Saving the World in an Apocalypse-Style Text Game-Chapter 656 - 329: The Disciple’s Life, Plain and Boring_1
Time for free speech was ticking away second by second.
At first, Deng Shouyan spoke occasionally but as the Ceremony of Dedication approached, he became somewhat anxious.
"Why hasn’t it sold yet?"
He was desperately waiting for the game’s notification, hoping that his listed items would sell soon. Once he acquired the Spirituality, he could shine in the Ceremony of Dedication.
Because the time interval since the last Ceremony of Dedication was extremely short, the Spirituality he had accumulated was just breaking five digits. It was pitifully small.
In the past Dedication Ceremonies held quarterly, he would collect at least several hundred thousand, sometimes even two or three hundred thousand.
As the Ceremony of Dedication was about to begin and his equipment still hadn’t sold, Deng Shouyan felt the proxy position slipping further away from him.
"There are only fifteen minutes left until the ceremony begins, damn it, why isn’t anyone buying my equipment?!"
At this point, not only was his mentality changing, but the chatter in the council chamber was also subtly shifting.
[...]
[Arsonist: Have you guys noticed an increase in the amount of equipment on all the channels of the Book of Trade recently, causing prices to drop a bit...]
[Martial Artist: Mm, under normal circumstances, I might have bought some to update my equipment. But now, isn’t the Dedication Ceremony about to begin? I can only suppress my urge to buy... Ah, what a good opportunity for bargain shopping. Why won’t anyone buy it?]
[Heavy Gunner: I noticed too. Some equipment already went through several rounds of price reductions but still didn’t sell, which is very puzzling.]
[Guard with sword: According to economic theory, it should be the sudden continuous price drops causing people to adopt a wait-and-see attitude. This attitude causes apostles to adopt a ’wait and see’ mentality, leading to stagnated sales and prolonged sluggishness.]
[Therefore, at this time, we should stop price reductions and reverse it with a price increase to stimulate consumption growth...]
[Singer: Makes sense! But I’m not the one selling equipment, what does it have to do with me? Alright, you guys continue chatting, I’m going to the bathroom.]
[Weaver: There’s about ten minutes until the meeting starts, I’ll idle for a bit, you guys continue.]
[Wall Breaker: Me too.]
[...]
Deng Shouyan suddenly noticed that the number of people in the chat list had decreased significantly, with many leaving the council chamber.
He quickly reacted and hurriedly left Disciple’s Sanctuary, returning to the Library.
"These idiots can’t be believing the so-called economic theory of the ’Guards with Swords’, can they? Heh, you all just raise your prices. While you’re raising them, I’ll continue to lower mine, and I refuse to believe that I won’t be able to sell." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
Deng Shouyan clicked on the ’Book of Trade’.
The Book of Trade prioritizes displaying items priced below the suggested sales price. What he saw were still those slightly cheaper familiar equipment items.
However, their prices had changed again, not increasing, but continuing to decrease.
Deng Shouyan was stunned. Some of the equipment items had been reduced to rock-bottom prices, which was very tempting. If it were not for marinating spirituality for the Dedication Ceremony, he would have bought them.
In the blink of an eye, those items with rock-bottom prices disappeared, obviously sold.
Deng Shouyan immediately understood. What economic theory? The prices were simply not lowered enough.
Once the equipment is sold at rock-bottom prices, the profit margin is far greater than the transaction fee from the Book of Trade, making it profitable even if the equipment is not suitable, someone will buy it, hang onto it for a while, and then make a small profit by selling it slowly.
He gritted his teeth and, with a lot of pain, lowered prices once more, marking everything at rock-bottom rates.
Soon, a trade text notification appeared in the game.
[Your ’Knight’s Shield’ (Rare+ Level Equipment) has been sold. After deducting fees, you gain Spirituality: 28500]
[Your ’Snake-Patterned Armor’ (Rare+ Level Equipment) has been sold. After deducting fees, you gain Spirituality: 19000]
[Your...]
[You...]
Deng Shouyan had mixed feelings at this moment, he was both pained and somewhat happy, but there was also a sense of inexplicable sadness.
The feeling of selling his hard-earned equipment at such low prices was beyond description.
"There’s no turning back! I must secure the proxy position!"
He hurried back to the ’Disciple’s Sanctuary’, and entered Council Chamber 12.
The Dedication Ceremony was about to begin, the chat list was full of messages, most people were speaking in sarcastic tones because their equipment had not sold, a few seemed to have gathered their Spirituality, and were discussing topics related to ’proxy’.
Deng Shouyan, full of confidence, started spewing jibber-jabber in the chatroom before Lord Cain arrived.
The Apostles did not know that Lord Cain was already present in the Council Chamber and was happily watching their messages.
He even quietly arranged two shills to constantly fan the flames and entice the players.
[The Dedication Ceremony has officially begun!]
Deng Shouyan tightened up, preparing himself quickly.
Even though the Dedication Ceremony had started, the free-speech chat window didn’t disappear.
However, as it was everyone’s first time participating in Lord Cain’s Dedication Ceremony, no one dared to speak recklessly in front of the Lord Disciple.
[Two figures in a black robe appeared behind the podium, the voice emanating from under the robe filling the entire Council Chamber.]
[Cain: Opening the gates of the New World requires your devout dedication.]
[Cain: The format remains an open roll call for this Dedication Ceremony. My assistant here, Arsonist, will record the amount of dedication from each of you throughout.]
