Chapter 199: Turbulent Times

“Reward obtained: Ultimate Amnesty, twice!”
“Reward obtained: Permanent Contract Privilege activated!”
After those two lines of text flashed before his eyes, Ye Feng still waited for something. Time passed, but nothing else happened in the Virtual Realm.
Ye Feng helplessly spread his hands. “Over 200 million domain values, and that’s it?”
“What have you gotten?” Ed asked curiously. He didn’t have the authority to see what ultimate privileges or items Ye Feng had obtained. Only if Ye Feng told him would he know.
“Two times Ultimate Amnesty, plus permanent activation of the Contract Privilege,” Ye Feng said, looking somewhat gloomy.
To his surprise, Ed was delighted upon hearing this. “Wow, quite generous rewards!”
“Are you mocking me?” Ye Feng turned to Ed with a displeased expression.
Ed looked at him puzzled before asking, “You don’t know what these two privileges mean, do you?”
“I’ve used Ultimate Amnesty before, so I know what it is. But as for that Contract Privilege, I have no idea what it is,” Ye Feng shook his head, still gloomy.
“No, judging by your reaction, you still don’t understand the function of Ultimate Amnesty!” Ed said seriously, shaking his head. “But I can’t tell you too much about these privileges. I can only tell you one thing: Ultimate Amnesty is one of the most powerful among the permanent ultimate privileges. You’d better not use it recklessly, or you’ll regret it later!”
Seeing Ed’s serious expression, Ye Feng finally realized that his earlier words weren’t meant as mockery but that Ed truly thought he had received generous rewards.
“Hmm, I get it!” Ye Feng nodded. “What about the Contract Privilege? Can you tell me anything about it?”
“The Contract Privilege is a very special privilege. Usually, it’s only granted to users of the Virtual Realm after the realm itself trusts them enough.”
“In fact, it’s a form of delegation, where part of the realm’s functions are handed over to you for management.”
“With the Contract Privilege, you can form contracts with others to selectively unlock certain functions of the Virtual Realm. Of course, if the contract is successful, the other party’s domain value will be linked to yours. You can see how much domain value they’ve earned, but they can’t see yours!”

“When signing a contract, you can choose the ratio of Domain Value you and the other party will receive. For example, if it’s 1:1, then if the other party gets a thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals, they can only exchange them for five million points of Domain Value; the other five million go to you!”
“It sounds a bit like capitalists exploiting the poor,” Ye Feng said with a shrug.
“No, it’s not like that. The Virtual Realm platform is something you provide to others. It’s like you’re the boss of a company—you provide jobs for others. They work for you, and you pay them salaries. That’s simple. You deserve to be compensated because you provide everything. Without you, they wouldn’t have these jobs!”
“Besides, many things in the Virtual Realm can be sold at hundreds of times the price outside. Suppose they take something worth one yuan from the Virtual Realm and sell it for one hundred in the real world. After selling it, you take fifty, and they keep fifty—still huge profits! If they were in the real world, it would be difficult to engage in such speculation. Because something worth one yuan in the Virtual Realm might sell for ten or twenty yuan outside.”
“Alright, I admit your explanation does make sense. I feel much more at ease now. I’m the boss; I provide them with sources of goods and jobs. I deserve to be compensated!” Ye Feng helplessly spread his hands.
“Don’t worry. Those who sign contracts with you won’t have their freedom affected at all. Just like you, they can do whatever they want, free from control by anyone or anything. They just get a simplified version of the Virtual Realm. And it’s used under your supervision…”
“I get it!” After hearing Ed’s explanation, Ye Feng basically understood the use of this privilege. It allowed him to have others earn Domain Value for him.
“I do have enough Domain Value now to buy a fifth-grade Spirit Ascension Pill. But after taking it, I’ll need at least dozens of days for seclusion. I’ll put it off for now! There are many things to deal with outside right now. I’m leaving!” After bidding farewell to Ed, Ye Feng pushed open the door to the Virtual Realm and left.
Ed, meanwhile, watched Ye Feng’s retreating figure in the Virtual Realm and murmured to himself, “Why was the contract privilege activated so early? Could it be due to the contract transfer?”
After leaving the Virtual Realm, Ye Feng pushed open the door to his bedroom. In the living room, the two little guys were still watching cartoons through their glasses, showing no sign of stopping.

Ye Feng helplessly shook his head, then gave orders to his clone to return. After a while, the clone finally returned, and Ye Feng retracted him. He also used a detector to locate the guy who had been following his clone all along. The poor guy had actually been staring at his clone the entire day. “What a persistent idiot!” Ye Feng sneered. From the detector, the voice of the other party could be heard. “My lords, I followed him all day today, and he just wandered around without doing anything!” “Did he see Wei Jie while wandering?” The voice on the other end was Lin Peng’s. “No, nothing unusual happened…” the tracker continued to explain. “It seems I already have an alibi!” Ye Feng’s lips curled slightly. … Lin Peng hung up the communicator and looked at Jiang Yuansong beside him. “It seems he didn’t do anything.” As soon as he finished speaking, the communicator in his hand rang again. Lin Peng was slightly surprised but pressed the answer button. “I’m Xu Yanghong, the head of the Emergency Response Center. I’ve already informed the sect leader about your situation. The sect leader ordered an investigation at several transit stations, but no news of Wei Jie was found.” “The second transit station is a fourth-class planet, and there are people guarding the teleportation array. The investigators have already questioned the array’s managers, who said Wei Jie never appeared there at all.” “Our preliminary conclusion is that Wei Jie might have been attacked at the first transit station—De Sat Planet. As for whether he was killed or if the materials were stolen, further investigation is needed!” “I’ve cleared you both of blame with the sect leader. I told him you contacted us at the second transit station. So, no matter what the final outcome is, the maximum punishment you’ll face is having a few days’ salary deducted. I’ll keep you updated if there’s any new news.” “By the way, let me reveal a secret—since Agri Planet involves many sect secrets. After this incident, aside from you two, the sect leader and the elders are now considering sending an elder to stay there.” “How reliable is this information?” Lin Peng glanced at Jiang Yuansong beside him, hesitated for a moment before asking.

“This matter has already been put on their agenda; a result should be available in a couple of days. I’ll get in touch with you once there’s any news!” Xu Yanghong’s voice remained calm. “I still have some matters to attend to, so that’s all for now!”
Hearing the other party hang up, Lin Peng looked at Jiang Yuansong beside him with a worried expression.
“Senior Jiang, this news doesn’t sound good at all! We usually manage to obtain quite a lot, but if the new elders find out…”
“There’s no need to panic. Let’s first see who the elders this time are!” Jiang Yuansong clearly had much more experience. “If it’s those old-fashioned folks, we can claim incompatibility and request to be transferred away. In fact, the sect leader and most of the elders know how we operate on Agri Planet; they just turn a blind eye.”
“As for Wei Jie, having no news after such a long time, the chances of him surviving are slim. It’s likely that the supplies have already been stolen.” Jiang Yuansong frowned. “Since it wasn’t that guy named Daofeng who did this, then who could it be?”
“After arriving on Desaat Planet, Wei Jie contacted us once, and he didn’t reach the second transit planet either. That means the enemy chose to launch the attack in Desaat’s barren desert. In such a place, it must be very difficult to find any clues—everything gets covered by sandstorms.” Lin Peng thought it would be hard to uncover anything through investigation in a short time.
“Let others worry about Wei Jie’s matter. We should focus on figuring out how to deal with the incoming elder!” Jiang Yuansong patted Lin Peng’s shoulder.
……
On Agri Planet, the teleportation array connecting to Desaat Planet suddenly lit up. An old man and two black-robed men with formidable auras appeared in the array, drawing the attention of many around. But upon seeing the two powerful black-robed figures behind the old man, everyone lowered their heads—their overwhelming strength made those who had intended to make a quick profit back down.
“This is Agri Planet?! Indeed, it’s very different from the other third-class planets!” The old man curled his lips into a cold smile. “Which city does the Refining Sect’s branch be in? Let’s go there! We’ll inquire and see what information they have so far.”