Chapter 281: To Reduce or Not to Reduce

Chen Feng sunk into a solemn mood."What happened?" Could it be that the Star City Battle had been brought forward?

Wu Hui was anxious. "They... they are cancelling your qualifications to compete in the excellence award."

"Producer excellence award?" Chen Feng regained his calm and proceeded to pour a cup of tea for Wu Hui. "Don't be in a rush. Calm down and talk slowly. You can be considered as someone who has been in a major situation before. Why the heck are you being all anxious over this small incident?"

Wu Hui felt ashamed. "All right." After regaining his calm, he continued talking. "Senior Hou Liang told me to inform you that headquarters has received a huge amount of complaints."

"What's the point of those?" Chen Feng was curious. What a joke. If complaining was truly effective, that company called Tencent in his previous life on earth would have been shut down long ago. Chen Feng was a member of the Genetic Union and also a genius that had made outstanding contributions to them. Who dared to seek trouble with him? A normal producer wouldn't be able to touch him! Someone capable of making Hou Liang say these words...

"Did something else happen?" Chen Feng asked knowingly.

"Mhm." Wu Hui whispered, "Based on the latest news, there was one particular producer who committed suicide after failing to obtain what he wanted from the loot box."

????

Chen Feng was stupefied.

Suicide? Was this a joke? Even in his previous life, such thing had never happened! These people were all genetic warriors cum producers; why were them so emotionally weak?

"Furthermore," Wu Hui continued with a blank expression, "a lot of producers started using some special methods to obtain contribution points. When they were caught, they said the reason they had done so was in order to obtain contribution points to buy those loot boxes. On top of that, there's a particular 16-year-old female producer that went through a transaction to perform a deed that should not be mentioned just to get contribution points to purchase a loot box with." Wu Hui finished with a flushed face.

???

Chen Feng blanked.

What was going on? In this era, as a genetic warrior, shouldn't these people be quite formidable when it came to mental strength? Even in his previous life, things hadn't been so severe when loot boxes had been introduced. How had this happened in this world...

Wu Hui finished saying what Hou Liang told him to say seriously, "Senior Hou Liang said that the repercussions are extremely severe. Hence... things might change."

"Change..." Suddenly, Chen Feng came to a realization. He was sure that there had to be someone pulling the strings here. Was it Lan Jingling, the second place holder? Or...

Chen Feng checked the rankings and found with astonishment that, after a while of not paying attention to it, the second place holder had already changed. The producer called You Fang that had initially been at third place had overtaken her and grabbed the second place in a short few days.

Moreover, his points were also quite far above Lan Jingling's points.

Indeed... tsk. Can't these guys stop looking for trouble for once?

Chen Feng narrowed his eyes. "This guy..." After thinking about it, Chen Feng turned on his communication tool.

A big and simple-minded-looking head appeared on his screen. "Yo, Chen Feng."

"It has been a while Lan Xing," Chen Feng said with a smile. "How have you been recently?"

"Not bad, not bad," Lan Xing said while smiling. "Sister already gave up on fighting for first place. I can see that your popularity is truly high above hers. Haha. But then again, you need to be careful for now. I heard that they are planning to do something again."

"Oh?" Chen Feng was amazed. "You know of it?"

"Naturally." Lan Xing curled his lips. "That crafty old man called You Fang has been coming over to my sister's place so frequently. If it wasn't out of respect for his old age, I would have beaten him to death long ago."

Chen Feng: ....

"All right, got it."

By the time he ended the call, Chen Feng already had a guess as to what had happened.

Frequently...

It seemed like their agreement from before was going to be implemented now. In the beginning, Lan Jingling had obtained some research paper from You Fang in order to surpass Chen Feng. She had to have paid a huge price for that.

Now, when Lan Jingling had finally given up on the first place, You Fang was taking the opportunity to make his move.

Research paper! You Fang had also obtained some imperfect research paper of Lan Jingling's before combining the paper with his own paper to put out a brand new research paper for sale. Finally, he'd surpassed Lan Jingling's points.

As far as Lan Jingling was concerned, there wasn't really much difference between second or third place.

It was at this instant that You Fang had made his move.

When it came to contribution points, it was simply impossible for them to surpass Chen Feng. Chen Feng's current contribution points were more than tenfold higher than the contribution points of both of them combined. Hence, there was simply no suspense in the race.

This was the reason You Fang had decided to use such a sinister way to get Chen Feng out of the way, by creating trouble using various methods.

The RNG nature of the loot boxes was already something widely criticized. With the inclusion of You Fang causing trouble everywhere, countless people started to go with the flow. That's right, a vast majority of the protestors were merely going along with the flow in an attempt to secure some benefits for themselves. They believed that it might be probable for Chen Feng to reduce the price to please them after the ruckus. This was what a lot of people believed.

Subsequently... the whole incident had gone out of control. Finally, it had led to Hou Liang calling Wu Hui over in a rush to inform Chen Feng about this so that he could find a solution.

Chen Feng sneered. "They are thinking of making me submit to them?"

He was aware that there were quite a number of people waiting to see him make a spectacle out of himself.

Price reduction? Sure. At this point, reducing the price wouldn't have any effect on him anyway. His current contribution points were already unsurpassable. He only needed to cancel the loot box method of selling his research paper, changing it to a regular sales method.

Mhm... he shall be selling it at the original price of 588 contribution points. Everyone should be satisfied with that, then. Hence, as long as Chen Feng reduced the price, the whole incident would be solved perfectly.

However, was it truly so simple?

Chen Feng made up his mind. "I absolutely can't reduce the price."

Wu Hui was at loss. "Why?"

"Because that is what You Fang was aiming for," Chen Feng said calmly.

What a sinister trap. If he refused to reduce the price, he might be disqualified from participating in the excellence award evaluation due to all sorts of complaints and the negative effects brought forth by his loot boxes. However, if he reduced the price, he would be done for as well! Was price reduction something so simple to implement?

Chen Feng was sure that, the moment he reduced the price, a huge amount of people would start a ruckus as well. For example, those who had previously invested a huge amount of resources to buy his loot boxes. These people had wasted several tens of thousands of contribution points previously, and now, the others only needed several hundred points to buy the research paper?

Who wouldn't be furious at this? How many days had it been? Just looking at how far Chen Feng had surpassed Lan Jingling and You Fang by was sufficient to demonstrate the amount of contribution points the others had spent on his loot boxes. Wanting him to reduce the price now? Who were they trying to trick?

If Chen Feng truly reduced the price, that would be the end of him.

"What should we do then?" Wu Hui was horrified. This world of adults felt incomparably terrifying for him.

"That's simple." An ice-cold smile appeared on Chen Feng's face. "He wants to force my hand, right? Well, I will grant his wish, then..."

Currently, somewhere in Star City.

"I have now repaid what I owe you." Lan Jingling had handed over the incomplete research papers that she owed You Fang from when he'd given her his research paper back then. You Fang merely needed to slightly alter these research papers and they would all be ready for sale.

You Fang's face appeared to be glowing. "All right."

After Lan Jingling and Chen Feng had fought with each other, he merely needed to step in at the last minute to reap the rewards. How was it possible for him to not be overjoyed? With his new research papers, he would absolutely be victorious.

Lan Jingling shook her head as she advised, "Chen Feng... is not as simple as you think. I advise you to stick with competing fairly using regular methods."

You Fang merely laughed as a response. "Hehe."

He was already at this age. If he still refused to fight for it, he would probably be too old to fight over any rewards after a few years. Hence, this year's excellence award was something he had to obtain. Besides that, there was also that trap he had prepared for Chen Feng...

You Fang sneered. "Only after he has reduced the price will he be in the true trap prepared for him."

It was at this instant that Lan Xing charged into the room in a rush. "Sister, something happened!"

Lan Jingling frowned. "What happened?"

Lan Xing finished his words instantly, "Chen Feng... Chen Feng declared that his loot box will stop selling."

What?

The expressions of You Fang and Lan Jingling changed instantly.