Liu Ji followed closely behind Bai Liu without speaking, showing no intention of attacking him, nor any intention of turning back to discuss him with Tang Erda or report him.

However, since this person clearly knew that he was Bai Liu, the fact that he could treat him so calmly at this moment felt somewhat strange.

Bai Liu glanced at him out of the corner of his eye but said nothing.

Liu Jiayi was right. Liu Ji was a bit “dead-brained.” To put it simply, as long as someone had helped him, he would remember the favor and would not easily act maliciously toward them. Just like his skill weapon, his personality was rather like a wooden club—very easy to deal with.

That was why Liu Jiayi had shaken him awake. When Bai Liu needed a helper, Liu Ji was the best choice.

Liu Ji had not yet reacted to the fact that Liu Jiayi and Bai Liu had set him up together. He thought his entry into the Inner World had been only an accident. Since Bai Liu had saved Liu Ji’s life in the Inner World, Liu Ji naturally had to remember that favor.

Just as he remembered the favor of Liu Jiayi saving him.

As it happened, although there were many sinister and cunning people in the Kings’ Guild, the reserve team was basically composed of top-tier “good people.” This was because these people had been selected by Queen of Hearts as “backup geges” for Liu Jiayi. They were required to have good character in every respect, but the requirements for intelligence were not high.

Their greatest traits were loyalty, gratitude, and ease of control. They would not easily betray Liu Jiayi.

This screening mechanism just happened to produce reserve members whom Bai Liu could take advantage of.

This was the personality type he was best at fooling.

Bai Liu withdrew his gaze from Liu Ji and walked toward the open-air plaza.

Today was the day they had to hand over their semi-finished products to the factory workers.

The three processors who handed over the largest amount of semi-finished products with the highest yield would have a chance to be promoted to factory workers.

Liu Ji walked over and saw several factory workers sitting in the open-air plaza.

They were dressed from head to toe in pure white cloth robes, wrapped tightly from neck to ankle. The lower halves of their faces were wrapped in layer after layer of gauze, making them look as though they were wearing thick, densely packed masks.

Bai Liu and the others were the first processors to appear. When the factory workers saw them, they did not pay them much attention. They had to wait until most of the processors had arrived before they could begin collecting the semi-finished products.

Bai Liu was in no hurry. After asking Liu Ji where their semi-finished products were being kept, he went over to take a look.

The roses in the iron pot had shrunk considerably compared to when they had just been picked. Previously, they had filled the entire iron pot. Now, only a thin layer remained at the bottom.

“When we were stir-frying yesterday, toward the end, because the roses became much lighter, it got easier and easier, but also more and more uncomfortable,” Liu Ji sighed. “The yield rate for the semi-finished dried-leaf roses is only one-fourth to one-tenth. With so many dried-leaf roses yesterday, after stir-frying them until now, there’s less than one hundred kilograms left, and it still has to be divided among three people.”

Bai Liu looked around. The roses in the other processors’ iron pots all seemed to be more numerous than theirs, especially one iron pot not far away, which was almost filled to the brim. It looked like the processing point with the most semi-finished products.

Seeing Bai Liu measuring other people’s pots with an unusual look in his eyes, Liu Ji hurriedly reminded him, “That belongs to Tang Erda. Processors are forbidden from plundering one another’s labor fruits. If you’re caught, you’ll be dismissed immediately!”

Bai Liu nodded, indicating that he understood.

From the fact that these iron pots of roses had been left here directly, Bai Liu realized that management at the processor level should be relatively strict. At the very least, the plundering mechanism that existed among the flower pickers could not exist here. Otherwise, the factory’s operations would fall into chaos.

No one would work. They would simply wait to rob others.

Bai Liu made a round of inspection and returned to their pot. Liu Ji sighed somewhat gloomily. “After we split it, our semi-finished products will probably be the least. I don’t know if we’ll be demoted.”

“You won’t.” Bai Liu turned his head to look at him. “As long as you’re willing to pay a small price, I can get you promoted.”

Liu Ji looked at the pitiful layer of semi-finished products at the bottom of the pot, then looked at Bai Liu with a face full of question marks. “?? What price?”

Bai Liu smiled. “Perfume.”

Every processor could receive four bottles of low-grade perfume a day as their base salary. Liu Ji did indeed have spare perfume on him. He looked at Bai Liu in complete confusion, trying to ask further, “Perfume can get me promoted? But I only have low-grade perfume here. How could there be such a good deal...”

Even if he tried to bribe those factory workers, they would not spare it a second glance.

Liu Ji pressed for more details, but Bai Liu stopped talking. This made Liu Ji become suspicious.

Was Bai Liu making up excuses to cheat him out of his perfume?

This man Bai Liu had far too many prior offenses. Using a few bottles of low-grade perfume in exchange for a promotion opportunity—if this game were that simple, it would not be a Level Three game.

Liu Ji shook his head.

As a player who was not very smart, he at least had self-awareness. It was far too easy for a high-IQ player like Bai Liu to lie to him.

The only thing he could do was silently tell himself—

No matter what incredibly tempting performance Bai Liu put on later, he absolutely could not give him the perfume!

This big liar Bai Liu was full of lies! The kind of beautiful thing he described was absolutely impossible! No fool would use a promotion opportunity to exchange for a few bottles of low-grade perfume!

Bai Liu did not notice Liu Ji’s many mental activities. He simply watched the factory gate quietly.

Beyond the gate was a stretch of white fog. Suddenly, he seemed to see something in the fog. He stood up and walked out.

Liu Ji hurriedly followed.

Bai Liu wound his way through the flower fields and arrived at the place where they had previously dried the roses.

In the early morning, a faint layer of mist hung beside the flower fields. Several indistinct figures stood within the mist. This made Liu Ji instantly become vigilant, but Bai Liu acted as though he did not see them and approached without any defense.

As the distance between them closed, the mist rapidly dispersed.

Several cowering refugees stood there, each holding a large burlap sack. As soon as they saw Bai Liu, their eyes lit up, and they approached while respectfully calling out in low voices, “Mr. Bai’s meimei is here!”

“We aren’t too late, are we?”

Bai Liu nodded and asked, “Did you bring the things?”

“We brought them!”

The refugees handed the burlap sacks to Bai Liu, and Liu Ji also helped take a few.

When Liu Ji took them, they felt heavy. He opened one and froze.

The sacks were filled with semi-finished products that had already been dried and stir-fried!

With this many sacks, just how many semi-finished products were there?!

“Thank you for your hard work.” Bai Liu nodded seriously to the refugees, then turned to look at the dazed Liu Ji. He tilted his head very naturally. “One sack for one bottle of perfume. Between my side and yours, there are four sacks in total. Pay up.”

“Oh, okay.” Liu Ji was swayed by Bai Liu’s matter-of-fact tone and was just about to take out the payment when he suddenly came back to his senses.

Liu Ji turned to question Bai Liu. “Wait, I’ll pay for the sacks I’m using, but why should I pay for your sacks too?! Why do I have to pay for you?!”

Liu Ji was shocked by Bai Liu’s blatant shamelessness.

Even his girlfriend had never asked him to pay for things so rightfully!

“What you’re paying me is an agency fee.” Bai Liu smiled solemnly. “I am the agent for the transaction between these refugees and you. If you want to reach a deal with them, it’s impossible without my introduction. You can try and see whether they will trade with you without me present.”

Liu Ji subconsciously turned to look at the refugees.

The refugees looked at him warily and reached out to snatch the sacks back from his hands. “Mr. Bai’s meimei does not agree to this transaction. Please return the semi-finished products to us.”

Liu Ji nearly coughed up a mouthful of old blood. “...”

Frustrated, he honestly paid the bill for Bai Liu, taking out five bottles of low-grade perfume for the refugees. The refugees were excited to receive the perfume, bowing and thanking Bai Liu over and over before leaving with tears of gratitude.

Liu Ji: “...”

I’m the one who paid!! Why didn’t a single person thank me?!

What is wrong with you NPCs?! You should at least find the right target for your hatred and gratitude!

But what Liu Ji did not know was that the refugees thanked Bai Liu because they had originally wanted to give these semi-finished products to Bai Liu for free.

Bai Liu had helped them obtain the raw materials and had given them perfume for free. If they still charged Bai Liu for these things, they would truly be ungrateful.

But at the time, Bai Liu had only smiled mysteriously and said that someone would foot the bill for him, so they only needed to cooperate with his acting.

He had not expected that a fool would actually take the bait!

They had earned five bottles of perfume for nothing, so naturally, they were even more grateful to Bai Liu for taking care of them.

Liu Ji obtained a promotion opportunity, but he could not feel happy at all. He carried several sacks of semi-finished products back to the plaza. By this time, more and more processors had gathered.

Tang Erda and another Kings’ Guild member were working overtime to finish up. The other processors were also busy working. The factory workers’ audit was about to begin.

Bai Liu followed Liu Ji over and inconspicuously mixed the purchased semi-finished products into the iron pot.

The other Kings’ Guild member looked at the extra dried-leaf roses in the pot and looked up at them in shock.

Bai Liu shook his head slightly at him, signaling him not to make a sound. The three of them quietly divided the pot of roses.

The factory workers’ audit officially began.

The processors packed the stir-fried roses into burlap sacks and lined up in order. First, the factory workers confirmed the quality of the semi-finished products. Then they weighed them. The audit criteria were divided into two categories: one was the yield rate, and the other was the color of the roses.

Bai Liu and the others were at the end of the line. Ahead of them, the sounds of people sighing regretfully or discussing how they had narrowly escaped disaster rose constantly.

Most processors’ individual output stabilized at around two hundred kilograms.

Suddenly, a burst of exclamations erupted.

“352.3kg! This person’s yield rate is so high, it’s almost close to fifty percent!”

“...Damn, it’s that new processor. This guy’s strength and endurance are too ridiculous. To get this kind of yield, you have to keep stir-frying quickly so the moisture evaporates without losing too much mass...”

“So much. Damn, he’ll probably take one of the factory worker slots.”

The processors behind him were all grumbling. Bai Liu looked over.

Standing beside the weighing scale was the expressionless Tang Erda.

He did not seem to think that producing three times as many dried-leaf rose semi-finished products as everyone else was a violation of industry rules. He shook hands with the delighted factory worker, nodded, and stepped down.

Liu Ji’s face visibly turned solemn.

Their total weight of rose semi-finished products was over eight hundred kilograms. Averaged out among each person, that was over two hundred kilograms. Although it was higher than most people’s, it was still far behind Tang Erda.

If there were others higher than them later... then they would definitely have no hope of securing the three factory worker slots!

“One person will take a base of 240kg, and the other two will take 300kg.” Bai Liu looked at the other two and made an immediate decision. “Secure the factory worker positions.”

“I’ll take the 240kg.” The Kings’ Guild member who had woken up latest gave a bitter smile. “I don’t even know how you guys got so much. It didn’t have much to do with me anyway. Being able to secure a base is already good enough.”

Bai Liu said, “Fine.”

When it was Bai Liu’s turn to stand on the scale, after the factory worker confirmed Bai Liu’s picking weight and output weight, he lowered his head and calculated with a calculator. Then he looked up at Bai Liu in disbelief.

“From 360kg of fresh roses, your output is actually 302.7kg?”

“An 84% yield rate. It’s almost a one-to-one output. How did you do it?”

Bai Liu: “...”

He had been careless.

He had copied the homework too well and forgotten to consider the problem of the yield rate.