Chapter 65: The Blazing Outburst

Chapter 65: The Blazing Outburst

“Well, isn’t this a rare sight? You won’t believe it—Xi’s cripple actually left his house today!”

“Really?”

“Would I lie to you? I saw it with my own eyes! His father pushed him out on a cart, heading straight for the village entrance. Looked like they were going to town.”

Gossip spread like wildfire in the eastern streets, where washerwomen gathered in the market hollow.

As the sun set over Dakan Village, a few elderly women sat on the stone rollers at the village entrance, picking tender leaves from spiral-leaf winter mallow while whispering among themselves, their voices rising and falling.

“Probably going to see another physician, huh?”

“What’s the use? How many physicians have they consulted already? That illness of his—no one can cure it except a mage.”

“Exactly. And do you think a mage would lift a finger without at least a thousand big coins? Hate to say it, but even if they sold everything they own, they might not scrape together a single big coin.”

The “big coins” the women referred to were none other than gold coins.

“That cripple didn’t look right from the moment he was born—gave me the creeps. And now? Lying around at home all day, not working, eating for free, and needing constant care. You haven’t been inside their house—ugh, the filth, the stench, all over the bed. Disgusting, I can’t even describe it.”

“True enough. If you ask me, that cripple’s nothing but a debt collector. They should just push him into the wilderness and let nature take its course.”

“Hey… you don’t think Old Xi is actually…”

At this point, the women suddenly fell silent, exchanging glances. In each other’s eyes, they saw shock—and a twisted excitement.

“Oh, speak of the devil—isn’t that Old Xi over there?”

Just then, the women spotted a figure pushing a cart at the village entrance.

The orange sunset stretched his shadow long across the ground.

It was none other than Old Xi, the very man they’d been gossiping about.

The women clamped their mouths shut as Old Xi approached with his cart. One of them put on a kindly smile and asked, “Heading to town, Old Xi?”

Her eyes darted to the cart.

There, lying bundled in quilts, was Xi Ze—Old Xi’s crippled son—his eyes bright and alert.

Seeing that Xi Ze was still alive, the old woman’s face flickered with disappointment.

“Yep! My boy here earned five big coins in the Conquest of Subdomains! Took him to the Magic Tower today to cash ‘em out. Look at this—bought him an Internet Mithril Ring from the magic artifacts shop. Pretty, ain’t it? Heard only noble lords can afford these!”

“Also got a few quail chicks, all hens. Reckon we’ll have quail eggs by next year. Bought two sacks of black grain, some quilts, fabric, cotton, needles, thread, and cooking oil—plenty more! Still had a big coin and a half left, so I exchanged it all for copper coins.”

Old Xi, usually gloomy and withdrawn, now grinned with yellowed teeth, his face glowing as he boasted to the women.

On the cart, a handful of quail chicks chirped inside a bamboo cage.

Two hefty sacks of black grain pressed against Xi Ze’s sides, solid and weighty.

A bag of copper coins jingled merrily as Old Xi shook it.

The village women stood thunderstruck, their mocking smiles frozen.

Gasps and exclamations erupted among them.

"What? Five large coins?"

"All earned by that cripple... Xi Ze?"

"What does this have to do with that... Conquest thing?"

Seeing the astonished expressions of the old women, Old Xi grew even prouder. His voice grew louder, as if pouring out all the grievances of these years:

"You still don’t know? It’s the newly launched [Conquest of Subdomains] on the internet! Merit points can be exchanged for vouchers, and one voucher can be traded for a large coin at the Magic Tower! My son is amazing—he’s already killed over a dozen beastmen there and earned five large coins in one go!"

"My son said he’s still using a low-level puppet now, but once he upgrades to a high-level one, he’ll be even better at killing beastmen! He’ll earn even more money."

At this point, Old Xi suddenly wiped the corner of his eye, his voice hoarse:

"I asked the mage today. He said Xi Ze’s condition can be treated by the mages in Willis. It’ll probably cost a few hundred large coins, but it’s doable."

A few hundred large coins?

Easier said than done. How could they ever earn that much?

The women instinctively wanted to scoff, but seeing the cart loaded with all sorts of daily necessities and the pouch of coins in Old Xi’s hand, they shut their mouths, their faces burning with shame.

Old Xi pushed the cart home.

The village road was bumpy. Lying on the cart, Xi Ze replayed his father’s boasting in his mind, his heart filled with a strange emotion.

Warm, like water, swelling in his chest, rising to his eyes, making them hot, even threatening to spill over.

He knew he was useless.

He also knew that in the village, children born with disabilities were often drowned.

He knew even more how much his parents had suffered to raise him, enduring countless scornful looks.

He had hated himself before, thought about dying, even planned it countless times—only to back out at the last moment every time.

He was afraid. He was weak. He didn’t want to die. In the end, a miserable life was better than a good death.

He had thought this would be his lot forever.

Until the internet appeared, and everything changed.

Not only did it open a window to the world, letting him glimpse its dazzling wonders—

It gave him hope to live!

No one knew that his magical cultivation had produced soul power on the very first day, and from then on, it had grown unstoppable.

How had he managed to kill over a dozen beastmen in just the first week after launch?

Not just because his soul power was strong enough to keep him logged into [Conquest of Subdomains] for an entire day without being forcibly kicked offline.

But because he reveled in the exhilaration of running freely, swinging his limbs.

The freedom of wind rushing past his ears—it was a longing he had held for twenty years!

The blazing passion it ignited was enough to burn everything away!

The sun set.

But Old Xi’s home grew brighter as countless villagers from Dakan Village swarmed in.

They came not just to witness a miracle but also with hopes of striking gold and seeking guidance.

The night grew deeper.

The villagers left, hearts brimming with excitement.

With his father’s help, Xi Ze lay down on the newly changed bedding.

The fresh scent of the new bedding felt unfamiliar to him.

His soul power circled the Internet Mithril Ring once before retreating. He decided to recite the prayer to the Internet God once more.

"Great existence from the Azure Star, You are the Master of Language and Script, the Founder of the Internet. Under Your protection, I shall connect with all living things."

...

Seated upon the divine throne in the Ancient Castle of the Divine Palace, Yu Sheng'an withdrew his Divine Perspective from Xi Ze, a faint smile gracing his lips.

With a thought, the internet's backend materialized before him.

The statistics of gold coins stored in the Magic Towers across the Keville Empire—earned through the distribution of "pay-to-win codes" and "vouchers"—were laid bare at a glance.

Among them, the revenue from gold coin deposits exceeded eight million, while less than fifty thousand had been redeemed.

Now, why had he developed "vouchers" instead of directly tying merit points to Keville gold coins?

The reason lay precisely here.

Preventing a bank run was one aspect; controlling the outflow of gold coins was another.

The wealth disparity in this world was unimaginably vast.

Were it not for the fact that individual martial prowess could suppress entire cities or nations, countless uprisings would have erupted long ago due to such inequality.

With such a colossal gap, recklessly flooding the market with gold coins would only lead to flood irrigation, triggering hyperinflation!

By gradually releasing them through vouchers,

it not only stimulated the enthusiasm of non-paying players but also benefited economic development.

Modern economics had long proven that mild inflation fosters healthy economic growth.

However, this inflow and outflow of gold coins, while advantageous for the Keville Empire's development, did little to strengthen the Fourth Calamity.

After all, if pay-to-win was the only path to power, wouldn’t non-paying players eventually devolve into mere gold farming groups? Would they still aspire to reach the pinnacle of strength?

No, he still needed to find a way to invigorate the motivation of non-paying players.