Chapter 6: Crystal Core Deposit, Buy One Get One Free

"No need," Qiao Jia replied, glancing at the young man who was still unwilling to give up. This time, she chose not to make things difficult for this family. After all, it would be a bit too much to take advantage of them.

The profit margin on the low-durability weapon mystery box was five points, after all. Qiao Jia was also rather curious to see what the family, who was at odds with the female lead, would end up with.

Since she so straightforwardly sold them the mystery box, the fake heiress kept looking at Qiao Jia, feeling that something wasn’t quite right. But she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.

Shen Lin, holding the mystery box, threw a triumphant look at Shen Tong. So what if you got a rocket launcher? There’s nothing to be proud of! Now they had their own weapon mystery box, and surely what they got would be better than what Shen Tong, that ingrate, had managed.

Shen Tong was baffled by Shen Lin’s glare. If she’d known things would turn out like this, she’d never have listened to her grandmother and sought out her biological parents. The whole family seemed mad.

Standing at her stall, Qiao Jia watched as Shen Lin, brimming with confidence, opened the mystery box. A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched her lips—so subtle that none of the survivors present noticed.

Amid the smug expressions of the Shen family, Shen Lin drew out a rusty knife.

A strange silence fell, then the crowd erupted in laughter.

"Pfft, hahahahaha—"

"Oh, I thought it would be something impressive. This is hilarious!"

"A rusty knife! Isn’t that a hidden item in its own right?"

"To get such a worthless weapon, young master, your luck is truly 'something'!"

The survivors’ biting remarks made Shen Lin’s face flush red with anger. Even his parents cast reproachful glances his way. The weapon mystery box wasn’t cheap, and all he’d managed to get was a rusty knife.

"Shen Lin, let your sister open the remaining mystery box," Shen Father said, his expression grim.

A glint of mockery flashed in Qiao Jia’s eyes. That old man—he dared not open the mystery box himself, afraid that if he got something useless, his family would blame him. So he left it to his two children, then blamed them if nothing good turned up.

He shifted all responsibility onto Shen Lin and the fake heiress. In this family, Shen Father was the worst of them all.

Qiao Jia counted the crystal cores in her hand. She needed more. Should she try to attract more survivors? Her gaze fell on the little puppy system, sprawled on its back. She’d let it handle the job.

Qiao Jia pulled out pen and paper and began to jot down ideas. To quickly accumulate enough points to activate the Landlady Mystery Box, she needed a few strategies.

She naturally thought of two activities: advance crystal core deposits and buy-one-get-one-free offers.

Depositing crystal cores was essentially a free way to safeguard survivors’ cores for them. Walking around with so many crystal cores was risky.

As for the buy-one-get-one-free offer: buy a weapon mystery box, get a beverage mystery box for free. The beverage mystery box had almost no sales—hardly anyone was willing to spend crystal cores on it. After all, there was a river nearby, and no one had died from drinking the water yet.

Most people liked getting a little something for free. The beverage mystery box, being a special product from the system, was not something survivors would buy, but as a freebie, it could tempt those with extra crystal cores to purchase low-durability weapon boxes.

Its wholesale price was low, only half a point. Qiao Jia could afford it. The advance deposit promotion could also include one or two complimentary beverage boxes.

Qiao Jia quickly finalized the two promotions and wrote them on a piece of cardboard, which she and the system had scavenged earlier.

The advance deposit would require the system’s help. Qiao Jia reached out and shook the stiff little puppy. "Wake up."

Her voice was drowned out by noise from the Shen family’s side, where the fake heiress had just opened a crossbow. It wasn’t a hidden item or a special weapon, but for most survivors, it was quite valuable.

It seemed the fake heiress would have a substantial role to play. She was most likely cast as the vicious supporting character. Since she was meant to be malicious, she couldn’t lose out to the female lead by too much.

Qiao Jia figured she could extract a considerable number of crystal cores from the Shen family. Despite their lack of manners, ill intentions, and malice, they had crystal cores and cared about appearances.

To be fair, their malice didn’t extend to Qiao Jia herself. On the contrary, they’d have to keep currying favor with her.

Amid the exclamations of the crowd, Qiao Jia hung the cardboard listing the new promotions next to her cart’s sign. The sharp-eyed survivors spotted it and rushed over to ask for details, immediately abandoning the Shen family.

"Buy a low-durability weapon mystery box and get a beverage mystery box for free—offer lasts three days only."

"Deposit one hundred tier-one crystal cores at once and receive a complimentary beverage mystery box. This offer is ongoing."

"Deposited crystal cores cannot be withdrawn, but may be spent within the mystery box shop," Qiao Jia patiently explained.

These survivors didn’t have much purchasing power; those who did would already be out killing zombies. But Qiao Jia needed these people to help spread the word about the shop and its promotions. Newcomers would surely be welcomed warmly by these old-timers.

With that thought, an idea struck Qiao Jia. She could let these survivors recruit new ones to deposit or spend crystal cores, offering a low-durability weapon mystery box as a reward.

Armed with such a box, survivors who obtained good weapons could then venture out to hunt zombies. It was a virtuous cycle.

Qiao Jia felt she was quite clever. The system agreed wholeheartedly; its host was the most brilliant in the world! Their interests were aligned, so the system would do its utmost to help her. It was already consulting more experienced systems about the deposit card, and was even willing to subsidize Qiao Jia with points—a truly considerate partner.

"If we bring in three survivors who each deposit one hundred points, we get a low-durability weapon mystery box?" The survivors gathered around Qiao Jia, many of them older or with little combat ability, asked excitedly for confirmation.

"Yes, this promotion lasts only half a month," Qiao Jia nodded. That time frame would be enough to get her territory on track. If not, she might as well give up on the competition.

Hearing this, the survivors were itching to recruit powerful newcomers to deposit their crystal cores!

Qiao Jia was very pleased. With a hundred crystal cores, and a fifty percent profit margin on her boxes, and with the cost of a low-durability weapon box only five points, that meant for every hundred deposited cores, half were profit. She’d only need to give up five for the reward, netting ninety-five up front.

Qiao Jia truly was a genius.