Chapter 1119: Chapter 1119: Xiaoyu’s Plan
Lin Shen returned to Crystal Charm Star. Xiao Yu was sitting at the desk, leaning one hand against her cheek while the other held a pen, the tip of which was clenched between her teeth. Her eyes were unfocused, lost in thought.
Hearing Lin Shen’s voice, Xiao Yu ca back to herself. “I’ve been thinking about the matter of collecting Sacrificial Robes. We can’t set the starting price too high—that would make people suspicious of the robes’ true value. But we also can’t set it too low—it’ll make collecting harder. I’ve co up with a plan. Hear out and tell what you think.”
“What plan?” Lin Shen asked.
“We sell the Sacrificial Robes first,” Xiao Yu said.
“But where are we supposed to get Sacrificial Robes to sell?” Lin Shen asked in confusion.
If he had Sacrificial Robes, why would he even need to think about buying them?
“You’ve seen those robes, haven’t you? What’s so hard about replicating one? We’ll sell them to ourselves at a reasonably high price—that way it’s not suspiciously high, but it’ll set a benchmark. Once we’ve sold a few, our selling price will beco the market rate. Then, when soone wants to sell genuine ones, we can buy them back. We’ll just offer a little more than they expect, and they’ll think they’re profiting and happily sell them. Everyone wins.” Xiao Yu laid out her plan.
“Counterfeit is still counterfeit. What if the differences in functionality are discovered?” Lin Shen said thoughtfully.
“We’re selling to ourselves. Who’s going to find out it’s fake if we don’t say anything?” Xiao Yu said, curling her lip.
“It’s a workable plan, but what if people don’t want to sell?” Lin Shen asked.
“That’s easy. We’ll pause selling the Sacrificial Robes and put up a post offering a high price for urgent acquisition. Say we need two or three robes urgently within three days and offer 50% above the market price. If that’s not enough, double the price. Think about it—if the market price is ten, and soone urgently offers twenty, wouldn’t you consider selling? If no one does, we won’t rush. We’ll collect for three days, and if we don’t succeed, we’ll wait for a while, keep selling counterfeit products, and try again later…” Xiao Yu explained.
“It’s a solid plan, but there’s a problem,” Lin Shen said, his expression complicated.
“What problem? Tell —I can solve it all,” Xiao Yu said confidently, convinced there couldn’t be an issue she couldn’t handle.
“The problem is I don’t rember exactly what the robes look like,” Lin Shen said helplessly.
“What’s going on in that brain of yours? Sothing this important, and you didn’t even bother to rember what they look like?” Xiao Yu stared at Lin Shen with wide eyes. She had accounted for everything—except for Lin Shen forgetting the robes’ appearance.
For soone on Lin Shen’s level, his mory was supposed to be sharp. Being able to recall important details at a glance should’ve been basic functionality.
“I didn’t know they’d be this useful back then! If I’d known, I would’ve sketched them.” Lin Shen was equally helpless. His mory had been atrocious in the past, and though it had improved lately, it was still only average.
It had been so long since he’d last seen the robes—how could he possibly rember their exact appearance? All he could recall were the colors and vague impressions. Trying to reproduce a convincing counterfeit seed nearly impossible.
“All my days spent ditating and thinking for nothing,” Xiao Yu grumbled, pausing suddenly as if sothing struck her. She looked at Lin Shen and asked, “Was Fatty there back then? Did he see the Sacrificial Robes?”
“Probably. I think he did,” Lin Shen said uncertainly, his mory fuzzy on the details, though he vaguely recalled Fatty being around.
“Bring Fatty here,” Xiao Yu snapped, visibly annoyed.
“Why do you need him?” Lin Shen asked, puzzled. Fatty couldn’t talk, and while he was rather smart, he wouldn’t be able to describe the robes. Besides, Fatty might not even rember.
“Just get him here. I’ll talk to him,” Xiao Yu insisted, evidently unwilling to continue reasoning with Lin Shen.
Lin Shen took Fatty out from the Space Capsule. The little guy had been living in leisure—eating and sleeping all day—and had gotten noticeably chubbier.
“Fatty, have you seen the Purple Star Ritual Robes?” Xiao Yu asked directly.
Lin Shen thought, “Fatty is such a glutton; food is the only thing he cares about. How could he possibly rember those robes?”
To his astonishnt, Fatty tilted his head, seeming to think for a mont, then nodded at Xiao Yu.
“Good. Draw the Purple Star Ritual Robes for —be as detailed as possible. If possible, replicate them to a 1:1 scale,” Xiao Yu said, pulling out a large touch screen and laying it flat on the ground. She handed Fatty a specially designed stylus.
“This is ridiculous!” Lin Shen couldn’t believe Xiao Yu was turning to Fatty, the glutton, for artistic help. It was an act of desperation.
Fatty opened his mouth, clamped the stylus between his teeth, and hopped onto the screen. Holding the pen between his jaws, he began to draw vigorously on the touchscreen.
Lin Shen leaned forward to watch, and the Wine, Lustful, Wealth and Qi quartet gathered around curiously. Even the small beast poked its head out from Lin Shen’s pocket, staring with wide, inquisitive eyes.
“See? Fatty’s just making random shapes,” Lin Shen muttered as he watched Fatty doodle uneven blotches, various depths and shapes with no discernible contour—certainly not resembling a robe whatsoever.
Xiao Yu, however, didn’t interrupt Fatty, watching the screen intently instead.
Lin Shen kept watching, and soon sothing started to feel off.
Fatty was seemingly drawing aimless patches across the screen, but as more areas filled in, the randomness began to morph into coherence. Surprisingly, sothing robe-like erged.
“Wait… Fatty actually has artistic talent?” Lin Shen questioned in disbelief. He had zero talent for drawing—he could barely sketch stick figures. He couldn’t even fathom Fatty’s peculiar approach.
Fatty’s thod was unconventional. Instead of drawing the robe’s outline, he recreated the shadows of how it appeared under various lighting conditions.
Without a complete silhouette, when Fatty finished his work, the Purple Star Ritual Robe appeared vividly lifelike, displaying remarkable depth.
Lin Shen was dumbstruck, while Xiao Yu glanced at him dismissively, clearly feeling validated in her judgnt. Her look made Lin Shen feel inexplicably scolded.
“Fatty, let’s add so colors,” Xiao Yu said, activating the palette for Fatty to choose from tens of thousands of color options.
Fatty imdiately made his selection, and Xiao Yu tweaked the shading and applied additional adjustnts.
As Lin Shen watched, mories began surfacing—the robe looked exactly like the Purple Star Ritual Robe he had worn previously. The resemblance was uncanny.
Without consulting Lin Shen, Xiao Yu handed him the drawings and asurents and sent him to have several custom-made replicas fabricated. She planned the sa for other robes they needed.
Once the counterfeit robes were ready, Xiao Yu could initiate her market manipulation sche.
“Fatty, excellent work.” Lin Shen flattered the creature upon returning.
Fatty, acting as though the entire task was nothing noteworthy, nodded and retreated to his cozy nook within the Space Capsule.
As Lin Shen brooded, he received a ssage from Shi Zhongqing, instructing him to report to work on ti tomorrow for a new assignnt.
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