Chapter 127 Economic Crisis 8

Chapter 127 Economic Crisis 8

Pay cuts, layoffs, and factory closures led to a surge in unemployment, significantly reducing residents' purchasing power. As purchasing power continued to decline, store profits plummeted, forcing further pay cuts and layoffs just to barely avoid losses... It became a vicious cycle, and the situation worsened relentlessly.

More and more homeless crowded the streets, building makeshift shelters from planks, scrap metal, tarps, or even cardboard. Some slept right on the pavement, using newspapers as blankets. Muggings and thefts grew common, but since everyone on the streets was poor, even a successful robbery barely got them anything. Meanwhile, stores still in business were heavily guarded, and thieves caught in the act were beaten mercilessly.

Bakeries stopped throwing out leftover bread. Even if it was a day old, as long as it was dirt-cheap, residents would line up to buy it. However, very few still had money to spare.

To survive, people began eating dandelion roots and weeds. Once those were gone, they dug up wild lettuce, and eventually even weeds usually fed to livestock. Occasionally, when a store offered job opportunities, some would camp overnight at the door, while others walked across the entire town to reach the interview site. A single job could draw hundreds of applicants.

At the same time, shopkeepers, trying to keep prices stable, had to reduce production and destroy large quantities of "surplus" goods.

Giving away products for free was absolutely out of the question. Once such a precedent was set, all residents would wait for free supplies and never spend money again.

Before long, bodies piled up in the streets as starvation spread.

Zhong Rui had rented a third-floor apartment specifically for hiding. Taking in the chaos outside, he murmured, "No matter what economic crisis hits, it’s always the ordinary people who suffer the most."

"Tell me about it," Su Han said with deep emotion.

Just then, the system’s mechanical voice chimed in, "Day 16 of the game. Hunger and poverty have driven residents to lose their sanity, and society’s breaking down."

Su Han pursed her lips, slightly displeased. "In the real world, even though many starve during economic crises, law and order mostly held up."

Zhong Rui, however, understood. "It’s a game, after all. If money could solve everything and the final days were a breeze, where’s the challenge in that?"

That night, the whole town exploded into looting! Supermarkets, restaurants, pharmacies, convenience stores, bakeries—any shop still open got cleaned out.

Su Han couldn’t help but recall the hyperinflation scenario. If she remembered correctly, something similar had happened back then.

She mused, "Why design such similar scenarios, and even lower the difficulty?"

Zhong Rui speculated, "Maybe Jinjiang Group is planning a second Endless Survival Tournament."

Su Han found the idea weirdly convincing.

What followed was nearly identical to the events of the hyperinflation scenario. Desperate residents teamed up, searching apartment buildings and breaking in to rob. Meanwhile, the players, seasoned and having experienced similar scenarios before, remained calm and composed in their response.

By Day 20, the game ended, and everyone successfully made it through, surviving to the end.

The game capsule slowly opened, and Li Yue nodded at the group. "Nice job. We’ve gathered some very interesting data."

"Planning a second Endless Survival Tournament?" Zhong Rui confirmed.

Li Yue readily admitted, "Yes, that’s the plan."

"It’s 100 a head. The early scenarios will be adjusted to lower difficulty, letting players survive longer and experience the thrill of struggling to stay alive. Later scenarios will be extremely difficult, weeding out the best players."

"Additionally, the top three winners will receive cash prizes, and the top ten will have a chance to be recruited by the group as game testers."

Only then did Zhong Rui realize everything had been prearranged.

"Sly bastard, setting up one trap after another," he muttered under his breath.

Su Han, flat broke, handed over her character card and asked, "When’s the next test session?"

Li Yue smiled. "Survival scenarios take longer to develop, but soon enough, there’ll be other games for you to test."

"No problem," Su Han said without hesitation.

**

The Jinjiang Group had humane policies, granting employees ample vacation time after the trial gameplay for rest and relaxation.

With time to kill, Su Han spent her days browsing the internet, watching movies, and occasionally scrolling through video platforms. To her surprise, she realized she'd unexpectedly blown up.

The survival series videos hit over 100 million views effortlessly, and with the company's heavy promotion, the numbers kept climbing.

The comments were flooded with praise—

"Love the survival videos! Already rewatched five times!"

"OMG, this is SO my thing! I adore hoarding supplies like a hamster—I could watch it forever!"

"For this unstoppable hoarding vibe alone, I’ve got to show my support with my real name!"

"Brought my squad to binge-watch! By the way, when’s the next Endless Survival competition? Can the difficulty be lowered?"

"Waiting for the second Endless Survival competition +1! Money’s ready, just waiting for expert players’ footage!"

From then on, the Endless Survival game blew up overnight.

Strangely, the first thought that popped into Su Han’s mind was thinking about her next paycheck…

Her train of thought was abruptly interrupted by the ringing of her phone.

Picking it up, she answered casually, "Hello, who’s this?"

The voice on the other end dripped with annoyance. "If I don’t reach out first, were you just never going to contact me?"

It was Zhong Rui.

He’d even had to pester Li Yue for her number. Once the game ended, it was like she’d ghosted him.

Su Han blinked innocently. "I just finished playtesting. Wanted to give you a few days to rest properly."

"Who needs rest?!" Zhong Rui snapped back.

He firmly believed that going out with his girlfriend—shopping, watching movies, maybe even a date—would be way more refreshing.

So affectionate during the game, but the moment they left the instance, she acted like a stranger. Classic!

Zhong Rui’s annoyance could practically feel it.

Su Han snorted. Clearing her throat, she asked seriously, "Dinner tonight? Wanna go on a real date? Or maybe… try dating?"

Zhong Rui fell silent for a long moment before replying with restraint, "I think all your suggestions sound excellent."

"So… want to say yes to all of them?" Su Han teased, smiling.

"Yeah." Zhong Rui gave a soft hum, the corners of his lips curling up.

"There’s a nice restaurant near the company. Let’s meet at the entrance at 7 tonight," Su Han said brightly.

Zhong Rui perked up.

After chatting a while longer, the call ended.

Staring at his phone for a long time, Zhong Rui finally noticed she’d played him. His new girlfriend was a total heartbreaker—effortlessly making his heart race and leaving him giddy.

**

The holiday came to an end, and Zhong Rui walked briskly to work, each step light as if walking on air. At the same time, he couldn't stop grinning.

Li Yue was stunned when he saw him, his expression odd as he asked with concern, "Did you hit the jackpot or what?" What's gotten into him?

But then again, that didn’t quite make sense—this guy couldn't care less about money. If it weren’t for Su Han, he wouldn’t even show up for work. There was no way he’d be swayed so easily by money.

"I have a girlfriend," Zhong Rui announced proudly.

Li Yue froze. "I know, it’s Su Han, right?" After a pause, he suddenly looked enlightened. "What? Finally making it official?"

Zhong Rui, "..."

He had wanted to share his joy with the world. But in everyone’s eyes, he and Su Han had already been dating.

For a moment, Zhong Rui’s emotions were complicated.

Beside him, Li Yue was still muttering, "Your two’s gameplay videos were released under the title of a couple playing together. Everyone in the company, plus all the viewers who’ve seen the videos, already knew you two were dating."

"Not to mention, you two weren't exactly subtle—it never looked like just a pure partnership."

"Going public is good though. Now you can date out in the open. Don’t worry, the company doesn’t forbid office romances, especially since you two are just Playtesters."

Zhong Rui shot him a glance, speechless, and simply quickened his pace to leave.

"Getting shy?" Li Yue, completely unaware of being disliked, assumed Zhong Rui was just embarrassed.

**

In the office, all the Playtesters had gathered. Li Yue explained the situation to everyone. "The company is planning to develop a new battle royale full-immersion VR game."

"When entering the game, everyone will be assigned a random character class and start with nothing. You’ll have to scrounge for weapons, food, and water."

"The hygiene stat has been removed. Player characters now only have two stats: hunger and stamina. If hunger drops too low, debuffs will still trigger."

"Using different weapons to attack targets will deal varying degrees of damage. Striking critical hit zones can result in critical hits—maybe double or triple damage, maybe even more."

"There are 100 players in total, divided into the White Team and Black Team. Players on the same team share a faction, but there’s no damage immunity between them. In other words, if your aim is off, you might accidentally kill a teammate. The game ends when the opposing faction is wiped out, and the surviving players win."

"Currently, there are 20 Playtesters, so it’ll be a 10v10 match on a smaller map."

The Playtesters nodded one after another, indicating they understood.

Li Yue had originally planned to randomly distribute game cards like last time. But when he glanced at Zhong Rui, he hesitated—what if he got separated from his girlfriend and switched sides?

So he changed his mind and personally divided the 20 Playtesters into two teams.

Once assigned, players from the same team randomly picked a game card, then lay in their game capsules, quietly waiting for the game to start.

**

When Su Han opened her eyes again, she found herself standing on the street of a run-down town.

Withered yellow leaves drifted everywhere, the crumbling walls radiating decades of neglect. Even the sky looked gloomy.

Su Han pulled up her stats. Soon, a HUD display appeared before her, displaying:

Name: Su Han

Faction: Black (Allies: 10. Enemies: 10.)

Hunger: 100/100

Stamina: 100/100

Occupation: Combat Medic.

Note: When a combat medic uses medication to treat the wounded, it works better.

Su Han wondered—so if she used the medication, would it give an extra boost?

To avoid being ambushed, she didn’t overthink it and quickly ducked into the nearest house.

Author’s Note: Some information is referenced from Baidu Encyclopedia.

After researching, it was found that during an economic crisis, the prices of asset-based goods drop significantly, such as gold, silver, jewelry, stocks, antiques, and artworks. As for daily necessities, there is no clear consensus. However, there are mentions of large-scale destruction of "surplus" products to stabilize prices. Therefore, the game setting is that the prices of daily necessities remain unchanged.