Domestication! Bountiful Harvest! The Next One-Shot Target!

Half an hour later!

With Qin Feng 'presiding' over the proceedings, the negotiations concerning the future development of the Los Angeles Ruins concluded successfully, a meeting later historically known as the 'Noble Restaurant Conference'!

The participants included Qin Feng, the North American official representative 'Stina Mozer', the Great Xia guild representative from the Los Angeles Ruins 'Dawn', the Epic BOSS representative 'Trembling Clown · Assassin', and finally, the ten guild leaders of Los Angeles responsible for implementation.

Of course, 'successful' was from the perspective of Qin Feng and the Great Xia players.

For the North American players present, it was like they had swallowed a fly—unpleasant but they could only stomach it.

There was no other way.

From now on, the guilds of Los Angeles Ruins, led by the ten major guilds, must provide lifespan to the Trembling Clown every week.

Each guild, based on its membership, must contribute 1 day of lifespan per person per day, which amounts to 7 days per week.

The guild names, member counts, and lifespan days will all be tallied by Stina.

After the tally is complete, Stina will deliver it to the Trembling Clown.

The Trembling Clown, upon receiving the guild list, will patrol the entire Los Angeles area. Any guild not on the list is fair game for it to kill at will!

The price for such 'protection' isn't high.

Many guilds and civilian players can accept it; it won't even significantly impact most people's daily lives.

Essentially, once implemented, it's equivalent to each guild handing over about 10% of their taxes to the Trembling Clown…

This price is acceptable for both the guilds and their players.

Therefore, if you want to develop peacefully, this protection fee is definitely something you have to pay.

As for Qin Feng…

This becomes a major future source of lifespan for him.

A guaranteed weekly income of at least thirty-five thousand years of lifespan!

It's like how almost everyone in Great Xia has thought: if every Great Xia citizen gave me one yuan, wouldn't I easily have over a dozen small goals?

One yuan per person means nothing to the vast majority.

But gathered together, it becomes a huge number.

That's exactly Qin Feng's situation now.

"It's a shame the player population in Los Angeles isn't as dense as in Great Xia cities."

"Otherwise, this wave could have earned several times more…"

Qin Feng wasn't dissatisfied.

At least for the current stage, having this source of lifespan income means he's basically covered in terms of lifespan.

Of course, it's only just 'basically' covered.

If Oddity Bro brings some divinity armament next time, he still probably won't be able to afford it…

…

After the meeting ended, the Trembling Clown announced it would give them one day to prepare the first week's protection fee, then swaggered off.

From then on, the Los Angeles Ruins entered an era ruled by the 'Trembling Clown'!

The Scaredy Shack entity itself took up position directly in the teleportation stone room.

Preventing anyone in Los Angeles City from escaping.

Want to develop?

Hand over the protection fee obediently!

No one knew how many Trembling Clowns were in the City Ruins now, but anyone who hadn't paid the fee would die upon encountering one…

When the outcome of the 'Noble Restaurant Conference' spread, the whole world was greatly shocked!

"Oh! Los Angeles is really pitiful. Good thing I moved to New York City last year."

"It's not that bad. The protection fee really isn't expensive. I can farm at least 200 days of lifespan a day. Paying one day is nothing."

"Didn't you notice the most crucial point? We players can actually negotiate with an Epic BOSS!"

"Incredible! If I could cooperate with an Epic BOSS, wouldn't I be invincible?"

"Wake up. This negotiation was also led by Shadow. Otherwise, the BOSS wouldn't even bother with you."

It wasn't just North America.

This incident directly impacted the entire world, astonishing countless players.

And over in North America…

Stina Mozer logically became a guild leader, though no longer of the 'Heavenly Serpent' guild.

It was renamed the 'Los Angeles Security Group'.

The North American official authorities assigned many powerful individuals to join, becoming Stina's subordinates, assisting her in managing Los Angeles's security issues, and reporting directly to Congress.

After the North American authorities announced the negotiation results with the Trembling Clown…

Many players in Los Angeles who had logged off came back online!

They were extremely excited and proactively paid the protection fee. For them, being able to go out and develop again was the best outcome.

Some didn't want to pay the fee and tried to leave the Los Angeles Ruins in groups.

The result…

They were slaughtered by the Trembling Clowns lying in wait as soon as they reached the teleportation stones!

This situation made the players in the Los Angeles Ruins realize a fact…

It seemed they were being… 'domesticated' by this Epic BOSS?!

…

When news of the Los Angeles Ruins situation reached Great Xia, it triggered a new wave of worship frenzy for 'Shadow'.

Of course, some people weren't happy.

"With Shadow's strength, he should just go on a killing spree in North America! If I were him, I wouldn't let a single North American animal live!"

"Bro, even if you kill ten people per second, without eating, sleeping, or resting, it would take over a year to kill all North Americans. You wouldn't have time to develop yourself."

"No, it's not that. You can kill them, but they can kill us too. If Shadow really went on a rampage over there, it would definitely be our Great Xia civilians who suffer!"

"Exactly. Shadow is strong, but he's just one person. He can't protect all of us…"

"In the end, we still have to become stronger ourselves!"

Regarding the handling of the Los Angeles incident, Great Xia also breathed a sigh of relief.

In truth, the higher-ups were indeed afraid Qin Feng might cause some catastrophic event in Los Angeles…

While Qin Feng would be fine in that case,

Great Xia would definitely not be.

But in reality,

Qin Feng was completely focused on his own development. He had little interest in killing people, or rather, little interest in killing civilians…

He wasn't a child anymore. What's the point of stomping on ants all day?

At this stage, development was still the most important!

Reaching level 35 would allow him to use the bell to summon 'Asha Hess' again for the next inheritance trial.

Currently, although Qin Feng could see Asha Hess anytime, the rules of the God Forsaken Game were still unchangeable.

"The function to upgrade skills is an ability granted to her by the God Forsaken Game."

"Before inviting her to the Hideout, she can't upgrade my skill levels either…"

Qin Feng shook his head.

"Keep leveling up."

"But before that, I can one-shot the octopus tentacle monster in Jianghai City."

This was Qin Feng's next one-shot target! The octopus tentacle monster in Jianghai City was an Epic BOSS named 'Unclean Overlord · Polluted Touch'!

This creature was located in a prime leveling spot for the early to mid-game—the Pollution River.

The most important mechanic of this Epic BOSS was its 'shield'.

In his previous life, Qin Feng had participated in the siege of this BOSS. It was a relatively early Epic BOSS, but he hadn't brought Qin Xiaoyou along; he had teamed up with some strong players from other cities.

It was still quite early back then. Dealing with an Epic BOSS was like pioneering. Qin Xiaoyou wasn't strong enough; forcing her to participate would only lead to her death.

"With my current strength, I can ignore the shield. When this BOSS appears, two attacks to force a phase change, then two more attacks to finish it off."

"I hope it drops some Legendary-grade assassin equipment and skill books."

"But… luring this BOSS out is a bit troublesome."

Qin Feng pondered.

To make that octopus monster appear, he couldn't do it alone. It mainly required enough players gathered together to have a chance of attracting the BOSS.

Otherwise, this Epic BOSS stayed deep within the Pollution River. The river water was filled with 'Whispers' energy; even Qin Feng jumping in would be seeking death.

"I'll ask the official for help."

Qin Feng didn't dwell on it.

He first collected the final 'balance payment' of 16,000 years of lifespan from Stina—a bountiful harvest!

Then, using a teleport stone, he returned to the Nether Soul Land in the Jianghai City Ruins.

Riding Osirio, he flew outward. Passing through the center of the ruins, he saw that 'Eyeless Stone Golem Statue'.

That thing was also an Epic BOSS.

Qin Feng also knew how to activate it but had no plans to fight it for now.

Because…

This thing's mechanics required coordination. Unless Qin Feng could one-shot it, at this stage, there were no other players who could coordinate with him.

"Soon."

"Once my damage doubles again, I should be able to one-shot this stone golem."

Qin Feng wasn't in a hurry.

At the same time…

The Jianghai City official authorities quickly mobilized and got busy.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry."

"Shadow said he needs some manpower from us to help lure out an Epic BOSS!"

"Director Dai said he can provide forty-six people!"

"Huh? Lure an Epic BOSS? Isn't that dangerous?"

"What? With Shadow here, what are you afraid of?"

"If you don't go, plenty of others will. I'm signing up!"

"Hey wait, let me go put on some makeup first…"

Soon, apart from Wang Meng and An Yu's team, under the arrangement of a certain Director Dai who wished to remain anonymous, an official team of 240 people rapidly assembled!