on her?

Mai Minghe put his hands in his pockets, and like Hai Luwei, he was also a little depressed. "Then... girl, no matter what, you still have to register with me first."

Megan took out her cell phone and quickly edited the message.

"Someone who became a resident and then reverted to human form... claims to have extensive information about the lair and is offering paid consultation... Is that okay with you? Our bar isn't responsible for judging the authenticity of this information. If you want to buy information, we have to discuss it face-to-face, at your own risk."

Mai Minghe took a look and just said "OK" when she thought of something else. "I don't necessarily need to make money," she said. "If someone is willing to trade with me, they can bring me to the mayor."

If Hai Luwei wanted to stop her just now, it was too late - Megan raised her head quickly.

"Why do you want to see the mayor?" Her eyes suddenly lit up.

Perhaps this is an occupational disease left over from being a hunter. When he encounters something interesting, he wants to get to the bottom of it - but Mai Minghe doesn't think there is any need to hide this matter.

Except for the "Nest Domination Game" which should not be mentioned, the rest should be said openly, which can actually reduce the room for suspicion and speculation.

The best way to prevent snooping is to be honest yourself.

"I want to sell him the lipstick."

Hai Luwei turned his head to look at the wall. It seemed that seeing her so frank, he didn't know what to do with his body.

"Why does it have to be the mayor?" Megan asked.

Mai Minghe thought for a moment. "I heard the mayor seems to need this kind of fake image."

This was not a lie - Chao Xie must have been sure that he needed it, so he asked Mai Minghe to sell him the lipstick.

"Yeah, that's a real possibility," Megan nodded, seemingly agreeing. "Besides, he can afford the price. Okay, let me add this... OK, take a look. "I'll post it if you like it."

Since the lipstick is being sold to the mayor, the previous fake lipstick information must be removed.

"Ah, I missed out on some profit," Megan said regretfully. "Our service fee after the news transaction is completed is incomparable to the service fee after the fake image transaction is completed..."

There seems to be a clear method to how the profits are divided within the bar; I always feel that the waiters are very active in expanding and promoting business.

"Can you pass on the lipstick news you posted earlier to me?"

Mai Minghe listened to the words she used, all commonly used by young people. Even though she was still a little fuzzy about the concepts, she still felt fresh and incredible. "Maybe I can use it."

Today, she brought the identity certificate of "Mai Minghe" and said that she wanted to open a contract for her grandmother. She had just obtained her first mobile phone number in her life and was very happy. Currently, there was only one Hai Luwei in her contacts. She felt too lonely, but she had to exchange numbers with Megan so that the two mobile phone numbers could keep each other company.

"I'm sending it to you," Megan said. "But I deleted the photos I took earlier, and the newly downloaded ones are a bit too blurry. It would be better if you take a few more."

Mai Minghe basically didn't understand anything about downloading or anything like that, the only thing she understood was that it asked her to take a new photo.

This is good. Hai Luwei had just taught her how to take pictures. She found it new and exciting and was eager to try it.

She had taken a lot of pictures before: pigeons gathering together to eat garbage, a dachshund dressed in a cartoon character suit, a piece of glass with spiderweb-like cracks still stubbornly clinging to its frame, a row of all-blue bicycles that supposedly had to be shared...

Anyway, everything in the camera is interesting. Later on, Hai Luwei even advised her, "Can you take some useful photos?"

It's useful, isn't it?

She immediately reached into her trouser pocket and grabbed her lipstick—

The hairs all over my body suddenly stood up.

The alertness and chill at that moment came too suddenly. Before she could react to what was wrong, her lipstick had been placed on the table by her, and it hit the table heavily.

This fake, by the standards of a lipstick, is very well made, and the lid is made of metal...

Three pairs of eyes stopped on the table, watching the lipstick cap roll a few times and then stop.

...only the lid.

　I recently had an argument with a reader. Actually, I think now that even if I disagree, I could have handled the comments more gently. I apologized and promised to be more careful in the future. However, I have a lot of work to do and a rough schedule, so I'm sure I'll have a bad temper and get a bit picky sometimes. If you see me being so averse, just let me know.

　　It's Christmas Eve! Sorry to be up late again... My updates are pretty much like my sleep schedule, circling the clock. What are everyone's plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas? My Christmas plans are to write and spend time with a client's family. You guys have to be better than me, right?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)