“Boss! It’s so good to see you again!” At the point of meeting, the two beautiful NPC saleswomen ran over towards Feng Luo when they saw him standing in wait beside the hovercraft. They held their arms wide open and hugged him. Fear still lingered on their faces and both of them sounded as if they were almost in tears.
“Holy crap! Look over there! What’s the situation? Two beautiful NPCs are throwing themselves at a player!”
“Is that something to be surprised about? I heard that if your approval rating reaches a certain stage, NPCs would even let you do ‘anything’ to them.”
“Seriously? Is there such a thing? Is War actually a type of simulation game?”
On the side, a few players were whispering among themselves.
After Feng Luo patted the shoulders of the two NPC saleswomen and consoled them, two system notification sounds rang in his ear.
[Due to your actions in the game, your approval rating with Yuan Jing Xiang has increased. Current Rating: Intimate. You’ve obtained experience: 39,000. Obtained Merits: 20.]
[Due to your actions in the game, your approval rating with Mao Li Lan has increased. Current Rating: Intimate. You’ve obtained experience: 40,000. Obtained Merits: 20.]
“Boom!”
As the two notifications pinged, a flash of bright white light covered Feng Luo’s body in front of the other players.
[Congratulations! You’ve leveled up. Current Level: 51.]
The benefits of high approval ratings between players and NPCs were not just limited to hidden benefits. For example, the two high-level approval rating achievements of “Friendly” and “Intimate” also provided concrete advantages.
In particular, reaching the Intimate level meant a huge amount of experience and Merit as rewards. With Merit points, one could exchange for all types of items.
Some players had calculated it before. An Intimate approval rating’s rewards were comparable to, or even better than, the experience and items gained after farming monsters for three days.
Due to this, many players specifically tried to increase approval ratings with NPCs inside cities. They treat the game as a simulation game. However, their leveling speed was not any slower than any of the other mainstream players.
Of course, getting to the Intimate level approval rating was never an easy feat. Only under special circumstances would an NPC have an Intimate feeling with a player.
On the first night of the Biohazard Crisis two days ago, the two NPC saleswomen were psychologically devastated. After that, Feng Luo appeared, rescued and protected them throughout their journey of leaving the city. Feng Luo’s appearance and continued actions of fighting to protect them, to the point where he even stayed behind to fight, as well as his various other courageous actions, would, without a doubt touch anyone.
In addition to that, when Skynet and Ultimate Heavy Armor, who first appeared to protect and escort them, came to protect them, they mentioned that they came at the request of Feng Luo, which was also a bonus for increasing the approval rating.
Feng Luo only managed to push the approval rating of the two NPCs to the maximum after considering all of the above conditions.
And with the huge amount of experience awarded, he leveled up directly.
Now, Feng Luo was Level 51, he could legitimately claim that he was the real highest leveled player in War.
“Jing Xiang and Lan’s approval ratings have reached the ‘Intimate level.’ I wonder if Old John’s approval rating went up to ‘Trust.’”Feng Luo thought.
Jing Xiang and Lan were, after all, normal NPCs. Their usefulness to players was going to be limited.
However, Old John was different. He was an NPC who was highly likely to possess a Master Level life profession. For players, he was the equivalent of a treasure trove.
However, Old John’s situation was rather peculiar.
Old John ate and drank for free at Feng Luo’s store for a few months and the approval rating kept staying at the lowest “Good” level. That was why Feng Luo was not really expecting much in terms of hoping for the approval rating to increase.
This was particularly true when Feng Luo saw Old John still sleeping and snoring very loudly in the arms of the transportation robot moving through the crowd towards him. The old man was still sleeping, so, if Feng Luo wanted to know if the approval rating increased, he would have to wait a little bit longer.
“We’re going to the hotel. The three of you should take a good, long rest.” Looking at the two NPC saleswomen whose approval rating with him had reached the maximum value, Feng Luo decided to let them stay with Old John at the hotel below Lin’s laboratory since he had not yet decided if he wanted to continue operating the Feng Zhi Dan Hen Ammunition Store.
The environment that the two female NPCs were yesterday definitely meant that they did not get any good sleep.
“Okay.” Since their approval rating had been maxed, the two female NPCs nodded without any hesitation. As for the transportation robot, it had already placed Old John into the hovercraft after the door of the hovercraft opened automatically.
“So tired…”
After entering the hovercraft, the two young female NPCs seemed to relax and loosened their tension. They actually closed their eyes immediately and fell asleep within a dozen or so seconds after resting their bodies on the backseat of the vehicle.
“Turn in front. Please sit tight. Destination: Ground Hurricane Building, Number 1023.”
Gentle and soothing music was broadcasted within the hovercraft. With a steady and non-vibrating speed, the hovercraft floated into Storm City’s busy sky, where multiple large passenger-crafts were ascending or descending.
Feng Luo, who was seated in the front seat and was thinking about the safety issue of the three NPCs, did not notice that in that situation, Old John’s snoring had suddenly become quieter, as if he did not want to bother the two young female NPCs.
After half an hour, on the side of the Hurricane building, inside a VIP room on the sky restaurant platform of the hotel…
Watermelon Skin placed the Barrett, which he had wiped thoroughly a few times, in front of Feng Luo.
When his fingers departed the body of the Barrett, his eyes seemed to convey a reluctance to let it go.
It was definitely an acceptable reaction. A weapon like the Barrett was a dream weapon for most Sniper players in the game. From the spotless condition of the gun, one could easily tell just how much Watermelon Skin liked the gun.
However, Watermelon Skin quickly suppressed his longing gaze and said to Feng Luo, “Brother Feng, let me return this Python of Death to you. It’s a good thing it is not damaged.”
“There’s also this Thunder armor set…” My World also returned the Thunder armor set that Feng Luo lent to him earlier. The surface of the power alloy armor was very shiny and it was clear that My World had specifically looked for an armor specialist to repair and maintain the armor.
Feng Luo took the two items and placed the Thunder armor set back into his special agent inventory. However, he left the Barrett on the table.
Feng Luo suddenly opened his mouth and spoke to Watermelon Skin with a gentle smile, “Watermelon, if I say that I am going to give you this Python of Death as thanks for protecting my three NPC staff members, will you accept?”
“Give it to me as a gift… Brother Feng, you’re joking, right?” Watermelon Skin’s face stiffened as he became dumbfounded. Then, his expression changed into one of disbelief.
Not only Watermelon Skin, even My World, Steel Fortress, as well as Azure and the other two Manipulator ladies, Tangerine and Tea Flower, were completely stunned.
After Watermelon Skin spoke, he instinctively glanced at the Barrett. However, he quickly shifted his gaze and looked at Feng Luo immediately after.
“I’m not joking. I’m serious.” Feng Luo kept a gentle smile on his face as he said with a sincere tone.
On the night when he returned to Silvermoon City to rescue the three NPCs, he made a promise to Watermelon Skin and Azure’s group. Before he reached the platform, he requested the group to help him protect the three NPCs and wait for him to arrive, and by doing what he asked of them, Feng Luo promised to reward them heavily.
Watermelon Skin’s party had, without a doubt, carried out fully their promise to Feng Luo.
Steel Fortress’ armor was severely damaged; My World died while fighting the Tyrant; as for Azure, who was a female player, kept enduring as she continued to buff and heal the team even after turning pale. Most importantly, Watermelon Skin sacrificed himself to allow Feng Luo the chance to deal a critical damage shot that was ten times the normal on the Giant Octopus monster that was about to evolve into the Quasi-Boss Grade.
Although Feng Luo thought that Watermelon Skin’s techniques were relatively bad, just from that shot alone, he was still worthy of using the Python of Death.
“No, I don’t want it… We accepted the mission to protect Old John in the first place. So, even if you did not say anything, we’d have protected him either way. Back then, if it weren’t for the fact that you came to us, we would have definitely been wiped out by the giant octopus… You also trusted us and lent us these high-quality gears. Additionally, you also saved us back then in the Withered Desert. We owe you, so there’s no way I can accept your gift…” Upon hearing Feng Luo’s words, Watermelon Skin’s neck was flushed red as he spoke to decline Feng Luo’s offer.
“Yeah, that’s right! Brother Feng, if anything, the value of this Python of Death exceeds the combined value of all our items put together.”
“Ignoring the fact that we contributed close to nothing, even if we did contribute, there’s no way we can accept something so valuable.” My World and the party’s Fire Manipulator, Tangerine, also spoke. Although a sense of admiration filled her eyes when she glanced at the Barrett, she also helped Watermelon Skin reject Feng Luo’s offer.
As for the value of the Barrett, to the average player, if they wanted to buy one, the price at an auction would be around 800,000 credits. The number of Barretts was quite limited, so it was too expensive to be used as a gift of thanks.
However, to Feng Luo, the Barrett was only one D-Rank Special Agent Authorization and 1,000 points.
Watermelon Skin’s rejection was also due to the fact that he had underestimated his contribution.
If Feng Luo did not request their help to protect Old John, even if they did accept the mission, they would never have put their lives on the line to protect him. After all, in a situation like that, the best choice would have been to give up the mission. It was even more natural for them to give up protecting Jing Xiang and Lan.
Feng Luo looked at Watermelon Skin, whose face was flushed red but still looked very determined, and then turned around to look at My World, who was the captain of the group, and said, “How about this, Watermelon Skin, if you don’t accept the Python of Death, then I’ll give each of you an Excellent Grade item. You won’t decline this, will you?”