Chapter 106: Grasping the Darkness
"What's going on?"
Clairent's willow-leaf brows furrowed, her clear eyes now shadowed with fury as she glared at the rchant Tony.
Was he deliberately causing trouble?
In this mont, she was no longer just a bank clerk—she was a noble mber of the Keville royal family.
"Noble lord, I won’t deposit anymore, I won’t! Please, have rcy on this old man, won’t you?" The old farr beside them, overco with agitation, fell to his knees with a thud.
The bank branch had already beco a hotspot in the city.
Many commoners would deliberately pass by the bank’s entrance, even taking detours just to catch a glimpse of the beautiful princess from afar.
So when Tony rode in on horseback and the old farr knelt in supplication, the scene instantly drew countless onlookers.
Before anyone realized it, a crowd had gathered at the bank’s entrance, craning their necks to see what was happening.
Old Tony, seeing Clairent’s rage, quickly explained, "Your Highness, perhaps there’s been a mistake? Last night before bed, I checked my account, and it was exactly 1,340,000. How co this morning, there’s suddenly an extra 36 copper coins, plus a remainder of seven parts and one-tenth?"
Huh?
The old farr, still on his knees, looked stunned.
The crowd outside the bank exchanged bewildered glances.
Clairent nearly exploded with anger, barely restraining the urge to throttle Tony, but inwardly, she let out a long sigh of relief.
This was the new rule the Interconnected Bank had rolled out last night—daily interest calculation.
Ajef had personally sent ssages to all major branches, instructing bank clerks to familiarize themselves with the rule and inform custors.
Clairent took a deep breath.
"There’s no mistake on my part, nor the bank’s. Have you forgotten? The annual interest rate is 1%. You deposited 1,340,000, so your yearly return would be 13,400 copper coins, which averages out to about 36.71 copper coins per day. Is there a problem with that?"
Her words struck Tony, the old farr, and even the spectators outside like a bolt of lightning.
A problem?
Of course… there was a problem!
Not just a problem—this was earth-shattering!
Interest calculated daily?
Even the most predatory loan sharks wouldn’t dare structure paynts like this!
"Th-this… can the money be withdrawn?"
Tony’s rchant instincts kicked in, suppressing his shock as he nervously asked.
"Of course."
"I an… just the interest."
"You can. Do you want to withdraw it?"
"Yes!" Tony nodded.
Under the crowd’s watchful eyes, he withdrew 36 copper coins, and the balance on his account reverted to 1,340,000—with the remaining seven parts and one-tenth still intact.
"Your Highness, will it grow another 36 copper coins tomorrow?"
"Of course. Including your seven-tenths, tomorrow you’ll be able to withdraw 37 copper coins in addition to your principal," Clairent replied.
"Can I withdraw the principal now?"
"You can. Do you want to?"
"Yes!"
Tony gritted his teeth.
With everyone watching, he withdrew 134 gold coins.
As the gleaming gold coins were placed on the counter, not just Tony but the entire crowd erupted in excitent!
"Good heavens, interest can be calculated daily?"
"36 copper coins a day in interest? That’s more than I earn in a day’s work!"
"If I had 1.34 million, wouldn’t I be able to quit working and live off the interest every day?"
"How can such a good thing exist?"
"Yeah, how can this be real? This so-called bank helps us store our money, doesn’t charge us fees, and even pays us interest?"
All the murmurs eventually condensed into one ultimate question:
Why would a bank help people store money, not only without charging fees but even paying them interest?
No one could make sense of it.
Almost instinctively, everyone turned their eyes toward Clairent.
Seeing their bewildered gazes, Clairent suddenly realized that this might be one of the fundantal reasons why the Interconnected Bank had struggled to attract deposits.
"Because the Interconnected Bank was established by the Internet God! And the Internet God is benevolent, compassionate, and selfless—just like the freely shared knowledge in a library!"
Clairent repeated the sa answer she had given to the old farr.
The scene fell into abrupt silence!
After a long pause, soone murmured:
"So the Interconnected Bank belongs to the Internet God..."
"Everything is due to the God’s rcy."
"Praise be to the Internet God!"
"Praise be to the Internet God!"
Others began echoing the chant.
"Praise be to the Internet God!"
The fervent cries suddenly resounded through the bank branches, through the city, and even across the entire Keville Empire!
...
Once again, the Interconnected Bank beca the hottest topic on the internet!
But this ti, it was no longer all talk and no action.
Countless citizens flooded the banks, depositing their entire life savings.
Yes, it was strange and absurd—yet overnight, people seed to suddenly embrace the Interconnected Bank.
Because they had witnessed nobles and wealthy rchants depositing vast sums of gold coins into the bank.
And even more so because depositing money in the bank ant watching their interest grow visibly every single day!
Money is hard to earn, and life is bitter.
The obsession and desire for wealth weren’t exclusive to the nobility—commoners craved it even more!
Everyone racked their brains, trying every possible way to make their money multiply.
How many people had dread of their copper coins magically giving birth to little copper coins?
But reality was cruel—such absurd fantasies were clearly impossible.
Yet the great and benevolent Internet God fulfilled their wildest dreams!
Turns out, money really could breed more money just by sitting there.
Countless people made it their first daily ritual to open the Interconnected Bank app and check how much their interest had grown.
Even if it was just a fraction of a copper coin, it still filled many commoners with excitent and satisfaction.
They endlessly calculated—how much they needed to deposit to earn an extra copper coin per day.
How much more they needed to save before they could live off the interest alone.
The newly introduced screenshot feature quietly rolled out by the internet only fueled their enthusiasm, as people eagerly shared screenshots of their growing bank balances!
The wealthy drew admiration;
The poor found solidarity.
And so, a grand financial era quietly began.
Yet behind this golden glow, Luo Xiya, the female butler of the Deep Sea Divine Palace Ancient Castle, gazed at the online praises with an inexplicable chill creeping down her spine.
A few days prior, her master had summoned her and assigned her a task.
He called it "big data precision marketing."
Luo Xiya hadn’t fully grasped the aning of the term at first, but after these past few days, she was beginning to understand.
Her master granted her partial access to the Forum.
He instructed her to precisely target specific posts to different regions and demographics.
For example: pushing posts like "Impoverished Farr Suddenly Robbed, Life Plunged into Overnight Despair" to rural villages and towns.
Or delivering posts such as "Wealthy rchant Brutally Attacked by Bandits, All Assets Stolen, Family Destroyed in a Single Night" to affluent urban districts.
Of course, besides distributing posts, her master also handed her a batch of internet accounts, which he referred to as "zombie accounts."
As per his orders, she was to manipulate these zombie accounts—posting replies, sparking debates, and behaving like regular internet users.
But no matter the form the discussions took, the ultimate goal was singular: to guide users toward recognizing the utility and convenience of the Interconnected Bank.
Luo Xiya wasn’t sure whether the sudden acceptance of the Interconnected Bank by the people of Keville was due to its daily interest calculation feature or her precision marketing efforts.
But being abruptly exposed to her master’s darker side sent a chill down her spine.
What unsettled her even more was that, from this mont onward, she would beco her master’s shadow—wielding the darkness itself!
……
So fear the darkness, while others yearn for it.
When Sir Bai Ruide’s consciousness, under the Internet God’s control, opened his eyes in the Azarea Continent, the Internet God unfurled another wing—casting a shadow that lood over the world.
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