Four Split Personalities

In short, CanDeng is quite capable and has a keen eye, which is evident from his swift move into The Realm of Innocence from another heavily monetized game.

To this day, six months after The Realm of Innocence’s launch, it has amassed millions of loyal players, continuously setting milestone-like miracles in both online engagement and influence, making it a powerhouse in the online game market. Although it isn’t the dominant leader, many gaming media outlets suggest that if the game did away with its 12-hour daily play limit, dominating the market wouldn’t be out of question.

Of course, there are dissenting voices. After all, the concept of a "healthy game" is one of the selling points of The Realm of Innocence. If it were to transition to a 24-hour model under the current player growth rate, which is relatively saturated, it might risk declining.

Regardless, one must admit that this game, which gained public attention within just six months, has infinite potential—not just commercially, but more importantly, it’s truly enjoyable to play!

Despite criticism over severe death penalties, the game’s logical design makes protecting one’s life not too difficult, as the main cities are rarely surrounded by hordes of Skeleton-class monsters, making repeated deaths in a single day rarer than self-destruction in other games.

As The Realm of Innocence continues to grow impressively, the growth rate, retention, and online engagement of players are rapidly increasing. Starting from lesser-known gold farming studios to star gamers who rival popular actors and singers in fan base under major clubs, they too seamlessly followed the trend and dived into The Realm of Innocence.

CanDeng was already ahead of this trend, having joined The Realm of Innocence just before it started to blow up. Within just two months, and with impressive luck and skill, he became an apprentice to the Cloud Traveler Inn’s big boss, managing the Vien City hostel with Cleo, during which CanDeng discovered a promising revenue path.

Information!

He who controls information, controls the world!

Especially in The Realm of Innocence, which feels more like another reality, the value of information naturally skyrockets.

And when it comes to information, is there anywhere more systematic and professional than the Cloud Traveler Inn?

Perhaps the Thief Guild could be somewhat competitive, but CanDeng preferred the relatively comfortable and safe work environment of the inn. As for the various rules and restrictions, it doesn’t matter, as who would equate the straight-laced ’CanDeng’ in The Realm of Innocence with that professional gamer outside of the game?

Recently, Cleo’s seemingly resigned attitude had indeed led to some distress, but even if the new hostel in the Wuye District wasn’t their concern, the branch on Black Gold Cross Street was still decent.

However, now that Cleo had resigned, he secured a better arrangement for CanDeng in advance, comforting CanDeng who had been anxious.

Knock knock~

There was a knock at the door, and a soft, pleasant voice entered: "Is CanDeng here? The boss is asking for you."

"I’ll be right there."

CanDeng smiled, quickly straightened himself up, and strode out of the lounge.

...

Game Time AM11:53

City of Freedom, Main Road in Wuye District, Cloud Traveler Inn Branch

"Sweet Lemon Water! Table 11’s Sweet Lemon Water!"

The elf girl in a blue dress, with a scent of fragrance, rushed to the front desk, panting, cried out: "Wei Yang Sister! Table 11! Sweet Lemon Water!"

"Don’t rush, don’t rush! It’s busy here gah!"

Wei Yang, dressed in a maid outfit designed by Jun Wu, was also sweating heavily as she wrestled with the sweet lemon: "Give them two glasses of plain water for now, we’ll settle up later gah!"

"Oh, okay! Uh... settle up what?"

The elf girl nodded halfway before suddenly pausing.

"Settling the money gah!"

Wei Yang agilely poured two glasses of water, pushed them towards the elf with one hand: "Fifty copper coins a glass, Liu Mu, take them over gah."

The full-named elf girl, Liu Mu·Qin Kebei Er, was stupefied and asked blankly, "Wei... Wei Yang Sister, are we really charging for plain water?!"

Without lifting her head from the sweet lemon, Wei Yang replied, "Do you think the people who can afford to spend here are lacking money gah?"

Liu Mu instinctively shook her head.

"But we are short, so hurry up gah."

Wei Yang waved her hand smeared with sweet lemon juice, reminding, "No need to tell them specifically gah, just charge an extra silver coin when settling the bill."

"But... but..."

Liu Mu, struggling to hold the two glasses of water, confirmed again, "Are we really going to do this?"

"Like this, Liu Mu, when you serve the water ask if they’d like you to feed them, say it as an additional service."

Jun Wu, who was furiously managing an abacus nearby, leaned over and whispered, "If they take you up on feeding them, that fifty silver coins will be an additional service fee."

"Five... fifty silver coins?!"

Poor Liu felt like he was in a daze, so he just asked dazedly, "What if they don’t need feeding?"

"If they don’t need feeding, these two cups with perfectly served plain water are still worth a silver coin."

"But... but if they really need feeding, how... how do I do it?"

Liu looked like he was about to cry.

"Watch this."

Jun Wu casually took the cup from his hand, directly shoved it to the mouth of the bowing Wei Yang who was squeezing the sweet lemon, and then with a lift of the wrist, a cup of water was guzzled (gulped) down.

"Just feed like this."

Jun Wu smiled at the astonished Liu, then took the cup of water back, sweet-talking and basically shooing her to go ask the others if they wanted water.

Then, a ’gulp’ sound of surprise came from Wei Yang.

"What happened?"

Jun Wu turned his head to look at Wei Yang and curiously asked, "Did I charge too little for the service?"

"No..."

Wei Yang held up a cup of orange-yellow juice, helplessly saying, "I just sent the water over and told them to wait, now I’ve already finished preparing the sweet lemon water here, gulp, what should I do?"

"What to do..."

Jun Wu glanced back at Liu who was pouring water into the mouth of a Bovine Demi-human, and slightly narrowed his eyes, "Take one cup and stretch it into two servings. That customer with the big horns seems a bit excited, let Liu feed him again in a bit; he probably can’t tell it’s been diluted anyhow. Give the remaining cup as a complimentary gift to that table that spent more, with the same feeding service, right, and charge for that. Later, I’ll talk to Liu about the commission."

"Okay!"

Wei Yang nodded vigorously, eyes smiling, and promptly took another cup out, then skillfully began to add water.

Cleo, quietly observing from the side for two minutes, was completely taken aback.

He never expected that the legendary Jun Wu and the demi-human lady next to him would give such a lesson on the spot!

Even though it wasn’t about intelligence, such ruthless business tactics still amazed Cleo, who had been an innkeeper for half a year.

After being astonished, he didn’t hesitate, and immediately went over to greet them.

Then...

"Hello, I..."

"Don’t rush, it’s almost ready!"

"No no no, I’m here to apply for a job, it looks like you’re understaffed."

"We don’t have the budget for that."

"Just board and lodging then."

"Go clean table number 12, then take this list to the warehouse and fetch two boxes of materials, and bring ten pairs of cups, three pounds of sweet lemons, and also tidy up that outer bag of tea leaves, box it up and bring it here. The key’s beside, and if you steal anything, we’ll dissect you and sell your organs tomorrow. Okay, go now!"

"..."

And then Cleo was somehow blasted to the warehouse to fetch stuff.

And then...

"Is Jun Wu the owner here?"

Suddenly, a voice came from the door, sounding quite pleasant.

"Yes, who is it?"

"Your second uncle."

Chapter 601: The End